Francis Ng
Advisor: Bonnie Nozari
Majors: Cognitive Science; Statistics and Machine Learning
Information selection in communication
In face-to-face human communication, information is often conveyed via multiple channels. For example, when giving directions, speakers often use both verbal descriptions and gestures. But communication is also error prone. When faced with incongruent information from different channels, which information channel do listeners attend to? Francis Ng will conduct two experiments answering this question for incongruent information presented via auditory and visual channels. The first experiment will investigate whether the perceived informativeness of the two information channels influences a listener’s choice, and the second experiment will investigate how individual differences drive the choice of information channel in the absence of any feedback. Collectively, these results will shed light on external and internal factors that drive the choice of information across verbal and visual channels of information during communication.
Bio
Growing up, Ng was always interested in psychology and eventually found an interest for cognitive science when exposed to neuroscience by his older brother. Whether it is reading articles, watching videos, or finding a fun post online, Ng always enjoys discovering more about how humans think and will always take an opportunity to share his knowledge with friends. In his free time, Ng enjoys cooking, looking at pictures of dogs, playing piano, and spending time with family.