Jon W. Carr

jon. eradicate ca remove rr expunge @rh purge ul. delete ac.ukerase
GitHub: jwcarr
Google Scholar

I’m interested in how simple computational principles can explain the high-level complexity we observe in human behaviours and the cultural phenomena that arise from such behaviours. My current line of research explores how the learned capacity for reading adapts to the information structure of the writing system, and, likewise, how the writing system adapts to human cognitive biases. I address these questions using a mixture of computational models (mostly Bayesian in flavour) and behavioural experiments (typically involving artificial language learning).

I’m currently a postdoctoral research fellow at Royal Holloway in London, England, where I work with Kathy Rastle. Previously, I was a postdoc at SISSA in Trieste, Italy, where I worked with Davide Crepaldi. Before that, I completed my PhD at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, where I was supervised by Simon Kirby, Kenny Smith, and Jenny Culbertson within the Centre for Language Evolution.

Key interests: learning and induction; communicative interaction; Bayesian modelling; reading behaviour; eye tracking; concepts and categorization; complexity and compression; language evolution; artificial language learning; statistical learning; writing systems

Publications

Preprints

Carr, J. W., & Rastle, K. (2024). Frequency-dependent selection in the English spelling system across 1000 years of history. PsyArXiv. Version 1. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/kaqgf
PDF BIB OSF GIT @article{Carr:2024, author = {Carr, Jon W and Rastle, Kathleen}, title = {Frequency-Dependent Selection in the English Spelling System across 1000 Years of History}, journal = {PsyArXiv}, year = {2024}, pages = {Version 1}, doi = {10.31234/osf.io/kaqgf} }

Journal articles

Carr, J. W., & Rastle, K. (2024). Why do languages tolerate heterography? An experimental investigation into the emergence of informative orthography. Cognition, 249, Article 105809. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2024.105809
PDF BIB OSF GIT @article{Carr:2024, author = {Carr, Jon W and Rastle, Kathleen}, title = {Why Do Languages Tolerate Heterography? An Experimental Investigation into the Emergence of Informative Orthography}, journal = {Cognition}, year = {2024}, volume = {249}, pages = {Article 105809}, doi = {10.1016/j.cognition.2024.105809} }

Carr, J. W., Fantini, M., Perrotti, L., & Crepaldi, D. (2024). Readers target words where they expect to minimize uncertainty. Journal of Memory and Language, 138, Article 104530. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2024.104530
PDF BIB OSF GIT @article{Carr:2024, author = {Carr, Jon W and Fantini, Monica and Perrotti, Lorena and Crepaldi, Davide}, title = {Readers Target Words where They Expect to Minimize Uncertainty}, journal = {Journal of Memory and Language}, year = {2024}, volume = {138}, pages = {Article 104530}, doi = {10.1016/j.jml.2024.104530} }

Carr, J. W., Pescuma, V. N., Furlan, M., Ktori, M., & Crepaldi, D. (2022). Algorithms for the automated correction of vertical drift in eye-tracking data. Behavior Research Methods, 54(1), 287–310. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-021-01554-0
PDF BIB OSF GIT @article{Carr:2022, author = {Carr, Jon W and Pescuma, Valentina N and Furlan, Michele and Ktori, Maria and Crepaldi, Davide}, title = {Algorithms for the Automated Correction of Vertical Drift in Eye-Tracking Data}, journal = {Behavior Research Methods}, year = {2022}, volume = {54}, number = {1}, pages = {287--310}, doi = {10.3758/s13428-021-01554-0} }

Erben Johansson, N., Carr, J. W., & Kirby, S. (2021). Cultural evolution leads to vocal iconicity in an experimental iterated learning task. Journal of Language Evolution, 6(1), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1093/jole/lzab001
PDF BIB OSF @article{ErbenJohansson:2021, author = {Erben Johansson, Niklas and Carr, Jon W and Kirby, Simon}, title = {Cultural Evolution Leads to Vocal Iconicity in an Experimental Iterated Learning Task}, journal = {Journal of Language Evolution}, year = {2021}, volume = {6}, number = {1}, pages = {1--25}, doi = {10.1093/jole/lzab001} }

Carr, J. W., Smith, K., Culbertson, J., & Kirby, S. (2020). Simplicity and informativeness in semantic category systems. Cognition, 202, Article 104289. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104289
PDF BIB OSF GIT @article{Carr:2020, author = {Carr, Jon W and Smith, Kenny and Culbertson, Jennifer and Kirby, Simon}, title = {Simplicity and Informativeness in Semanitc Category Systems}, journal = {Cognition}, year = {2020}, volume = {202}, pages = {Article 104289}, doi = {10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104289} }

