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Jonathan D. Nelson, Online Papers

(My Google Scholar page may be the very most up to date. Please email me, at jonathan.d.nelson@gmail.com, for anything missing. Questions, ideas, and critiques are always welcome.)

Schulz, E.; Bertram, L.; Hofer, M.; Nelson, J. D. (submitted). Exploring the space of human exploration.    (RXiv preprint)  

Nelson, J. D.; Meder, B.; Jones, M. (submitted). Towards a theory of heuristic and optimal planning for sequential information search.    (RXiv preprint)  

Wu, CM; Schulz, E; Speekenbrink, M; Nelson, JD; Meder, B (2018). Generalization guides human exploration in vast decision spaces.    Nature Human Behavior.   doi:10.1038/s41562-018-0467-4   (pdf)   (RXiv preprint)  

Coenen, A; Nelson, JD; Gureckis, TM (2018). Asking the right questions about the psychology of human inquiry: Nine open challenges.    Psychonomic Bulletin and Review.   (pdf)   doi:10.3758/s13423-018-1470-5  

Crupi, V; Nelson, JD; Meder, B; Cevolani, G; Tentori, K (2018). Generalized Information Theory Meets Human Cognition: Introducing a Unified Framework to Model Uncertainty and Information Search.    Cognitive Science, 42, 1410-1456.   (pdf)   doi:10.1111/cogs.12613  

Knauber, HM; Schray, HH; Meder, B; Martignon, LM; Nelson, JD (2017). Informationssuche im Mathematikunterricht der Grundschule: Zahlenspiele und Fabelwesen als mšgliches Lern-Lehrarrangement. (Information search in mathematics teaching in primary school: Number games and mythical creatures as a possible learning-teaching arrangement).   MNU Journal, 6, 375-382.   (pdf)  

Wu, CM; Schulz, E; Speekenbrink, M; Nelson, JD; Meder, B (2017). Mapping the unknown: The spatially correlated multi-armed bandit.   Proceedings of the 2017 Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.   (pdf)  

Wong, THJ; Nelson, JD; Schooler, LJ (2017). Sequential search behavior changes according to distribution shape despite having a rank-based goal.   Proceedings of the International Conference on Cognitive Modeling.   (pdf)  

Jarecki, J; Meder, B; Nelson, JD (2017). Naïve and robust: Class-conditional independence in human classification learning.   Cognitive Science.   (pdf)   doi:10.1111/cogs.12496  

Wu, CM; Meder, B; Filimon, F; Nelson, JD (2017). Asking better questions: How presentation formats influence information search.   Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition.   (.pdf)   doi:10.1037/xlm0000374   

Moussaid, M; Nelson, JD (2014). Simple heuristics and the modeling of crowd behaviours.   Pedestrians and Evacuation Dynamics (PED), 75-90. (publisher link) (accepted pdf)

Nelson, JD; Divjak, B; Gudmundsdottir, G; Martignon, LF; Meder, B (2014). Children's sequential information search is sensitive to environmental probabilities.   Cognition,  130,   74-80.    doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2013.09.007    (science direct version)  

Jarecki, J; Meder, B; Nelson, JD (2013). The assumption of class-conditional independence in category learning.   Proceedings of the 35th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society,  Berlin, Germany. (.pdf) 

Filimon, F; Philiastides, M; Nelson, JD; Kloosterman, N; Heekeren, H (2013). How embodied is perceptual decision making?— Evidence for separate processing of perceptual and motor decisions.   Journal of Neuroscience, 33(5), 2121-2136  (.pdf)  (accepted .pdf) 

Meder, BM; Nelson, JD (2012). Information search with situation-specific reward functions. Judgment and Decision Making, 7(2), 119-148.  (.pdf) (.html)

Nelson, JD; McKenzie, CRM; Cottrell, GW; Sejnowski, TJ (2010). Experience matters: information acquisition optimizes probability gain. Psychological Science, 21(7), 960-969.  (.pdf) (.doc)

Nelson, JD & McKenzie, CRM (2009). Confirmation bias. In M. Kattan (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Medical Decision Making, pp. 167-171. London, UK: Sage. (.doc) (.pdf)

