Dr David Sewell
Senior Lectuer in Experimental Psy
School of Psychology
+61 7 334 67629
McElwain Building (24A)
Level 3, Room 325
Level 3, Room 325
Researcher biography
My research covers some of the basic properties of attention, learning, memory, and decision-making. Much of my work involves the development and testing of formal mathematical models of human cognition.
Book Chapter
Sewell, David K. and Smith, Philip L. (2016). The psychology and psychobiology of simple decisions: speeded choice and its neural correlates. Neuroeconomics. (pp. 253-292) edited by Martin Reuter and Christian Montag. Berlin, Germany: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-35923-1_14
Journal Articles
French, Luke Adam, Tangen, Jason and Sewell, David (2024). Modeling the impact of single vs dual presentation on visual discrimination across resolutions. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 17470218241255670. doi: 10.1177/17470218241255670
Alister, Manikya, McKay, Kate, Sewell, David and Evans, Nathan (2024). EXPRESS: uncovering the cognitive mechanisms underlying the gaze cueing effect. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 77 (4), 803-827. doi: 10.1177/17470218231181238
Alister, Manikya, Herbert, Scott L., Sewell, David K., Neal, Andrew and Ballard, Timothy (2024). The impact of cognitive resource constraints on goal prioritization. Cognitive Psychology, 148 101618. doi: 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2023.101618
Rushton, Jayce D., Lawrence, Rebecca K. and Sewell, David K. (2024). Investigating mechanisms of the attentional repulsion effect: a diffusion model analysis. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 31 (4), 1596-1602. doi: 10.3758/s13423-023-02439-3
Ballard, Timothy, Evans, Nathan J., Fisher, Gina and Sewell, David K. (2024). Using mixture modeling to examine differences in perceptual decision-making as a function of the time and method of participant recruitment. Behavior Research Methods, 56 (3), 2194-2212. doi: 10.3758/s13428-023-02142-0
Filmer, Hannah L., Loughnan, Kathleen, Seeto, Jennifer X., Ballard, Timothy, Ehrhardt, Shane E., Shaw, Thomas, Wards, Yohan, Rideaux, Reuben, Leow, Li-Ann, Sewell, David and Dux, Paul E. (2023). Individual differences in decision strategy relate to neurochemical excitability and cortical thickness. The Journal of Neuroscience, 43 (42), 7006-7015. doi: 10.1523/jneurosci.1086-23.2023
Leow, Li-Ann, Marcos, Anjeli, Nielsen, Esteban, Sewell, David K, Ballard, Tim, Dux, Paul E. and Filmer, Hannah L. (2023). Dopamine alters the effect of brain stimulation on decision-making. The Journal of Neuroscience, 43 (41), 6909-6919. doi: 10.1523/jneurosci.1140-23.2023
Rasanan, Amir Hosein Hadian, Rad, Jamal Amani and Sewell, David K. (2023). Are there jumps in evidence accumulation, and what, if anything, do they reflect psychologically? An analysis of Lévy Flights models of decision-making. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 31 (1), 32-48. doi: 10.3758/s13423-023-02284-4
West, Rebecca K., Harrison, William J., Matthews, Natasha, Mattingley, Jason B. and Sewell, David K. (2023). Modality independent or modality specific? Common computations underlie confidence judgements in visual and auditory decisions. PLOS Computational Biology, 19 (7) e1011245, 1-39. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011245
Kashima, Yoshihisa, Sewell, David K. and Li, Yang (2023). Sustainability, collective self-regulation, and human–nature interdependence. Topics in Cognitive Science, 15 (3), 388-412. doi: 10.1111/tops.12668
Lee, Ping-Shien and Sewell, David K. (2023). A revised diffusion model for conflict tasks. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 31 (1), 1-31. doi: 10.3758/s13423-023-02288-0
Filmer, Hannah L., Ballard, Timothy, Amarasekera, Koralalage Don Raveen, Sewell, David K. and Dux, Paul E. (2023). The causal role of the prefrontal and superior medial frontal cortices in the incidental manipulation of decision strategies. Neuropsychologia, 179 108466, 1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108466
Alister, Manikya, Vickers-Jones, Raine, Sewell, David K. and Ballard, Timothy (2021). How do we choose our giants? Perceptions of replicability in psychological science. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 4 (2), 251524592110181. doi: 10.1177/25152459211018199
