Professor Philip Smith
B.A. (Hons), (Adel.) Ph.D. (Adel.)
Professor of Quantitative and Mathematical Psychology
Head of School
Contact details:
| email:hod-psych AT unimelb.edu.au | |
| telephone: +61 3 8344 6378 |
My main area of research is mathematical models of visual information processing. The aim of this research is to understand the cognitive mechanisms involved in translating perception into action. My theoretical and experimental work investigates perceptual encoding mechanisms, selective attention, decision mechanisms and the relationships among them. It is also concerned to understand how these mechanisms are implemented neurally. I also do research on communication processes in negotiation. This research aims to identify the features of the communication between negotiating parties that promote or impede the attainment of high-quality outcomes. I joined the Psychology Department at the University of Melbourne in 1993. Before then I lectured at the University of Otago in New Zealand, and was a National Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide. I have held visiting appointments at Northwestern University, Purdue University and The University of California, Irvine, in the United States.
Research Interests:
- Attention, Decision-Making, Response Times, Mathematical Psychology
- Vision and Attention Laboratory
- Trust, Deception, and Communication Processes in Negotiation
- Negotiation and Interactive Behaviour Laboratory
Professional Associations, Memberships & Awards:
Memberships
- The Society for Mathematical Psychology
- The Psychonomic Society
- Associate Editor, Journal of Mathematical Psychology
Awards
- Winner of the Society for Mathematical Psychology's Outstanding Paper Award (1999-2001).
Recent Funded Research:
| Project: | A theory of attention and decision-making in multi-attribute and multi-object perceptual judgements. |
| Year: | 2011-2013 |
| Funded by: | Australian Research Council Discovery Grant |
| Project: | Currencies of exchange: Social utility functions and strategic decisions in negotiation |
| Year: | 2010-2012 |
| Funded by: | Australian Research Council Discovery Grant |
| Project: | An integrated theory of attention and decision making |
| Year: | 2008-2010 |
| Funded by: | Australian Research Council Discovery Grant |
| Project: | A relational model of strategic choice in negotiation |
| Year: | 2007-2009 |
| Funded by: | Australian Research Council Discovery Grant |
Selected Recent Publications:
Papers in Attention, Decision-Making, Response Times and Mathematical Psychology:
Sewell, D. K., & Smith, P. L. (in press). Attentional control in visual signal detection: Effects of abrupt-onset and no-onset stimuli. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance.
Smith, P. L., & McKenzie, C. R. L. (2011). Diffusive information accumulation by minimal recurrent neural models of decision-making. Neural Computation, 23, 2000-2031.
Ratcliff, R., Hasegawa, Y., Hasegawa, Y., Childers, R., Smith, P. L., & Segraves, M. (2011). Inhibition in superior colliculus neurons in a brightness discrimination task? Neural Computation, 23, 1790-1820.
Smith, P. L., Ellis, R., Sewell, D. K., & Wolfgang, B. J. (2010). Cued detection with compound integration-interruption masks reveals multiple attentional mechanisms. Journal of Vision, 10(5):3, 1-28.
Smith, P. L. (2010). From Poisson shot noise to the integrated Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process: Neurally-principled models of diffusive evidence accumulation in decision-making and response time. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 54, 266-283.
Smith, P. L. (2010). Attention and the detection of weak visual signals. In V. Coltheart (Ed). Tutorials in Visual Cognition (pp. 211-259), Hove, Sussex: Psychology Press.
Ratcliff, R., & Smith, P. L. (2010). Perceptual discrimination in static and dynamic noise: The temporal relationship between perceptual encoding and decision making. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 132, 73-94.
Smith, P. L., & Ratcliff, R. (2009). An integrated theory of attention and decision making in visual signal detection. Psychological Review, 116, 283-317.
Liu, C. C., Wolfgang, B. J., & Smith, P. L. (2009). Attentional mechanisms in simple visual detection: A speed-accuracy tradeoff analysis. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 35, 1329-1345.
Liu, C. C., & Smith, P. L. (2009). Comparing time-accuracy curves: Beyond goodness-of-fit measures. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 16, 190-203.
Smith, P. L., Lee, Y-E., Wolfgang, B. J., & Ratcliff, R. (2009). Attention and the detection of masked radial frequency patterns: Data and model. Vision Research, 49, 1363-1377.
Gould, I.C., Wolfgang, B. J., & Smith, P.L. (2007). Spatial uncertainty explains endogenous and exogenous cuing effects in visual signal detection. Journal of Vision, 7, 13(4), 1-17.
