Contact information
+44 (0)1865 271389
http://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/research/attention-cognitive-control-lab/
Nick Yeung
BA (Hons) PhD
Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience
- Tutorial Fellow, University College
Cognitive and neural basis of human learning, memory and attention
Research Summary
My research investigates the cognitive and brain mechanisms of human attention, memory, and decision making.
A major focus of my current research is how people evaluate their choices and decisions: People are often aware of their own mistakes even without feedback, and may be more or less confident in choices they have made. I am interested in the computational and neural basis of these evaluations, their reliability, and their uses in guiding people’s decisions and learning.
Another longstanding interest of mine is how people focus on a particular task and switch flexibly between different tasks as required. For example, projects in my lab have shown that practice can have surprisingly limited effects on the ability to switch between tasks, and that EEG ‘brainwaves’ can be used to reliably identify periods of mind wandering and distraction during extended task performance.
My group conducts basic lab science, and also explores potential applications of our findings. For example, our research is relevant to clinical issues in mental health—we are currently testing whether problems with attention predict outcomes in patients with depression. Our findings also have novel practical applications—we are using our EEG measures of attention to build devices that can help people avoid drifting off-task (e.g., during driving).
Key publications
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Subjective Confidence Predicts Information Seeking in Decision Making.
Journal article
Desender K. et al, (2018), Psychol Sci, 29, 761 - 778
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The impact of evidence reliability on sensitivity and bias in decision confidence.
Journal article
Boldt A. et al, (2017), J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform, 43, 1520 - 1531
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Shared neural markers of decision confidence and error detection.
Journal article
Boldt A. and Yeung N., (2015), J Neurosci, 35, 3478 - 3484
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Motivation of extended behaviors by anterior cingulate cortex.
Journal article
Holroyd CB. and Yeung N., (2012), Trends Cogn Sci, 16, 122 - 128
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Metacognition in human decision-making: confidence and error monitoring.
Journal article
Yeung N. and Summerfield C., (2012), Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 367, 1310 - 1321
Recent publications
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Cognitive neuroscience of metacognition
Chapter
Friedemann M. et al, (2022), The SAGE Handbook of Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience Volume 2: Cognitive Systems, Development and Applications
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Benefits of spontaneous confidence alignment between dyad members
Journal article
Pescetelli N. and YEUNG N., (2022), Collective Intelligence
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Alpha oscillations and stimulus-evoked activity dissociate metacognitive reports of attention, visibility and confidence in a rapid visual detection task
Journal article
Davidson MJ. et al, (2022), Journal of Vision
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Flexible use of confidence to guide advice requests
Journal article
Carlebach N. and YEUNG N., (2022), Cognition
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Coproducing a library of videos to support families caring for children with gastrostomies: A mixed-methods evaluation with family carers and clinicians.
Journal article
Page B. et al, (2022), Health Expect