Note: I've moved on from academia. These research interests are no longer related to what I currently do. Read what I am currently up to on my personal site
I'm interested generally in decision-making. Researchers from economics, psychology, and neuroscience have all taken an interest in how we make decisions about what actions to take as we go about our lives. Out of the vast array of things we could possibly do, what processes lead us to take one particular course of action over any other? I'm interested in understanding the psychological and neural mechanisms of these processes.
Curiosity and the value of information
My paper about the value of information and how its represented in the orbitofrontal cortex
The current focus of my research is on decisions involving information-seeking. We have all experienced curiosity - the desire for information, even if that information isn't useful for anything. In some circumstances, people avoid information - like hearing a bad prognosis from a doctor, or postponing opening an email with reviews on a manuscript. What are the factors that drive when we desire information and when we avoid it? How does the brain appraise the value of information to make decisions about when to seek it out?
Self-control, the timing of rewards, and foraging theory
My paper on applying concepts from foraging theory to thinking about intertemporal choice
My paper looking at the activity of Anterior Cingulate Cortex neurons during a foraging task
My paper on animals being more patient in a foraging task than in intertemporal choice tasks
One of the ways researchers have traditionally studied self-control in the lab is by creating tasks (called intertemporal choice tasks) that require subjects to choose between a smaller reward that is available sooner, or a larger reward that is available later. What causes an individual to choose the smaller-sooner reward over a larger-later? Many have suggested that its self-control or the ability to delay gratification. My research has explored another possibility - that these choices are actually driven by principles of efficient foraging. Waiting a shorter period for a smaller reward might be a good choice if it means you can use the saved time to forage for more rewards! This may not completely explain why humans and animals might choose smaller-sooner rewards, but I think it points to an interesting connection between foraging, timing preferences, and self-control.
Cognitive biases
My paper on the peak-end bias in monkeys
My paper on the hot-hand bias in monkeys
A large literature on heuristics and biases has focused on identifying situations in which human reasoners make irrational decisions or judgments. I have been interested in the extent to which animals show these same biases. I think these biases tell us a lot about how we make decisions - if we know when the computation goes wrong, it helps us identify what the actual computation being done is (or what constraints the system is under).
Single-unit neurophysiology analysis
Many researchers use methods that allow for the recording of individual neurons in a behaving animal. However, analyzing this data is often tricky. Should all neurons be treated the same, even though the activity of some don't seem related to the behavior of interest? Since some neurons react to some variables more strongly than others, should be analyze subpopulations of neurons separately? There are assumptions and choices you can make that can seriously impact your results! I've been working on a Bayesian analysis method that I think deals with these issues nicely, while making fewer assumptions than traditional techniques.