Tianfang Han
University of Idaho, ID·Psychology
When something happens suddenly, people respond faster if a warning signal comes first. Pilots, drivers and machine operators depend on this ability to prepare.
- Fields
Psychology
Engineering
- Topics
temporal preparation
anticipation
choice reaction time
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Dec 2027
What they work on
- Develop an integrated model of preparation effects on choice reactions by combining the formalized multiple trace theory of temporal preparation (fMTP) with the Diffusion Decision Model (DDM), an evidence-accumulation model of decisions.
- Use the integrated model to explain how preparation interacts with cognitive control, the ability to direct attention, in addition to its effect on overall reaction speed.
- Generate model predictions that give precise estimates of timing effects, to guide the design of future choice reaction experiments and help integrate the research areas of phasic alertness and temporal preparation.
More about the research
Yet current models of how people make quick decisions do not capture how preparation works. Existing models of preparation predict only overall reaction speed. They leave out cognitive control, the brain's ability to steer attention and resist distraction, and the details of information processing.
Why it matters
Better models of preparation could predict how people perform in split-second decisions, such as in air and ground traffic or machinery operation. This could inform system designs that pay attention to the order and timing of operations. It could also improve measures of attention and evaluations of people's cognitive ability.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Chong Pak
Clemson University, SC·Psychology
Determine how individual differences in working memory and attention control (the ability to focus and resist distraction) relate to how well people perform with automated systems, using newly developed, validated attention control measures.
Julie Golomb
Ohio State University, OH·Psychology
Test whether spatial distractions also disrupt nonspatial filters that control what enters visual working memory, using behavioral experiments, neuromodulation and computational analyses.
Alexander Weigard
University of Michigan, MI·Psychology·Early-career
Map the typical maturational trajectory of efficiency of evidence accumulation (EEA), a model-derived measure of how well the brain gathers information for decisions, and its relations to other abilities, across four large longitudinal neuroimaging datasets.
The school
University of Idaho: 8 labs on PI Pages, $140M a year on research, 71 research doctorates a year.
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