Mentor Areas
I study preferential choice using insights from psychology and economics. I am particularly interested in understanding how people learn, represent and retrieve information about the choice alternatives available to them, and how this information affects their final decisions. I also study the cognitive basis of intuitive judgment, again with a focus on understanding the mechanisms involved in representing relevant information in these types of judgments. My work uses mathematical and computational cognitive models, and tests the predictions of these models with behavioral experiments.
Description:
What is your favorite film? What about your favorite food item? Often when people make these sorts of assessments, they rely on information stored in their memories. In this project we will examine how this information is learnt and represented, and how it influences preferences and choices. We will use psychological models, and will test our models using experimental human data.
Duties will include performing literature reviews, programming and implementing experiments, and managing and analyzing data.
Preferred Qualifications
Applicants should have completed some course work in psychology, cognitive science, computer science, or economics. Programming abilities (MATLAB, Python, R, or equivalent program) and prior experience conducing behavioral experiments is desirable but not necessary. Preference will be given to junior and senior applicants.
Details:
Preferred Student Year
First-year, Second-Year, Junior, Senior
Academic Term
Fall, Spring, Summer
I prefer to have students start during the above term(s).Volunteer
Yes
Yes indicates that faculty are open to volunteers.Paid
No
Yes indicates that faculty are open to paying students they engage in their research, regardless of their work-study eligibility.Work Study
No
Yes indicates that faculty are open to hiring work-study-eligible students.