Research
Current Research Projects
The impact of reward on category learning and decision making
Rewards significantly affect what options are sought, what information is given attention to, and what is stored in our memory. But whether the level of rewards also influences how well it can be learned to make correct decisions is still relatively unclear. This research examines how the level of rewards interacts with feedback on right and wrong decisions when learning a new decision-making task or category assignment.
Mathematical modeling of judgment processes, category learning and sequential decisions
We develop and test formal mathematical models of judgment, categorization, and decision-making. We use these models to make quantitative predictions about decision-making behavior and to understand how human behavior changes in different environments and task structures.
Age-related changes in decision-making behavior
Aging is accompanied by a series of cognitive, emotional, and motivational changes that also influence decision-making behavior. We are working on projects that examine how the role of social information in the decision-making process changes with age.
Process tracing of information search in memory
The search for information in memory usually eludes direct observation. The goal of this research project is to apply and develop a new method that examines the retrieval of information from memory based on the recording of eye movements. In particular, we explore the extent to which this method can be used to investigate what information people retrieve from memory during a decision.