Research groups
Collaborators
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Christopher Summerfield
Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience
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Eleanor Holton
Postdoctoral Researcher
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Tsvetomira Dumbalska
Postdoctoral Researcher
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Jessica Thompson
Postdoctoral Researcher
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Kai Sandbrink
DPhil Candidate
Colleges
Brian Christian
DPhil Candidate
I’m a 2nd-year DPhil Candidate, supervised by Christopher Summerfield of Experimental Psychology and co-supervised by Jakob Foerster of Engineering Science. My research interests are in the places where psychology and engineering meet: I’m interested in computational models of human cognition, in the structure and representation of human rewards and goals, and in reward models and reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF) as promising, but incomplete, tools for operationalizing notions of human norms, preferences, and values.
Key publications
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Revealing priors on category structures through iterated learning
Conference paper
Griffiths TL. et al, (2006)
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The Alignment Problem Machine Learning and Human Values
Book
Christian B., (2020)
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Computational Frameworks for Human Care
Journal article
Christian B., (2025), Daedalus, 154, 183 - 197
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Using category structures to test iterated learning as a method for identifying inductive biases.
Journal article
Griffiths TL. et al, (2008), Cogn Sci, 32, 68 - 107
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How do Humans Overcome Individual Computational Limitations by Working Together?
Journal article
Vélez N. et al, (2023), Cogn Sci, 47
Recent publications
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Using adaptive intrinsic motivation in RL to model learning across development
Conference paper
Sandbrink KJ. et al, (2025)
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Computational Frameworks for Human Care
Journal article
Christian B., (2025), Daedalus, 154, 183 - 197
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Personhood credentials: Artificial intelligence and the value of privacy-preserving tools to distinguish who is real online
Report
Adler S. et al, (2024)
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Can reinforcement learning model learning across development? Online lifelong learning through adaptive intrinsic motivation
Conference paper
Butlin P. et al, (2024)
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How do Humans Overcome Individual Computational Limitations by Working Together?
Journal article
Vélez N. et al, (2023), Cogn Sci, 47