Cognitive Off-Loading in AI Therapy
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Sarah AlbersScientistData Science, UVA
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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
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Dexin LiHumanistPhilosophy, UVA
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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
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Jelena MarkovicHumanistContemplative Sciences &
Philosophy, UVA (Postdoc)
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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
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Caimiao (Cai) LiuScientistSocial Psychology, UVA
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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
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Chad DavisScientistQuantitative Psychology /
Statistics, UVA
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Blake HarrisHumanistPhilosophy, UVA
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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
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Rushil UmaretiyaHumanist & ScientistPhilosophy
& Computer Science, UVA
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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.
