Rate My Professor Scott Brown

Professor Scott Brown is a Professor in the School of Science, College of Engineering, Science and Environment, at the University of Newcastle, Australia, specialising in cognitive science and mathematical psychology. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, a Bachelor of Mathematics, a Bachelor of Science, a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Psychology, and a PhD in Psychology in 2002, all from the University of Newcastle. After completing his PhD, he held an Australian Research Council Research Fellowship from 2005 to 2006 and a Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship from 2006 to 2010. He served as Assistant Professor in the Department of Cognitive Science at the University of California, Irvine for four years before returning to the University of Newcastle. There, he was supported by an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship from 2008 to 2013 and additional research-only positions until 2016. Brown has received the New Investigator Award from the Society for Mathematical Psychology in 2008 and from the American Psychological Association Division of Experimental Psychology in 2006. He is a Fellow of the Society for Mathematical Psychology since 2015 and the Psychonomic Society since 2012. In 2020, he was named the top Australian cognitive scientist and Field Leader in Cognitive Science by The Australian's Research magazine for the highest citations in top journals over five years.

Brown's research focuses on decision making (60% effort), cognition (20%), and psychological methodology, design, and analysis (20%), using quantitative modelling to examine higher-order cognitive processes like memory and decision-making. His applications include patient choices in medical contexts such as cancer treatment, cognitive biases among computer hackers, human-machine teaming, and citizen science in ecology. Key publications include 'The simplest complete model of choice response time: Linear ballistic accumulation' (Cognitive Psychology, 2008, with Heathcote), 'An integrated model of choices and response times in absolute identification' (Psychological Review, 2008, with Heathcote et al.), 'A ballistic model of choice response time' (Psychological Review, 2005, with Heathcote), 'Diffusion Decision Model: Current Issues and History' (Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2016, with Ratcliff et al.), and book chapters such as 'Response Times and Decision-Making' (Wiley, 2018, with Donkin). With 18,164 citations and an h-index of 57 on Google Scholar, his contributions have profoundly influenced cognitive modelling and decision science.