Professor Philip Smith is Professor of Mathematical Psychology in the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences at the University of Melbourne, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences. He holds a Bachelors Degree from the University of Adelaide and heads the Vision and Attention Laboratory, focusing on quantitative and mathematical models of perceptual decision making, visual attention, and working memory. His research employs diffusion process models to analyze response time distributions, accuracy, and neural mechanisms in tasks such as speeded choice, signal detection, multielement displays, and continuous-outcome retrieval. Smith has advanced sequential-sampling frameworks, including the diffusion decision model developed collaboratively with Roger Ratcliff, and explores topics like evidence accumulation, attentional selection, source memory intrusions, and negotiation processes involving trust and social motives.

Smith's career spans the University of Melbourne and The Ohio State University. He served as a former editor of the Journal of Mathematical Psychology and directs research groups including the Negotiation and Interactive Behaviour Laboratory. Key publications include 'Diffusion decision model: Current issues and history' (2016, Trends in Cognitive Sciences), 'A comparison of sequential sampling models for two-choice reaction time' (2004, Psychological Review), 'Psychology and neurobiology of simple decisions' (2004, Trends in Neurosciences), 'Small is beautiful: In defense of the small-N design' (2018, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review), and 'An integrated theory of attention and decision making in visual signal detection' (2009, Psychological Review). Forthcoming works feature the book 'Diffusion Process Models of Decision Making' (2025) and chapters on neural diffusion models and time-varying diffusion processes. He received an Australian Research Council Discovery Project grant in 2021. Smith's contributions have profoundly influenced mathematical psychology, bridging computational modeling with cognitive neuroscience and experimental psychophysics.

Professional Email: philipls@unimelb.edu.au