Smith, P.L., & Wolfgang, B. J. (2007). Attentional mechanisms in visual signal detection: Effects of simultaneous and delayed noise and pattern masks. Perception & Psychophysics, 69, 1093-1104.
Ratcliff, R., Hasegawa, Y., Hasegawa, R., Smith, P. L., & Segraves, M., (2007). A dual diffusion model for single cell recording data from the superior colliculus in a brightness discrimination task. Journal of Neurophysiology, 97, 1756-1797.
Brown, S. D., Ratcliff, R., & Smith, P. L. (2006). Evaluating methods for approximating stochastic differential equations. Journal of Mathemathical Psychology, 50, 390-401.
Ratcliff, R., Thapar, A., Smith, P. L., & McKoon, G. (2005). Aging and response times. In J. Duncan, L. Phillips, & P. McLeod (Eds). Measuring the Mind (pp. 3-32).Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Smith, P.L., Wolfgang, B.J., & Sinclair, A.B. (2004). Mask-dependent cuing effects in visual signal detection: The psychometric function for contrast. Perception & Psychophysics, 66, 1056-1075.
Smith, P. L., Ratcliff, R., & Wolfgang, B.J. (2004). Attention orienting and the time course of perceptual decisions: response time distributions with masked and unmasked displays. Vision Research, 44, 1297-1320.
Smith, P.L., & Ratcliff, R. (2004). Psychology and neurobiology of simple decisions. Trends in Neurosciences, 27, 161-168.
Smith, P.L. & Wolfgang B.J. (2004). The attentional dynamics of masked detection. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 30, 119-136.
Ratcliff, R., & Smith, P. L. (2004). A comparison of sequential-sampling models for two choice reaction time. Psychological Review, 111, 333-367.
Papers in Trust, Deception, and Communication Processes in Negotiation:
Olekalns, M., & Smith, P. L. (2009). Mutually dependent: Power, trust, affect and the use of deception in negotiation. Journal of Business Ethics, 85, 347-365.
Druckman, D., Olekalns, M., & Smith, P. L. (2009). Interpretive filters: Social cognition and the impact of turning points in negotiation, Negotiation Journal, 28, 13-40.
Weingart, L. R., Brett, J. M., Olekalns, M., & Smith, P. L. (2007). Conflicting social motives in negotiation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93, 944-1010
Olekalns, M., & Smith, P. L. (2007). Loose with the truth: Predicting deception in negotiation. Journal of Business Ethics, 76, 225-238.
Olekalns, M., Lau, F., & Smith, P. L. (2007). Resolving the empty core: Trust as determinant of outcomes in three-party negotiations. Group Decision and Negotiation, 16, 527-538.
Smith, P.L., Olekalns, M., & Weingart, L. (2006). Markov chain analyses of communication processes in negotiation. In Carnevale, P.J., & De Dreu, C.K.W. (Eds.) Methods of Negotiation Research (pp. 257-272). Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
Weingart, L., Olekalns, M., & Smith, P.L. (2006). Quantitative coding of negotiation processes. In Carnevale, P.J., & De Dreu, C.K.W. (Eds.) Methods of Negotiation Research (pp.105-119). Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
Olekalns, M., & Smith, P. L. (2005). Cognitive representations of negotiation. Australian Journal of Management, 30, 57-76.
Olekalns, M., Roberts, C., Probst, T., Smith, P. L., & Carnevale, P. (2005). The Impact of Message Frame on Negotiators' Social Judgments, Moods and Behavior. International Journal of Conflict Management, 16, 379-402.
Smith, P. L., Olekalns, M., & Weingart, L. (2005). Markov chain analysis of communication processes in negotiation. International Negotiation, 10, 97-114.
Weingart, L., Olekalns, M., & Smith, P. L. (2005). Quantitative coding of negotiation processes. International Negotiation, 9, 441-456.
Olekalns, M., & Smith, P. L. (2004). Social motives in negotiation: The relationship between dyad composition, strategy sequences and outcomes. International Journal of Conflict Management, 13, 233-254.
Olekalns M., & Smith, P. L. (2003). Testing a three-way relationship among negotiators’ motivational orientations, strategy choices, and outcomes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 39, 101-117.
Recently Completed PhD Students:
Ryan Maloney
Thesis: Neural and Psychophysical Dynamics of Visual Attention and Short-term Memory
Charles Liu
Thesis: Attentional Mechanisms in Simple Visual Detection
Benedict Williams
Thesis: Cognitive Complexity and the Dynamics of Temporal Pattern Production
Bradley Wolfgang
Thesis: Are Attentional Effects in the Attentional Blink and Spatial Cuing Paradigms Mediated by Common Mechanisms?