Ross Otto, PhD    [cv]  [scholar]

ross.otto@mcgill.ca
Principal Investigator
 

 

Mario Bogdanov, PhD

Postdoctoral Researcher (starting Fall 2018)
 

Kevin da Silva Castanheira, BS  

Graduate Student
kevin.dasilvacastanheira@mail.mcgill.ca

My research focuses broadly on the contributions of cognitive effort to various kinds of decision-making and how individual differences in cognitive ability and willingness to expend effort shape the decisions we make. I am also interested in quantifying cognitive effort exertion both psychophysiological and computationally.

Anna  Jos, MS

Graduate Student
anna.jos@mail.mcgill.ca

My research background is in chronobiology and social neuroscience, in particular, basic bayesian analysis of behavioural (gambling) data that was correlated to EEG-fMRI findings. During my PhD I aim to look at individual differences in expenditure of effort during decision-making tasks, and if possible, cognitive modelling of a specific decision-making process.

Myles LoParco, BS

Lab Manager and Research Assistant
myles.loparco@mail.mcgill.ca

I am currently working with Kevin on a project that investigates pupil diameter as an index of cognitive effort exertion. In doing so, I have developed an interest in individual differences in cognitive control abilities such as inhibition, shifting, and updating. Eventually I would like to learn more about the ontogenetic development of these processes and the cognitive domains to which they contribute.

Elsie Yan

Honours Psychology Undergraduate Researcher

My current project is interested in the cost-benefit arbitration that potentially underlies people’s decisions to expend or withhold cognitive effort. More specifically, we ask whether past investment of cognitive effort can bias decision-makers towards sustained engagement with the task even when the opportunity cost of doing so is high. We also plan to look at how individuals differ in their tendency to overvalue past efforts.

Hin-Ngai Fu, BS

Research Assistant

My research interests include how incidental prediction errors in the environment influence one’s risky decision-making.

Shannon Harrington, BS

Research Assistant


I am working on a joint project with Prof. Otto and Prof. Signy Sheldon, examining the relationship between emotion and autobiographical memory, utilizing skin conductance (SCR) and facial electromyography (fEMG) measurements.

Shen Zhang, BS

Visitng Graduate Student (Bejing Normal University)