Members of the Decision Processes Lab:

lab director

Dr. Rick Thomas

B.A. University of Oklahoma

M.S. Psychology, Kansas State University

Ph.D. Psychology, Decision Science, Kansas State University

Research interests: The fundamental premise of my work is that computational models from cognitive psychology and cognitive science can be adapted to provide testable process models of decision-making phenomena and optimized to support the decision-making of professionals. I direct the Decision Processes Laboratory (DPL). The DPL utilizes a range of experimental methodologies (behavioral, eye-tracking, EEG) and computational techniques (statistical, mathematical, neural networks) to investigate decision-making phenomena. Much of our applied work concerns the study and measurement of expertise; primarily in the areas of performance evaluation and the development of decision support tools. One area of specialization is the development of computational models that describe how people, generate hypotheses to explain patterns of data, which is common in everyday problem solving; and it is the basis for decision-making in many disciplines, such as medical diagnosis, criminal investigation, intelligence sensemaking, software debugging, and scientific discovery. We also seek to optimize models of human hypothesis generation to serve as decision support tools to aid the diagnostic decision-making of professionals and to improve the robustness of existing applications of artificially intelligent classification systems.

rick.thomas@psych.gatech.edu

(404) 894-6066

Web page

Curriculum Vitae

graduate students


Angela Yoo
B.S. Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill B.A. Psychology, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Research interests: Charitable Decision-Making
Bio:

ahyoo79@gatech.edu

Web page

Curriculum Vitae


Justin Sukernek
B.S. Cognitive Brain Science, Philosophy, Tufts University
Research interests: Bayesian truth serum, collaboration, social influence
Bio: Justin grew up in Wayland, Massachusetts, before moving to Mercer Island, Washington, before moving back to the Boston area for undergrad. Justin’s interest in decision-making flourished while exploring the different subdivisions of psychology at Tufts, including a stint watching a cockatoo dance to pop music. Now, he spends all his time thinking about things and stuff.