We navigate our lives with the unshakable conviction that we see the world exactly as it is—an “open window” to reality. Yet, this feeling is a powerful illusion; we are actually viewing the world through idiosyncratic lenses that combine with input from the world to construct our reality while hiding the construction process from us….
The philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn asks: what must nature be like in order for science to be possible at all? As a cognitive scientist, my research asks a parallel question: what must we humans assume the world be like for us to comprehend it? Both questions stem from this challenge: the impossibility of determining…
My lab is focused on understanding learning and memory. Much of my work is motivated by the insight that learning is not a unitary phenomenon but consists of very different types of learning that depend on different brain systems. One interesting distinction is between types of instrumental learning- when we learn to associate an action…
How do adolescents’ social experiences interact with biological development to shape their health and well-being? My colleagues and I address this question with multiple longitudinal studies of brain, behavior, and adjustment. We also work to integrate developmental science into policies, practices, and public discourse that impact young people. In the Adolescent Development Lab at UCLA,…
What drives people to make certain decisions—and why do motivations vary? My lab studies the cognitive and neural mechanisms of motivation and value-based choice. We are especially interested in how people weigh costs and benefits in decisions that impact themselves and others. In my lab, we take a multidisciplinary approach that integrates experimental behavioral economics,…
How can psychological science better inform altruistic efforts to improve society and the lives of future generations? I strive to contribute to the theoretical foundations for such research by asking fundamental questions about rationality and altruism, as well as moral decision-making and moral learning. Many societal decisions are based on economic theories built on a…
There are often gaps between the various research questions that psychology researchers seek to investigate and the availability of proper statistical tools that can effectively address them. My work is dedicated to closing these gaps by developing innovative statistical tools that can be applied to increasingly complex applied research scenarios. As a quantitative methodologist, my…
Friendship is one of life’s great joys. More than that, having friends can help people live happier, healthier, and even longer lives. Yet today, more people seem to be failing at friendship than ever. The U.S. Surgeon General describes us as facing a Loneliness Epidemic, and others talk of a Friendship Recession. There is no…
When we make decisions, we often don’t immediately know what to choose. What is the process by which we evaluate and compare our options? My work combines choice-process data and computational modeling to understand how we gather and process information while making preference-based decisions. Much of my research is based on the drift-diffusion model (DDM) idea…
How can university instructors best support student learning in their classrooms, in particular in mathematics courses? More specifically, how can one can implement interleaving in college courses in order to enhance student learning? When studying for a course, many people tend to study and practice one topic at a time before moving on to the…