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Research

Decision-making and metacognition

We are interested in how humans make decisions across different domains, ranging from perceptual information, working memory to value. In various projects, we have investigated how people evaluate the quality of their decisions in perceptual decision-making and working-memory based decisions by confidence reports or uncertainty judgements. This instrospective knowledge of one's own decisions are critical in guiding peoples' actions, and is linked to various research topics in the field of psychology and neuroscience such as visual awareness and cognitive control. Ongoing and future projects in the lab explore various aspects of decision-making and metacognition.

Related publications

  • Li, H. H., Sprague, T. C., Yoo, A. H., Ma, W. J., & Curtis, C. E. (2021). Joint representation of working memory and uncertainty in human cortex. Neuron, 109(22), 3699-3712.

  • Li, H. H., & Ma, W. J. (2020). Confidence reports in decision-making with multiple alternatives violate the Bayesian confidence hypothesis. Nature communications, 11(1).

  • Chang, A., Chen, C. C., Li, H. H., & Li, C. S. R. (2014). Event-related potentials for post-error and post-conflict slowing. PloS one, 9(6), e99909.

Neural code of working memory and attention

Working memory (WM) and attention are two intertwined cognitive processes central to cognitive neuroscience. Working memory holds information internally online for an agent's current usage while attention allows the brain to selectively process information. We are interested in the computational principals and the neural substrates of WM and attention. In one line of research, we used fMRI and machine learning techniques to unveil how human cortex represents the content and uncertainty of items held in WM. In another line of research, we built models for population neural response to investigate how attention regulates competing visual information.

Related publications

  • Li, H. H., & Curtis, C. E. (2023). Neural population dynamics of human working memory. Current Biology, 33(17), 3775-3784.

  • Li, H. H., Sprague, T. C., Yoo, A. H., Ma, W. J., & Curtis, C. E. (2021). Joint representation of working memory and uncertainty in human cortex. Neuron, 109(22), 3699-3712.

  • Li, H. H., Rankin, J., Rinzel, J., Carrasco, M., & Heeger, D. J. (2017). Attention model of binocular rivalry. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(30), E6192-E6201.

  • Li, H. H., Carrasco, M., & Heeger, D. J. (2015). Deconstructing interocular suppression: Attention and divisive normalization. PLoS Computational Biology, 11(10), e1004510.

Eye movements in perception and cognition

Much of human visual experience results from moving our gaze to actively explore the visual world and gather information. By scanning the scene with saccadic eye movements, we bring relevant objects into our fovea, where visual information is processed with high precision. The link between eye movements and visual perception is so tight that perception is already facilitated before our gaze has reached a location of interest. We are interested how eye movements interact with other cognitive processes such as visual attention or working memory in various contexts.

Related publications

  • Li, H. H., Pan, J., & Carrasco, M. (2021). Different computations underlie overt presaccadic and covert spatial attention. Nature Human Behaviour, 5(10), 1418-1431.

  • Li, H. H., Hanning, N. M., & Carrasco, M. (2021). To look or not to look: dissociating presaccadic and covert spatial attention. Trends in neurosciences, 44(8), 669-686.

  • Li, H. H., Pan, J., & Carrasco, M. (2019). Presaccadic attention improves or impairs performance by enhancing sensitivity to higher spatial frequencies. Scientific Reports, 9(1), 2659.

  • Li, H. H., Barbot, A., & Carrasco, M. (2016). Saccade preparation reshapes sensory tuning. Current Biology, 26(12), 1564-1570.

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