June 2017 NUI Galway Conference Explores the Science of Decision Making

How decision making impacts both business and science will be discussed at 36^th meeting of the European Group of Process Tracing Studies in Judgement and Decision Making

Decision making is part of everyday life. The science behind how and why we make certain decisions will be the focus of a conference at NUI Galway from 22-24 June. Studies on delayed gratification, consumer decision making and how our emotions impact our decisions will be discussed by world-leaders in the field.

The 36th meeting of the European Group of Process Tracing Studies in Judgement and Decision Making (EGPROC) is an annual gathering of researchers investigating the fundamental psychological processes involved in decision making. For instance, how do we know what options are available to us and how do we compare these options when making decisions?

To understand these psychological processes, researchers use a variety of technical approaches. Some researchers track how we move our hands and eyes during decision making. Other researchers measure brain activity during decision making. Some researchers even ask their participants to talk aloud when making complex decisions. In addition to presenting the latest advances in the field, the meeting aims to facilitate the transfer of best practice in these technical approaches across laboratories to support the development of the next generation of decision making researchers.

Dr Denis O’Hora from the School of Psychology at NUI Galway, says: “When we move as we are making decisions, it is possible for decision processes to affect our movements. This satisfies everyday intuitions. For example, negotiators and poker players claim to be attuned to ‘tells,’ early behavioural indicators of eventual decisions. The current conference goes beyond intuitions, however, using detailed experiments to highlight how we make decisions.”

Conference organiser, Dr Arkady Zgonnikov from the School of Psychology at NUI Galway, Irish Research Council Government of Ireland postdoctoral fellow, said: “To truly understand human decisions we believe it’s important to go beyond what we choose and look closely at how we arrive at our decisions. That’s what this conference is all about.”

Dr Zgonnikov added: “We are especially proud to have as a keynote speaker, Professor Neil Stewart of Warwick University, one of the world’s leading experts on eye movements in decision making. Although the conference is relatively small, we are very excited to host it and we look forward to welcoming the participants to Galway this summer.”

The conference is sponsored by the European Association for Decision Making (EADM) and will take place in the Aula Maxima at NUI Galway on 22-24 June at 2pm.

For full conference details, visit: http://www.conference.ie/Conferences/index.asp?Conference=508

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