Modelling behaviour over space and time: learn more from your data with generative models

In this talk, I'll show how generative modeling can give us a deeper and more detailed understanding of our data. These tools help us clarify theories, sort out confounding factors, and improve our ability to study human cognition. First, I'll walk through the visual foraging task and explain how a model that accounts for the spatial structure of the stimulus can give us a richer description of the process. Then, I'll cover how asymptotic regression can help us track how participants' performance improves over time in cognitive psychology experiments. By considering these time-related aspects of behavior, we can gain a clearer understanding of why differences between experimental conditions occur.