Faculty

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Pleskac Tim Pleskac
Assistant Professor
Ph.D. University of Maryland – College Park 2004
Masters University of Maryland – College Park 2002
Bachelors University of Iowa, Iowa City 2000
Primary Program: Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience
282A Psychology
(517) 353-8918
pleskact@msu.edu


Research Statement
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My research interests are in the cognitive and decision sciences. At this intersection, I seek to develop formal cognitive theories of judgment and decision making. My aim is to (a) understand how people–with their abilities and limitations–make judgments and decisions (e.g., Pleskac, 2007; Pleskac & Busemeyer, 2010); (b) understand how deficits in decision processes are associated with unsafe and unhealthy behaviors like drug abuse (e.g., Pleskac, 2008; Wallsten, Pleskac, & Lejuez, 2005); and (c) understand how decision processes shape micro- and macro-level phenomena like college withdrawal and other turnover phenomena (e.g., Pleskac et al., 2011). 


Related Research Websites
 description
Laboratory for Cognitive and Decision Sciences Using cognitive models to understand causes of risky behavior / Experience-based decision making / Cognitive Architecture of judgment and decision making


Research Publications    
  Title 
2013Pleskac, T. J. & Wershbale, A.* (in press). Making assessments while taking sequential risks. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
2013Pleskac, T. J., Kvam, P., & Yu, S., (in press). What’s the predicted outcome? Explanatory and predictive properties of the Quantum Probability framework? Behavioral & Brain Sciences.
2013Pleskac, T. J. (in press). Decision and Choice: Luce’s Choice Axiom. International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2nd Ed.
2012 Pleskac, T. J. (2012). Comparability effects in probability judgments. Psychological Science. 23(8), 848-854 DOI: 10.1177/0956797612439423
2012McAuley, J.D., Henry, M.J., Wedd, A., Pleskac, T.J., and Cesario, J. (2012). Effects of musicality and motivational orientation on auditory category learning: The role of regulatory fit. Memory & Cognition, 40, 231-251. DOI 10.3758/s13421-011-0146-4
2011Pleskac, T.J., Fandre, J.*, Merritt, S., Schmitt, N., & Oswald, F. (2011). A detection model of college withdrawal. Organizational Behavior & Human Decision Processes, 115, 85-98
2011Liu, T., & Pleskac, T. J. (2011). Neural correlates of evidence accumulation in a perceptual decision task. Journal of Neurophysiology, 106, 2383-2398
2010Pleskac, T.J., & Busemeyer, J. (2010). Two-Stage Dynamic Signal Detection: A theory of confidence, choice, and response time, 117(3), 864-901. Psychological Review.
2010Hertwig, R. & Pleskac, T. J. (2010). How small samples amplify perceived differences in decisions from experience. Cognition, 115, 225-237.
2010Hau, R., Pleskac, T. J., & Hertwig, R. (2010). Decisions from Experience and Statistical Probabilities: Why They Trigger Different Choices Than A Priori Probabilities? Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 23, 48-69.