Filimon, F; Nelson, JD; Huang, R.-S.; Sereno, M. I. (2009). Multiple parietal reach regions in humans: cortical representations for visual and proprioceptive feedback during online reaching. Journal of Neuroscience, 29(9), 2961-2971 (pdf) (doi)

Nelson, JD (2009). Naļve optimality: Subjects' heuristics can be better-motivated than experimenters' optimal models. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32, 94-95. (comment) (article)

Nelson, JD (2008). Conversations on cognitivism and the study of language. Cognitive Science Online, 6, 45-60. (pdf)

Nelson, JD (2008). Towards a rational theory of human information acquisition. In Oaksford, M & Chater, N (Eds.), The probabilistic mind: Prospects for rational models of cognition (pp. 143-163). Oxford: Oxford University Press. (pdf)

Filimon, F; Nelson, JD; Hagler, DJ; Sereno, MI (2007). Human cortical representations for reaching: mirror neurons for execution, observation, and imagery. NeuroImage, 37(4), 1315-1328.   (pdf) (doi) (accepted)

Nelson, JD; Cottrell, GW (2007).   A probabilistic model of eye movements in concept formation.  Neurocomputing, 70, 2256-2272. (article) (accepted) (doi)

Nelson, JD (2005). Finding useful questions: on Bayesian diagnosticity, probability, impact and information gain.  Psychological Review, 112(4), 979-999.  (pdf 400k) (supplement 150k)

Nelson, JD (2005). Optimal Experimental Design as a Theory of Perceptual and Cognitive Information Acquisition. PhD dissertation, Cognitive Science Department, University of California, at San Diego. (pdf of chapter 1)

McKenzie, CRM; Nelson, JD (2003). What a speaker's choice of frame reveals: Reference points, frame selection, and framing effects.  Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 10(3), 596-602.   (pdf 180k)   (doi)

Movellan, JR; Nelson, JD (2001). Probabilistic functionalism: a unifying paradigm for cognitive science. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24(4), 690-692.   (pdf 266k)

Nelson, JD; Tenenbaum, JB; Movellan, JR (2001). Active inference in concept learning. In J. D. Moore & K. Stenning (Eds.), Proceedings of the 23rd Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 692-697. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.   (conf pdf)   (my pdf)

Nelson, JD; Movellan, JR (2001) Active inference in concept learning. Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems, 13, 45-51.   (pdf)   (ps.gz 400k)

Selected published abstracts

Filimon, F., Nelson, J., & Sereno, M. (2007, May). Human fMRI of tactile spatial representations. Journal of Vision, 7(9):301, 301a, doi:10.1167/7.9.301.

Nelson, J. D., McKenzie, C., Cottrell, G., & Sejnowski, T. (2007, May). Towards a descriptive theory of value of information in categorization tasks: implications for theories of eye movement and information search. Journal of Vision, 7(9):960, 960a, doi:10.1167/7.9.960.

Nelson, J. D., & Cottrell, G. W. (2006, May). An optimal experimental design model of information acquisition on a classic concept learning task. Journal of Vision, 6(6):489, 489a, doi:10.1167/6.6.489.

Filimon, F., Nelson, J. D., & Sereno, M. I. (2006, May). Egocentric and allocentric reference frames for eye movements -- an fMRI study. Journal of Vision, 6(6):979, 979a, doi:10.1167/6.6.979.

Filimon, F., Nelson, J. D., & Sereno, M. I. (2005, May). Parietal cortex involvement in visually guided, non-visually guided, observed, and imagined reaching, compared to saccades. Journal of Vision, 5(8), 629a, http://journalofvision.org/5/8/629/, doi:10.1167/5.8.629. (abstract)

Nelson, JD; Cottrell, GW; Movellan, JR; Sereno, MI (2004, May). Yarbus lives: a foveated exploration of saccadic eye movement. Journal of Vision, 4(8), 741 (abstract).    Vision Science Society conference, Sarasota, Florida. (.pdf poster 55 Mb)