Carr, J. W., Smith, K., Cornish, H., & Kirby, S. (2017). The cultural evolution of structured languages in an open-ended, continuous world. Cognitive Science, 41(4), 892–923. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12371
PDF BIB OSF GIT @article{Carr:2017, author = {Carr, Jon W and Smith, Kenny and Cornish, Hannah and Kirby, Simon}, title = {The Cultural Evolution of Structured Languages in an Open-Ended, Continuous World}, journal = {Cognitive Science}, year = {2017}, volume = {41}, number = {4}, pages = {892--923}, doi = {10.1111/cogs.12371} }

Proceedings papers

Tamariz, M., Kirby, S., & Carr, J. W. (2016). Cultural evolution across domains: Language, technology and art. In A. Papafragou, D. Grodner, D. Mirman, & J. C. Trueswell (Eds.), Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 2759–2764). Cognitive Science Society.
PDF BIB @incollection{Tamariz:2016, author = {Tamariz, M{\'o}nica and Kirby, Simon and Carr, Jon W}, title = {Cultural Evolution across Domains: Language, Technology and Art}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society}, year = {2016}, editor = {Papafragou, A and Grodner, D and Mirman, D and Trueswell, John C}, pages = {2759--2764}, publisher = {Cognitive Science Society}, address = {Austin, TX} }

Book chapters

Carr, J. W., & Smith, K. (2021). Modeling language transmission. In T. K. Shackelford & V. A. Weekes-Shackelford (Eds.), Encyclopedia of evolutionary psychological science (pp. 5163–5168). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19650-3_3353
PDF BIB @inbook{Carr:2021, author = {Carr, Jon W and Smith, Kenny}, title = {Modeling Language Transmission}, booktitle = {Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science}, year = {2021}, editor = {Shackelford, Todd K and Weekes-Shackelford, Viviana A}, pages = {5163--5168}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Cham, Switzerland}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-19650-3_3353} }

Theses

Carr, J. W. (2019). Induction and interaction in the evolution of language and conceptual structure. Doctoral thesis, University of Edinburgh. https://hdl.handle.net/1842/35648
PDF BIB @phdthesis{Carr:2019, author = {Carr, Jon W}, title = {Induction and Interaction in the Evolution of Language and Conceptual Structure}, school = {University of Edinburgh}, year = {2019}, address = {Edinburgh, Scotland}, url = {http://hdl.handle.net/1842/35648} }

Carr, J. W. (2013). The cumulative cultural evolution of category structure in an infinite meaning space. Master’s thesis, University of Edinburgh. https://hdl.handle.net/1842/8608
PDF BIB @mastersthesis{Carr:2013, author = {Carr, Jon W}, title = {The Cumulative Cultural Evolution of Category Structure in an Infinite Meaning Space}, school = {University of Edinburgh}, year = {2013}, address = {Edinburgh, Scotland}, url = {https://hdl.handle.net/1842/8608} }

Presentations

Carr, J. W. (2024, July). Capturing and analyzing eyetracking data in Python for reading studies. Invited talk given to the Experimental Lab of the Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures, Bologna, Italy.
slides

Carr, J. W., & Rastle, K. (2024, May). The cultural evolution of informative writing systems. Talk presented at the 15th International Conference on the Evolution of Language (Evolang), Madison, WI, USA.
abstract slides

Carr, J. W., & Rastle, K. (2024, January). An experimental investigation of the cultural evolution of informative writing systems. Talk presented to the Experimental Psychology Society (EPS), London, England.
abstract slides

Carr, J. W., Fantini, M., Perrotti, L., & Crepaldi, D. (2023, November). Readers target words where they expect to find maximal information based on the structure of the lexicon. Poster presented at the 14th meeting of the Association of Written Language and Literacy (AWLL), Rome, Italy.
abstract poster

Carr, J. W., & Rastle, K. (2023, November). Why do languages tolerate heterography? An experimental investigation of the cultural evolution of informative orthographies. Talk presented at the 14th meeting of the Association of Written Language and Literacy (AWLL), Rome, Italy.
abstract slides

Carr, J. W., Fantini, M., & Crepaldi, D. (2023, September). Efficient eye movements in visual word recognition: Sensitivity to the structure of the lexicon. Talk presented at the 23rd conference of the European Society for Cognitive Psychology (ESCoP), Porto, Portugal.
abstract slides

Carr, J. W., & Crepaldi, D. (2022, August). Reader targeting of words is guided by the distribution of information in the lexicon. Talk presented at the 21st European Conference on Eye Movements (ECEM), Leicester, England.
abstract slides

Carr, J. W., Pescuma, V. N., & Crepaldi, D. (2022, August). Algorithms for assigning fixations to lines of text in multiline passage reading. Talk presented at the 21st European Conference on Eye Movements (ECEM), Leicester, England.
abstract slides

