School of Psychological & Behavioral Sciences · Southern Illinois University Carbondale
We are a cognitive science lab studying episodic memory, impulsivity, and decision-making — both to advance basic understanding of how these systems work, and to investigate what happens when they break down, with applications to problem gambling and behavioral health.
Our research combines behavioral experiments and cognitive paradigms to understand both the basic science and real-world implications of four interconnected areas.
How do people encode, store, and retrieve memories of specific events? We study the cognitive mechanisms of episodic memory — both as a fundamental system in its own right and for its role in future thinking and behavior.
Read more →Why do we often make choices that are not in our own best interest? We study impulsivity and self-control — how people weigh immediate rewards against future consequences, and how differences in that balance contribute to problem gambling and poor decision-making.
Read more →Why do people place bets they are more likely to lose than win? We study how people assign value to uncertain outcomes — and apply that understanding to sports betting behavior and the development of tools to support healthier decision-making.
Read more →Gambling has moved from casinos to smartphones, and sports betting — including microbetting on individual plays — is now woven into everyday life for young adults. We are developing a research program to study the psychology of mobile sports betting — why people bet, how often, and what distinguishes recreational from problematic behavior.
Read more →Associate Professor in the School of Psychological and Behavioral Sciences at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Doctoral training under Endel Tulving at the University of Toronto, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Rotman Research Institute.
Research interests span episodic memory, impulsivity and self-control, probability and risk, and the emerging psychology of mobile sports betting — with an emphasis on both basic cognitive science and real-world applications.
Joseph V. Brady Award for Significant Contributions to Behavioral Science — Society for the Quantitative Analysis of Behavior
Applying laboratory findings to real-world tools for gambling disorder prevention and behavioral research methods.
A science-based mobile application for supporting healthier sports betting behavior, grounded in the lab's research on impulsivity, self-control, and how people evaluate uncertain outcomes.
Learn more →An open-source ecological momentary assessment platform for behavioral researchers studying real-world behavior via mobile devices.
Learn more →We welcome inquiries from prospective graduate students, undergraduate researchers, and potential collaborators.
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