Prof. Derek Arnold, University of Queensland

Abstract:

When people make decisions, they experience a level of confidence in relation to their decisions. In visual perception, these levels of confidence are typically accurate – we tend to be more confident about decisions that are more precise. This insight into the quality of the information that has informed our decisions is known as metacognitive sensitivity. The most popular means of estimating metacognitive sensitivity is based on signal-detection-theory (SDT). In this talk, I will explain why I believe SDT-based analyses of confidence are fundamentally flawed. I will also outline how measures of confidence can be used as a research tool, to help distinguish between situations where perception has been changed and situations where people have merely been biased to reach different conclusions about perceptually ambiguous inputs.

Bio: 

Prof. Derek Arnold studied at Macquarie University before taking up positions as a postdoctoral research fellow at University College London and the University of Sydney. He took up a continuing position at the University of Queensland in 2006. He has held a sequence of ARC funded research fellowships and Discovery Project funding. He has published in some of the world’s leading outlets for perceptual neuroscience, including Nature, PNAS, Current Biology and Proceedings of the R. Soc. Lond. B. His’ research broadly focusses on visual perception, with specific focuses on temporal perception and confidence in perceptual decisions.

This is a Hybrid event so you can join in person or via the Webinar link below:

HEYDON LAURENCE LECTURE THEATRE 217 (DT ANDERSON) (You are encouraged to please wear a mask if attending in person)

Webinar Link:  https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/s/83403319532