Research Interests
- Decision Making
- Cognitive Modeling
- Planning & Strategic Thinking
- Information Integration
- Behavioral Economics
Research Description
I study how people make decisions. I am particularly interested in complex choice scenarios, where people must, for example, search for information, learn from experience, or plan for the future. Much of my work takes a cognitive perspective, with the goal of explaining the decision process in terms of psychological constructs such as attention, perception, learning, and memory.
Through a combination of behavioral experiments and computational modeling, I develop and test new theories of decision making. I mathematically formalize these theories as computational models that I compare and select according to various methods. In doing so, my work links traditional research domains in Psychology, Economics, Marketing, Management, Game Design, AI, and Public Policy.
My lab is currently recruiting undergraduate research assistants with computer programming experience. Please fill out this online application if you are interested in becoming a research assistant.
Education
Ph.D., Indiana University
Courses Taught
Decisions & Judgments
Computational Cognitive Modeling
Learning & Decision Making
Honors & Awards
Bruno de Finetti Prize, European Association for Decision Making (2015)
Highlighted Publications
Vanunu, Y., Hotaling, J. M., Le Pelley, M. E., & Newell, B. R. (2021). How top-down and bottom-up attention modulate risky choice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118(39), [e2025646118]. https://doi.org/10.1073/PNAS.2025646118
Hotaling, J. M., Donkin, C., Jarvstad, A., & Newell, B. R. (2022). MEM-EX: An exemplar memory model of decisions from experience. Cognitive Psychology, 138, [101517]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogpsych.2022.101517
Hotaling, J. M. (2020). Decision field theory-planning: A cognitive model of planning on the fly in multistage decision making. Decision, 7(1), 20-42. https://doi.org/10.1037/dec0000113
Vanunu, Y., Hotaling, J. M., & Newell, B. R. (2020). Elucidating the differential impact of extreme-outcomes in perceptual and preferential choice. Cognitive Psychology, 119, [101274]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogpsych.2020.101274
Hotaling, J. M., Jarvstad, A., Donkin, C., & Newell, B. R. (2019). How to Change the Weight of Rare Events in Decisions From Experience. Psychological Science, 30(12), 1767-1779. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619884324
Recent Publications
DeCaro, D. A., DeCaro, M. S., Hotaling, J. M., & Appel, R. (2022). Formalizing the fundamental Faustian bargain: Inefficacious decision-makers sacrifice their freedom of choice to coercive leaders for economic security. PloS one, 17(9 September), e0275265. [e0275265]. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0275265
Hotaling, J. M., & Kellen, D. (Accepted/In press). Dynamic decision making: Empirical and theoretical directions: Empirical and theoretical directions. In K. D. Federmeier (Ed.), Psychology of Learning and Motivation - Advances in Research and Theory (pp. 207-238). (Psychology of Learning and Motivation - Advances in Research and Theory). Academic Press Inc.. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.plm.2022.03.004
Hotaling, J. M., Donkin, C., Jarvstad, A., & Newell, B. R. (2022). MEM-EX: An exemplar memory model of decisions from experience. Cognitive Psychology, 138, [101517]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogpsych.2022.101517
Hotaling, J. M., Navarro, D. J., & Newell, B. R. (2021). Skilled Bandits: Learning to Choose in a Reactive World. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition, 47(6), 879-905. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000981
Vanunu, Y., Hotaling, J. M., Le Pelley, M. E., & Newell, B. R. (2021). How top-down and bottom-up attention modulate risky choice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118(39), [e2025646118]. https://doi.org/10.1073/PNAS.2025646118