Welcome to the NRD lab!
In the NRD lab we study the Neuroscience of Reinforcement Learning and Decision Making using computational modeling, eye tracking, neuroimaging, and transcranial magnetic stimulation in humans.
Research
We study a wide variety of problems from simple perceptual decisions to complex judgments about potentially deceptive emails. Below we outline a few of our favorite projects ...How do we decide between exploration and exploitation?
When you go to a favorite restaurant do you always order the same thing or do you try something new? This simple conundrum, deciding between what you know and what you don't, is at the heart of the explore-exploit dilemma and whether it's a cow looking for greener grass or a human looking for love, this problem is ubiquitous and important to solve. Work in the NRDlab investigates the neural computations underlying the explore-exploit decisions in humans across the lifespan.
For more information hit the "explore-exploit" button on our Publications page or read our 2014 paper.
Why do we make mistakes?
We all make mistakes. This work asks "Why?" Do mistakes simply reflect the difficulty of building a computer out of salt, water and fat? Or can mistakes actually be useful, and usefully regulated?
For more information hit the "behavioral variability" button on our Publications page or read our 2019 paper.
How do we decide whether an email is safe or suspicious?
Phishing emails are a major public health problem, linked to negative health outcomes due to fraud and exploitation. Because of their sheer volume, and because phishing emails are designed to deceive, purely technological solutions can only go so far, leaving human judgment as the last line of defense. In this project we are probing the cognitive and neural processes underlying how people decide whether an email is safe or not.
For more information hit the "phishing" button on our Publications page or read our recent preprint.