Carr, J. W., & Crepaldi, D. (2022, July). Minimizing expected uncertainty in visual word recognition: Are readers sensitive to the distribution of information across word forms? Flash talk presented at the 44th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (Cogsci), Toronto, Canada.
abstract slides

Carr, J. W., & Crepaldi, D. (2022, June). Reader targeting of words is guided by the statistical structure of the lexicon. Talk presented at Interdisciplinary Advances in Statistical Learning, San Sebastián, Spain.
abstract slides

Carr, J. W. (2021, July). Bayesian models of cognition: From individual biases to emergent cultural phenomena. Invited talk given at the Laboratoire Parole et Langage, Aix-en-Provence, France.
abstract slides

Carr, J. W., Pescuma, V. N., Furlan, M., Ktori, M., & Crepaldi, D. (2020, November). Algorithms for the automated correction of vertical drift in eye tracking data. Talk presented at the 61st Meeting of the Psychonomics Society.
slides video

Carr, J. W. (2018, November). Induction and interaction in the evolution of language and conceptual structure. Pre-viva talk, Edinburgh, Scotland.
slides

Carr, J. W., Smith, K., Culbertson, J., & Kirby, S. (2018, April). Conceptual structure is shaped by competing pressures for simplicity and informativeness. Talk presented at the 12th International Conference on the Evolution of Language (Evolang), Toruń, Poland. https://doi.org/10.12775/3991-1.013
BIB abstract slides @incollection{Carr:2018, author = {Carr, Jon W and Smith, Kenny and Culbertson, Jennifer and Kirby, Simon}, title = {Conceptual Structure Is Shaped by Competing Pressures for Simplicity and Informativeness}, booktitle = {The Evolution of Language: Proceedings of the 12th International Conference}, year = {2018}, editor = {Cuskley, Christine and Flaherty, Molly and McCrohon, Luke and Little, Hannah and Ravignani, Andrea and Verhoef, Tessa}, pages = {70--72}, doi = {10.12775/3991-1.013}, }

Carr, J. W. (2018, March). Simplicity and informativeness in conceptual structure. Invited talk given to the Cognitive Neuroscience department at SISSA, Trieste, Italy.
abstract slides

Carr, J. W., Smith, K., Culbertson, J., & Kirby, S. (2017, October). Convexity and expressivity in the simplicity–informativeness tradeoff. Talk presented at Conceptual Learning and Reasoning in Conceptual Spaces, Bochum, Germany.
slides

Carr, J. W., Smith, K., Culbertson, J., & Kirby, S. (2017, September). Convexity and expressivity in the simplicity–informativeness tradeoff. Poster presented at Minds, Mechanisms and Interaction in the Evolution of Language, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
abstract poster

Carr, J. W., Smith, K., Culbertson, J., & Kirby, S. (2017, September). Simplicity and informativeness in the cultural evolution of language. Talk presented at the Inaugural Conference of the Cultural Evolution Society (CES), Jena, Germany.
abstract slides

Carr, J. W. (2017, May). Iterated learning optimizes for simplicity. Talk presented at the 2017 Linguistics and English Language Postgraduate Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland.
abstract slides

Carr, J. W. (2016, June). Using iterated learning to reveal biases for well-structured meanings in language. Talk presented at the 2016 Linguistics and English Language Postgraduate Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland.
abstract slides

Carr, J. W., Smith, K., Cornish, H., & Kirby, S. (2016, March). Cultural evolution and communication yield structured languages in an open-ended world. Talk presented at the 11th International Conference on the Evolution of Language (Evolang), New Orleans, LA, USA.
BIB abstract slides @incollection{Carr:2016, author = {Carr, Jon W and Smith, Kenny and Cornish, Hannah and Kirby, Simon}, title = {Cultural Evolution and Communication Yield Structured Languages in an Open-Ended World}, booktitle = {The Evolution of Language: Proceedings of 11th International Conference}, year = {2016}, editor = {Roberts, Se{\'a}n G and Cuskley, Christine and McCrohon, Luke and Barcel{\'o}-Coblijn, Llu{\'\i}s and Feh{\'e}r, Olga and Verhoef, Tessa} }

Tamariz, M., & Carr, J. W. (2016, March). What is unique about the evolution of language compared to other cultural domains? An experimental study of language, technology and art. Talk presented at the 11th International Conference on the Evolution of Language (Evolang), New Orleans, LA, USA.
BIB abstract @incollection{Tamariz:2016, author = {Tamariz, M{\'o}nica and Carr, Jon W}, title = {What Is Unique about the Evolution of Language Compared to Other Cultural Domains? An Experimental Study of Language, Technology and Art}, booktitle = {The Evolution of Language: Proceedings of 11th International Conference}, year = {2016}, editor = {Roberts, Se{\'a}n G and Cuskley, Christine and McCrohon, Luke and Barcel{\'o}-Coblijn, Llu{\'\i}s and Feh{\'e}r, Olga and Verhoef, Tessa} }

