Seminars in term 2 will be held online weekly on Wednesdays at 12pm.

This week, find about the work of Jianqiao Zhu

Title: The Autocorrelated Bayesian Sampler for Estimation, Choice, Confidence, and Response Times
Abstract: Estimation, choice, confidence, and response times are the primary behavioural measures in perceptual and cognitive tasks. These measures have attracted extensive modeling efforts in the cognitive sciences, but there is the lack of a unified approach to explain all measures simultaneously within one framework. We propose an Autocorrelated Bayesian Sampler (ABS), assuming that people sequentially sample from a posterior probability distribution of hypotheses on each trial of a perceptual or cognitive task. Unlike most accounts of choice, we do not assume that the system has global knowledge of the posterior distribution. Instead it uses a sophisticated sampling algorithm to make do with local knowledge, and so produces autocorrelated samples. The model assumes that each sample takes time to generate, and that samples are used by applying well-validated mechanisms to produce estimates, choices, and confidence judgments. This relatively simple framework clears a number of well-known empirical hurdles for models of choice, confidence, and response time. The autocorrelations between samples also allows the model to predict the long-range between-trial dependence observed in both estimates and response times.

For more details, or if you are interested in giving a talk, please contact Dr Jesse Preston j.preston@warwick.ac.uk

"This departmental talk series is a good chance for us to gather as a group, and to hear about some of the cool work that is being done by colleagues in the department. Presentations are fairly low-key. These may be a lab-style presentation with discussion, or a more formal talk. Any PGR or post-grads who wish to give practice talks, this is your opportunity to do so! "