BACKGROUND
Jake is a Principal Researcher working with Dan Bartels, Abigail Sussman, and Oleg Urminsky. He received his PhD in Cognitive Psychology from UNSW Sydney, where he worked with Ben Newell and Chris Donkin. Prior to graduate school, Jake worked as a research assistant and lab manager for Ben Newell and also completed a Graduate Diploma in Data Science at the University of Sydney.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Jake's primary research interest is in the 'cost of thinking' and how the exertion of cognitive effort factors into people's decisions. The theoretical side of Jake's work is concerned with identifying what makes cognitive effort costly and why people are often (but not always) averse to mentally demanding tasks. The practical component is concerned with the real world implications of these theories, such as the effects of effort aversion on consumer behaviour. In his research, Jake employs the use of cognitive computational modelling, in addition to the use of both Bayesian and frequentist statistical methods.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS & PRESENTATIONS
Embrey, J. R., Mason, A., Donkin, C., & Newell, B. R. (in press) On-task errors drive effort avoidance more than opportunity costs. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
Schulze, C., Aka, A., Bartels, D. M., Bucher, S. F., Embrey, J. R., Gureckis, T. M., Haeubl, G., Ho, M. K., Krajbich, I., Moore, A. K., Oettingen, G., Ongchoco, J. D. K., Oprea, R., Reinholtz, N., & Newell, B. R. (under review) A Timeline of Cognitive Costs.
Embrey, J. R., Mason, A., & Newell, B. R. (2024) Too hard, too easy, or just right? The effect of context on effort and boredom aversion. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 31, 2801–2810
Embrey, J. R., Donkin, C., & Newell, B. R. (2023). Is all mental effort equal? The role of cognitive demand-type on effort avoidance. Cognition, 236, 105440