Dr Julie Chow

My research focuses on the effects of uncertainty and ambiguity on attentional capture, causal learning and belief formation. I am particularly interested in understanding how informational uncertainty guides our attention, shaping what we learn and what decisions we subsequently make. This is pertinent when trying to understand how people come to form specific (sometimes false) beliefs in a complex and variable environment. My research utilises a multifaceted approach to understanding psychological phenomena, including behavioural experiments, eye-tracking and computational modelling. Additionally, I engage in applied research, specifically in understanding how cognitive biases in learning might underpin real-world pseudoscientific thinking and misinformation in health.