Faculty:

Todd Maddox, Ph.D. 

Contact:

Todd Maddox, Ph.D.
Email: maddox@psy.utexas.edu Phone: 475-8494

Description:

The ability to quickly and accurately categorize is fundamental to human survival.  Every day we make hundreds of categorization judgments, and in most cases, are remarkably accurate. In fact, frequently humans are more accurate than the most powerful machines. For example, humans are far better at understanding speech and reading handwriting than any machine yet developed. Why are humans so good at categorization? What sorts of processes and mechanisms underlie human categorization performance? Can we discover these processes and mechanisms in order to build better speech recognition or character recognition machines? The goal of this research is to try to answer some of these questions through experimentation with rather simple perceptual stimuli.The specific focus is on the decision processes involved in multidimensional perceptual categorization, with an emphasis on testing the limits of human categorization performance. 

Qualifications:

We are looking for hard-working students interested in cognitive science who are self-guided and able to work independently.  Students must be highly motivated and good at interacting with others.  They must also pay close attention to detail.

Duties:

Interaction with participants and collection of experimental data.  Piloting new experiments. Data analysis with sufficient experience.

Other Information:

10 hours/week time commitment during regular business hours. One-semester commitments are available, but a two semester commitment is recommended.  Interviews are required before appointment.  See our website at:
http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/group/MaddoxLab/