Professor Jason Tangen

I'm a Professor of Cognitive Science at The University of Queensland, originally hailing from Alberta, Canada. I received my BASc in Philosophy and Psychology from The University of Lethbridge, my PhD in Psychology from McMaster University, and held a postdoctoral fellowship at UNSW before joining UQ in 2006.

Much of our work is at the intersection of cognitive science and artificial intelligence, exploring how generative AI can enhance learning and cognition. We're excited about the potential for these tools to provide personalised feedback, correct misconceptions, and create more engaging educational experiences.

But we’re not just focused on AI. We also explore the quirks of human thinking, particularly the biases that shape our judgments in contexts ranging from daily life to high-stakes decision-making. By unraveling these mental shortcuts, we aim to develop strategies that enable clearer thinking, more effective reasoning, and ultimately, wiser choices in the face of complexity and uncertainty.

I've been lucky to work with some truly brilliant students and collaborators over the years. It's a pleasure to come to the lab every day and tackle these fascinating questions together.

Lab Group 2024

Current Primary PhD Supervision

Lachlan Brown AI tutors as “metacognitive pumps” for learning and calibrating confidence
Jade Butterworth Predicting and enhancing resilience in forensic, policing, and frontline personnel
Brynlea Gibson Balancing efficiency with equity: Exploring the impact of AI-driven tutors on learning in higher education
Ryan Jesson Does bullshit detection come from the gut? Investigating the role of analytic thinking in the detection of pseudo-profound bullshit

Previous Primary PhD Supervision

Brooklyn Corbett 2024 Reverse engineering expertise in fingerprint identification
Hilary Grimmer 2023 When “Aha!” Moments are wrong: A new paradigm for experimentally induced false insights
Samuel Robson 2022 The relationship between visual expertise and learned attention
Gianni Ribeiro 2020 Communicating error and expertise in forensic expert testimony
Ruben Laukkonen 2018 The phenomenology of truth the psychological functions of the insight experience
Rachel Searston 2016 The emergence of expertise with novel objects
Wen Wu 2014 Natural categorisation on the basis of style non analytic concept learning of natural scenes
Matthew Thompson 2013 On expertise in fingerprint identification

Previous Honours Students

Lena Hall 2024 Can insight dimensions and propensity predict paranormal beliefs and conspiracy mentality?
Noah Rose 2024 Does personalised feedback by generative artificial intelligence improve learning outcomes?
Rick Hoefnagels 2024 Decoding the Exponential Growth Bias
Brynlea Gibson 2023 Can insight moments increase brand appeal for consumers?
Zoe Goldthorpe 2023 Bridging the 2-sigma gap: Exploring the efficacy of generative artificial intelligence as a personalised tutoring tool
Nanna Thomsen 2023 Re-evaluating the cognitive reflection test: Cognitive load impairs test performance
Lachlan Brown 2022 The role of fingerprint variation for the development of fingerprint expertise
Paul Prudon 2022 Expert bang-for-buck: The influence of different feature information on novice recognition memory accuracy for fingerprints
Amy Cramb 2021 Effects of information breadth on trust and pro-environmental behavioural intentions
Kaitlin Moat 2021 Is seeing really believing? How media type affects truth judgements
Team Thesis 2020 Developing a masterclass on cognitive forensics
Luke Gao 2018 Considering the alternative a training method to improve expertise with fingerprints
Hilary Grimmer 2018 Can eliciting feelings of insight influence judgements of fake news
Naomi Hunt 2018 The role of feature lists in fingerprint identification
Kenyon Turner 2018 Cause and effect: Investigating the efficacy of causal mechanisms for improving fingerprint identification discriminability
Brooklyn Corbett 2017 The role of progressive challenge in the development of perceptual expertise
Daniel Ingledew 2017 Objective Aha! moments: Measuring insight using a dynamometer
Kirsty Kent 2017 Harnessing our hidden wisdom: Making use of crowds in fingerprint identification
Benjamin Matthews 2017 Deep structure in visual category learning
Ryan Metcalfe 2017 A handful of identities: Examining the nature of identity categorisation in fingerprints
Yinnam Chan 2016 How does image resolution affect memory confidence bias and response time judgements of visual category membership?
Luke French 2016 Pixels in place of pictures: Exploring the effect of image resolution on discrimination between visual categories
Samuel Robson 2016 Faces from different dimensions: The role of distinctiveness in the flashed face distortion effect
Liuissa Zhen 2016 Effects of practice testing on learning to discriminate visual categories
Jessica Marris 2015 From novice to expert: Investigating the effect of exemplars on learning
Freya Young 2015 Domain specificity vs generality: What upside-down fingerprints can tell us
Jessica Baird 2012 Investigating the nature of fingerprint expertise
Charles Driver 2012 Memory for choices
Hannah Haysom 2012 Could Comic Sans make you smarter? An exploration of the effects of disfluency on learning outcomes
Ruben Laukkonen 2012 Pupil dilation as a physiological indicator of perceptual expertise
Rachel Searston 2012 Guilty by association: An investigation of bias in fingerprint identification
Elise Jones 2011 Fingerprint identification: The biasing effect of search strategy
Jane Sexton 2011 Proficiency Tests in forensic science: A step towards identifying expertise
Billy Sung 2011 When pretty girls turn ugly: The flash face distortion effect
Cindy Theresiana 2011 Associative learning under a low level of contingency awareness and its implication in brand image formation
Alice Towler 2011 Charts and fingerprints: A match made in court
Elizabeth Whitehouse 2011 An investigation into disfluency effects: Depth of learning and affective outcomes
Sean Murphy 2010 Recognising faces with low levels of information
Jacqueline Seah 2010 The effect of context on brand choice
Merryn Constable 2009 Simplifying learning: Bridging the gap between expression and comprehension
Kathleen Ivison 2009 The underlying processes involved in fingerprint identification
Bridie James 2009 Forming attitudes under a low level of awareness
Renée Treloar 2009 Lineup and be counted: The role of memory and presentation mode in the perception and judgement of fingerprints
Katherine Woodward 2009 Investigating the cheater and danger frameworks using a change detection task
Phillip Gee 2008 The perception of fingerprints: Style over specifics
Carly Seymour 2008 The preliminary psychophysics of shoeprint identification
Wen Wu 2008 Visual discrimination on the basis of style: Evaluation of low levels of awareness in human discrimination
Stephanie Goodhew 2007 Judgements of style: People, pigeons, and Picasso
David Miles 2007 A flexible interpretation of events: The effects of outliers, expectancy and the causal model on human contingency judgements
Roxana Pearson 2007 When more causes less: An examination of people s intuitive judgements of negative continuous relationships
Stephen Rollings 2007 Similar causes similar effects: How causal judgements are influenced by similarity