Cognitive Off-Loading in AI Therapy
- Sarah AlbersScientistData Science, UVA
- Arnold ChenHumanistPhilosophy, UVA
MentorsJustin Bernstein (Humanities) · David Danks (Science)
This project investigates whether AI-assisted therapy causes deskilling or "never-skilling" of emotional self-regulation. The central argument is that LLMs dispense "knowledge that" (propositional knowledge about emotions and coping) while bypassing the habituation and agential control required for "knowledge how" — the practical, embodied competence needed to actually regulate one's emotions. If AI therapy substitutes for the experiential work of developing emotional agency, it may threaten personal autonomy and authentic emotional development. The project combines empirical psychology (studying whether AI-assisted therapy improves or impairs real-world emotional regulation) with philosophical analysis (drawing on the knowledge-that / knowledge-how distinction and theories of autonomy and agency).
Mechanistic Models of Mind-Wandering
- Dexin LiHumanistPhilosophy, UVA
- Christopher HallScientistPsychology / Neuroscience, UVA
MentorsTrey Boone (Humanities) · Per Sederberg (Science)
Existing computational models of mind-wandering are underdeveloped relative to the richness of philosophical and empirical work on the topic. This project compares two mechanistic accounts: Foraging Decisionism, which treats mind-wandering as goal-directed memory search (the mind "foraging" for useful information), and Semantic Associationism, which treats it as a random walk on memory networks driven by semantic association. The team evaluates these accounts against three desiderata — Dynamics, Passivity, and Function — then aims to build computational models that generate testable predictions constrained by fMRI resting-state data.
Affect, Arousal & Attentional Constraints on Thought
- Jelena MarkovicHumanistContemplative Sciences & Philosophy, UVA (Postdoc)
- Ethan PotterScientistApplied Neuroscience & Philosophy, UVA
MentorsZachary Irving (Humanities) · Jennifer MacCormack (Science) · Michael Sheehy (Humanities)
Using the Thinking Grid framework (Irving et al.), this project studies how affective and somatic states influence attentional constraint on thought. Participants undergo a writing-task mood induction designed to produce four affective states varying in valence and arousal (relaxed, energized, sluggish, stressed). The project aims to replicate Irving et al.'s finding that both positive and negative affect constrain attention, and to determine which aspect of affect drives this — specifically, do low-arousal positive states broaden attention relative to high-arousal positive states? The project combines empirical methods (experience sampling, Thinking Grid) with philosophical analysis of the relationship between emotion, attention, and the phenomenology of thought.
Dark Humor Memes & Collective Existential Stressors
- Caimiao (Cai) LiuScientistSocial Psychology, UVA
- Jason WongHumanistPhilosophy, UVA
MentorsJustin Snedegar (Humanities) · Adrienne Wood (Science)
This project studies how people use online dark humor memes to cope with collective existential stressors — AI-driven economic disruption, climate change, and political instability — and how this coping behavior shapes social connection, solidarity, and moral perception. Using empirical social psychology methods (surveys, experiments), the project examines when dark humor promotes healthy coping versus maladaptive avoidance, and how it affects group cohesion and moral attitudes. Philosophical analysis (drawing on the ethics of humor, norms of agency, and social epistemology) provides the conceptual framework for interpreting these findings.
AI Use & Scientific Exploration: An Agent-Based Model
- Chad DavisScientistQuantitative Psychology / Statistics, UVA
- Blake HarrisHumanistPhilosophy, UVA
- Zhengping ZhangHumanistPhilosophy, UVA
MentorsZachary Irving (Humanities) · David Danks (Science)
This project investigates how AI reliance threatens "transient diversity" in scientific communities: the healthy spread of hypotheses and approaches that allows science to explore the epistemic landscape effectively. Building on Zollman's agent-based model of scientific communities, the team extends the framework by adding AI as an influence on belief updating and scientific exploration, using NK landscapes to model hypothesis space. The central question is this: does AI cause researchers to converge prematurely on average hypotheses rather than exploring diverse epistemic terrain? The project combines agent-based modeling and computational methods (Davis) with philosophical analysis of scientific epistemology, epistemic autonomy, and AI's effects on knowledge production (Harris, Zhang).
Mental Turbulence as a Dynamical Mode: fMRI & Philosophy
- Rushil UmaretiyaHumanist & ScientistPhilosophy & Computer Science, UVA
- Austin CooperScientistContemplative Sciences Center, UVA (Postdoc)
MentorsLauren DiNicola (Science) · Zachary Irving (Humanities) · Michael Sheehy (Humanities)
The folk concept of "mental turbulence" conflates two distinct phenomena: free mind-wandering (broad default-network exploration) and anxious rumination (narrow state-space occupation). This project proposes to define turbulence rigorously as a dynamical mode using dynamic functional connectivity tools (fractional occupancy, metastability), connecting it to the Christoff / Irving constraint axes. The project then uses these tools to build ML classifiers capable of distinguishing different dynamic modes of attention from fMRI data, with the long-term goal of enabling real-time neurofeedback that allows individuals to monitor and modulate their own attentional mode.
SSHooCS Fellows
The following participants are attending SSHooCS as Fellows — embedded in the seminar community but not working on a funded project this year.
Karma Rigzin
Humanist Fellow · Buddhist & Himalayan Studies, UVA
Karma is a 3rd-year PhD student specializing in Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, with extensive fieldwork in Bhutan and fluency in Tibetan. His work focuses on the Dzogchen and Longchenpa traditions, examining how Tibetan-Bhutanese intellectual frameworks on attention, ethics, karma, and agency can serve as genuine partners in humanistic cognitive science. Karma is attending SSHooCS to build connections with cognitive scientists and develop an interdisciplinary research project.
Gabi Dumet
Humanist Fellow · Philosophy, UVA
Gabi is a later-stage Philosophy PhD candidate working on moral psychology, reactive attitudes, and moral responsibility (Strawsonian framework). He is interested in the cognitive-science grounding of reactive attitudes and the mechanisms of emotional fragmentation. Gabi is one of the founding members of the HooCS community at UVA and is attending SSHooCS to build the interdisciplinary foundations for an empirical extension of his philosophical work.