Carr, J. W. (2015, June). Iterated learning in an open-ended meaning space. Talk presented at the 2015 Linguistics and English Language Postgraduate Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland.
abstract slides

Carr, J. W., Cornish, H., Smith, K., & Kirby, S. (2015, April). Communication increases the expressivity of emergent languages in an open-ended meaning space. Poster presented at the Tokyo Lectures in Language Evolution, Tokyo, Japan.
abstract poster

Carr, J. W., Cornish, H., & Kirby, S. (2014, April). The cumulative cultural evolution of category structure in an open-ended meaning space. Talk presented at the 10th International Conference on the Evolution of Language (Evolang), Vienna, Austria. https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814603638_0066
BIB abstract slides @incollection{Carr:2014, author = {Carr, Jon W and Cornish, Hannah and Kirby, Simon}, title = {The Cumulative Cultural Evolution of Category Structure in an Open-Ended Meaning Space}, booktitle = {The Evolution of Language: Proceedings of the 10th International Conference}, year = {2014}, editor = {Cartmill, Erica A and Roberts, Se{\'a}n G and Lyn, Heidi and Cornish, Hannah}, pages = {405--406}, publisher = {World Scientific}, address = {Singapore}, doi = {10.1142/9789814603638_0066} }

Carr, J. W. (2014, April). The emergence of combinatoriality in the cultural transmission of pop songs in a children’s gameshow. Poster presented at the 10th International Conference on the Evolution of Language (Evolang), Vienna, Austria. https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814603638_0065
BIB abstract poster @incollection{Carr:2014, author = {Carr, Jon W}, title = {The Emergence of Combinatoriality in the Cultural Transmission of Pop Songs in a Children's Gameshow}, booktitle = {The Evolution of Language: Proceedings of the 10th International Conference}, year = {2014}, editor = {Cartmill, Erica A and Roberts, Se{\'a}n G and Lyn, Heidi and Cornish, Hannah}, pages = {403--404}, publisher = {World Scientific}, address = {Singapore}, doi = {10.1142/9789814603638_0065} }

Carr, J. W. (2013, May). Using a children's gameshow to study iterated learning and the emergence of combinatoriality. Talk presented at the 2013 Linguistics and English Language Postgraduate Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland.
abstract slides

Carr, J. W. (2012, September). Measuring the optimization of vowel-spaces: A method for cross-linguistic analysis. Poster presented at the 2012 Advances in Visual Methods for Linguistics (AVML) conference, York, England.
abstract poster

Carr, J. W. (2012, May). Towards a measure of the optimization of natural vowel systems. Talk presented at the 2012 Linguistics and English Language Postgraduate Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland.
abstract video

Carr, J. W. (2012, April). Towards a measure of optimization in natural vowel systems. Poster presented at the 32nd Language at Edinburgh Lunch, Edinburgh, Scotland.
poster

Carr, J. W. (2012, March). The effects of modified variables on an iterated learning model of linguistic evolution by cultural transmission. Poster accepted to the 9th International Conference on the Evolution of Language (Evolang), Kyoto, Japan. https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814401500_0058
BIB abstract @incollection{Carr:2012, author = {Carr, Jon W}, title = {The Effects of Modified Variables on an Iterated Learning Model of Linguistic Evolution by Cultural Transmission}, booktitle = {The Evolution of Language: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference}, year = {2012}, editor = {Scott-Phillips, Thomas C and Tamariz, M{\'o}nica and Cartmill, Erica A and Hurford, James R}, pages = {416--417}, publisher = {World Scientific}, address = {Singapore}, doi = {10.1142/9789814401500_0058} }

Carr, J. W. (2011, October). The adaptation of language toward increasingly faithful replication during its cultural transmission. Poster presented at the 1st Interdisciplinary Linguistics Conference (ILinC), Belfast, Ireland.
abstract poster

Carr, J. W. (2011, March). Language evolution on Stella Fructa: The effects of novel variables on an iterated learning model of linguistic evolution by cultural transmission. Talk presented at the 2011 conference of the Undergraduate Linguistics Association of Britain (ULAB), Edinburgh, Scotland.
abstract

Teaching

Scientific Programming: A Crash Course – An intensive introductory course to programming (in Python) with a special emphasis on practices in the scientific context.

Software

eyekit – A Python package for handling, analyzing, and visualizing eyetracking data.

mantel – A Python implementation of the Mantel test.

bibfish – Extract entries from a .bib file that are cited in a .tex file.