Filmer, Hannah L., Ballard, Timothy, Sewell, David K. and Dux, Paul E. (2021). Causal evidence for dissociable roles of the prefrontal and superior medial frontal cortices in decision strategies. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 47 (4), 1-11. doi: 10.1037/xhp0000896
Sewell, David K., Ballard, Timothy and Steffens, Niklas K. (2021). Exemplifying “Us”: Integrating social identity theory of leadership with cognitive models of categorization. The Leadership Quarterly, 33 (4) 101517, 101517. doi: 10.1016/j.leaqua.2021.101517
Li, Yang, Sewell, David K., Saber, Saam, Shank, Daniel B. and Kashima, Yoshihisa (2021). The climate commons dilemma: how can humanity solve the commons dilemma for the global climate commons?. Climatic Change, 164 (1-2) 4, 1-20. doi: 10.1007/s10584-021-02989-2
York, Ashley A., Sewell, David K. and Becker, Stefanie I. (2020). Dual target search: attention tuned to relative features, both within and across dimensions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance., 46 (11), 1368-1386. doi: 10.1037/xhp0000851
Nydam, Abbey S., Sewell, David K. and Dux, Paul E. (2020). Effects of tDCS on visual statistical learning. Neuropsychologia, 148 107652, 107652. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107652
Sewell, David K., Rayner, Peter J., Shank, Daniel B., Guy, Sophie, Lilburn, Simon D., Saber, Saam and Kashima, Yoshihisa (2020). Erratum: Causal knowledge promotes behavioral self-regulation: An example using climate change dynamics (PLoS ONE (2017) 12:9 (e0184480) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0184480). PLoS ONE, 15 (1) e0228445, e0228445. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0228445
Ong, Gabriel, McKague, Meredith, Weekes, Brendan and Sewell, David K. (2019). Diffusing the bilingual lexicon: Task-based and lexical components of language switch costs. Cognitive Psychology, 114 101225, 101225. doi: 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2019.101225
Sewell, David K. and Stallman, Alexander (2019). Modeling the effect of speed emphasis in probabilistic category learning. Computational Brain and Behavior, 3 (2), 129-152. doi: 10.1007/s42113-019-00067-6
Ballard, Timothy, Sewell, David K., Cosgrove, Daniel and Neal, Andrew (2019). Information processing under reward versus under punishment. Psychological Science, 30 (5), 757-764. doi: 10.1177/0956797619835462
Sewell, David K., Jach, Hayley K., Boag, Russell J. and Van Heer, Christina A. (2019). Combining error-driven models of associative learning with evidence accumulation models of decision-making. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 26 (3), 868-893. doi: 10.3758/s13423-019-01570-4
Lilburn, Simon D., Smith, Philip L. and Sewell, David K. (2019). The separable effects of feature precision and item load in visual short-term memory. Journal of Vision, 19 (1) 2, 2-18. doi: 10.1167/19.1.2
Soares, Sergio Miguel Pereira, Ong, Gabriel, Abutalebi, J. U.B.I.N., Del Maschio, Nicola, Sewell, David and Weekes, Brendan (2018). A diffusion model approach to analyzing performance on the Flanker task: the role of the DLPFC. Bilingualism, 22 (5), 1-15. doi: 10.1017/S1366728918000974
Sewell, David K., Smith, Philip L. and Lilburn, Simon D. (2018). Limitations of pure encoding capacity accounts of visual short-term memory phenomena: reply to Bundesen (2018). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 44 (7), 1144-1145. doi: 10.1037/xhp0000555
Sewell, David K., Warren, Hayley A., Rosenblatt, Daniel, Bennett, Daniel, Lyons, Maxwell and Bode, Stefan (2018). Feedback discounting in probabilistic categorization: Converging evidence from EEG and cognitive modeling. Computational Brain and Behavior, 1 (2), 165-183. doi: 10.1007/s42113-018-0012-6
Bode, Stefan, Bennett, Daniel, Sewell, David K., Paton, Bryan, Egan, Gary F., Smith, Philip L. and Murawski, Carsten (2018). Dissociating neural variability related to stimulus quality and response times in perceptual decision-making. Neuropsychologia, 111, 190-200. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.01.040
Liu, Ping, Forte, Jason, Sewell, David and Carter, Olivia (2018). Cognitive load effects on early visual perceptual processing. Attention Perception & Psychophysics, 80 (4), 929-950. doi: 10.3758/s13414-017-1464-9
Sewell, David K., Rayner, Peter J., Shank, Daniel B., Guy, Sophie, Lilburn, Simon D., Saber, Saam and Kashima, Yoshihisa (2017). Causal knowledge promotes behavioral self-regulation: an example using climate change dynamics. PLoS One, 12 (9) e0184480, e0184480. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0184480
