Research Overview
We investigate how emotions guide social cognition and behavior. Rather than viewing emotions as irrational noise, our lab approaches emotions as vital, information-processing signals. We study how these signals translate environmental contexts and interpersonal dynamics into choices.
Building on computational frameworks of emotion and behavior, our research explores how affect actively constructs the processes underlying human decision-making, with a special focus on social dynamics.
Affective Prediction Errors and Cognition
How does the gap between how we expect to feel and how we actually feel shape our choices? We explore how these affective prediction errors drive learning, cognition, and everyday decision-making, including the separable neural mechanisms tracking emotion and reward as distinct computational signals, evaluated on different timescales. Outside the lab, we believe these same signals shape real-world behavior and we use smartphone platforms to understand how these signals guide which activities people turn to after an emotional surprise.
Emotion and Interpersonal Decision-Making
How do emotions computationally inform and represent “value” when we interact with others, especially during competitive social interactions? We use a generalizable framework to understand the precise computational models by which emotions influence social choices, and how moral norms constrain that flexibility. For example, when someone is treated unfairly, how the resulting emotion alters the threshold between choosing to punish or forgive; more broadly, how emotionally framed messages can nudge people toward cooperative choices.
Language, AI, and Social Dynamics
How does the language we use shape our affective experiences and behavior? We study emotional language in real-time social interactions to see how linguistic patterns predict mental health outcomes and behaviors. As technology evolves, we’re also exploring how natural language conversations with AI shape emotional dynamics and social behavior.