Prof Sebastian Gluth | Information search in simple and multi-attribute value-based decisions

This seminar is free to attend and is open to all, both within and outside the University. If you wish to attend in person or via Zoom, please register your interest to attend via the Zoom portal using the link above. Exact location details will be shared prior to the event via email.

We are delighted to announce that the Centre for Human Brain Health (CHBH) will welcome Professor Sebastian Gluth, Head of General Psychology at the Department of Psychology, University of Hamburg, to present a hybrid CHBH Seminar, taking place on Friday 26th May 2023, 13:00-14:00. Attendance is possible either in person (exact location details will be shared prior to the event via email), or online via Zoom, if you wish to attend in person or via Zoom, please register your interest to attend via the Zoom portal using the link above. Exact location details will be shared prior to the event via email. 

To arrange a 1:1 meeting with the speaker, please state your interest when registering to attend via the link above.

CHBH Event Host
Dr Arkady Konovalov

Information search in simple and multi-attribute value-based decisions

Abstract

Humans are required to find a suitable trade-off between making informed decisions on the one hand and limiting invested resources such as time and effort on the other hand. In this talk, I will present empirical work on the interaction between attention allocation and preference formation, suggesting that humans balance accuracy and effort by searching systematically for relevant information in an efficient and goal-directed, but not strictly optimal manner. Based on this notion, I will then present a Bayesian cognitive model of information search in multi-attribute decisions. The core element of this model is a transition rule, according to which an attribute is most likely to be attended next if it is expected to reveal decisive information in favour of its associated option. I will show that the model accounts for a rich body of empirical findings on attention-choice interactions in both binary and multi-alternative decisions and that simpler transition rules fail to capture these findings.

Speaker Biography

Sebastian Gluth studied Psychology at the Humboldt-University in Berlin. After obtaining a PhD from the Department of Systems Neuroscience in Hamburg, he worked as a postdoc and assistant professor at the University of Basel in Switzerland. Recently, he moved back to the University of Hamburg and is now professor at the Department of Psychology. In his research, Sebastian studies the cognitive and neural basis of value-based decision making and reward-based learning. In particular, he seeks to understand the dynamics of decisions using computational models of evidence accumulation in combination with multiple measurement tools such as eye-tracking, EEG and fMRI.

This seminar is free to attend and is open to all, both within and outside the University. If you wish to attend in person or via Zoom, please register your interest to attend via the Zoom portal using the link above. Exact location details will be shared prior to the event via email.