People

Steve Read

Steve was trained as a social psychologist, but has had a long standing interest in the use of computational models, particularly neural network models, to develop theory and to make predictions about human social behavior and reasoning. He has also sought to integrate work in Cognitive Science on representation and computational processes (e.g., coherence and constraint satisfaction) into his work. Recently, a focus on the role of neurobiological processes, such as the ventral striatal dopaminergic reward processing system, has became a central part of his attempts to understand social reasoning and behavior.

His work is highly integrative and seeks to build a broad model of the cognitive, motivational, neurobiological, and computational underpinnings of human social reasoning and behavior.

Xiao Liu

Xiao is mainly interested in the study of impaired reward processing, namely anhedonia. She is interested in elucidating the impact of anhedonia on disorders such as depression and substance use. She uses a combination of survey, psychophysiological, and functional neuroimaging methods to study these processes.

Alice Qiao

Alice is a fifth-year Ph.D. student working with Dr. Stephen Read. She studies motivation and decision-making in everyday social contexts. Her current research focuses on legal judgment, and fear of peer rejection. She has recently developed a web based game that can be used to study a number of factors influencing the impact of peer rejection

Contact Alice at aqiao@usc.edu

Yema Conteh

I am a third-year Ph.D. student broadly interested in judgment and decision-making, risk perception, and risk communication in the context of climate change and sustainability. In 2019, I received a B.S. in Psychology and a minor in Gender and Sexuality Studies, with coursework focusing on gender and sustainability from the University of California, Riverside (UCR). Following graduation from UCR, I spent two years working on outreach initiatives that sought to understand and address climate vulnerability, advance public health, and promote community resiliency. My research is now centered around understanding how people make decisions relating to climate change and sustainability, how people perceive climate change risks, such as extreme heat, as well as how to effectively communicate those risks to people to promote adaptive behaviors, climate policy, and community resiliency.

Avisha

Avisha is a Ph.D. student in Social Psychology working with Prof. Stephen Read. She received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. She is interested in the neuroscience of emotions and social perception, focusing specifically on understanding the heterogeneity within these behaviors and experiences.

Contact Avisha at avisha@usc.edu

April (Chaodan) Luo

I would like to develop theoretical frameworks or computational models to analyze and simulate human emotions and social interactions. Then I would extend research to the design of artificial intelligence models, investigating AI-driven emotional responses and social dynamics. I also would like to utilize Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) technology for the treatment of mental health disorders such as depression. Besides research, I like to do sports such as snowboarding and MMA. I also like to learn languages, currently speaking 6 languages. I also like to read!

Faculty