Sewell, David K., Colagiuri, Ben and Livesey, Evan J. (2017). Response time modeling reveals multiple contextual cuing mechanisms. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 25 (5), 1-22. doi: 10.3758/s13423-017-1364-y
Nydam, Abbey S., Sewell, David K. and Dux, Paul E. (2017). Cathodal electrical stimulation of frontoparietal cortex disrupts statistical learning of visual configural information. Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior, 99, 187-199. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2017.11.008
Sewell, David K., Lilburn, Simon D. and Smith, Philip L. (2016). Object selection costs in visual working memory: a diffusion model nalysis of the focus of attention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 42 (11), 1673-1693. doi: 10.1037/a0040213
Ong, Gabriel, Sewell, David K., Weekes, Brendan, McKague, Meredith and Abutalebi, Jubin (2016). A diffusion model approach to analysing the bilingual advantage for the Flanker task: the role of attentional control processes. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 43, 28-38. doi: 10.1016/j.jneuroling.2016.08.002
Smith, Philip L., Lilburn, Simon D., Corbett, Elaine A., Sewell, David K. and Kyllingsbaek, Soren (2016). The attention-weighted sample-size model of visual short-term memory: attention capture predicts resource allocation and memory load. Cognitive Psychology, 89, 71-105. doi: 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2016.07.002
Smith, Philip L., Sewell, David K. and Lilburn, Simon D. (2015). From shunting inhibition to dynamic normalization: attentional selection and decision-making in brief visual displays. Vision Research, 116 (Part B), 219-240. doi: 10.1016/j.visres.2014.11.001
Sewell, David K., Lilburn, Simon D. and Smith, Philip L. (2014). An information capacity limitation of visual short-term memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 40 (6), 2214-2242. doi: 10.1037/a0037744
Smith, Philip L., Ratcliff, Roger and Sewell, David K. (2014). Modeling perceptual discrimination in dynamic noise: Time-changed diffusion and release from inhibition. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 59 (1), 95-113. doi: 10.1016/j.jmp.2013.05.007
Smith, Philip L. and Sewell, David K. (2013). A competitive interaction theory of attentional selection and decision making in brief, multielement displays. Psychological Review, 120 (3), 589-627. doi: 10.1037/a0033140
Bode, Stefan, Sewell, David K., Lilburn, Simon, Forte, Jason D., Smith, Philip L. and Stahl, Jutta (2012). Predicting perceptual decision biases from early brain activity. Journal of Neuroscience, 32 (36), 12488-12498. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1708-12.2012
Sewell, David K. and Lewandowsky, Stephan (2012). Attention and working memory capacity: insights from blocking, highlighting, and knowledge restructuring. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 141 (3), 444-469. doi: 10.1037/a0026560
Sewell, David K. and Smith, Philip L. (2012). Attentional control in visual signal detection: effects of abrupt-onset and no-onset stimuli. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 38 (4), 1043-1068. doi: 10.1037/a0026591
Sewell, David K., Little, Daniel R. and Lewandowsky, Stephan (2011). Bayesian computation and mechanism: theoretical pluralism drives scientific emergence. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 34 (4), 212-213. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X11000392
Sewell, David K. and Lewandowsky, Stephan (2011). Restructuring partitioned knowledge: the role of recoordination in category learning. Cognitive Psychology, 62 (2), 81-122. doi: 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2010.09.003
Smith, Philip L., Ellis, Rachel, Sewell, David K. and Wolfgang, Bradley J. (2010). Cued detection with compound integration-interruption masks reveals multiple attentional mechanisms. Journal of Vision, 10 (5) 3. doi: 10.1167/10.5.3
Conference Paper
MacColl, Cate, Sewell, David K. and Redshaw, Jonathan (2024). Developing irrational confidence? Metacognition in probabilistic decisions with multiple alternatives. Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 24-27 July 2024. Seattle, WA USA: Cognitive Science Society.