TAMÁS MAKÁNY, Ph.D.
Cognitive Scientist
& Consultant
I have
completed my PhD in cognitive psychology at the University of Southampton (UK)
in February, 2009. My background is in interdisciplinary neuro-cognitive
psychology that involves working on various topics of human and artificial
cognition. Specifically, my interest includes strategy representation, spatial
navigation, behavioural optimization, learning and representation,
decision-making, human and artificial intelligence, neural correlates of
behaviour, and presence in virtual reality.
I have started my academic work as a member of the Spatial Orientation and Psychopathology
Research Laboratory (Hungary) in 2000. I was mostly interested in
describing exploratory strategies via analysing behavioural motion patterns
during a real world task (Makany
& Kallai, 2004, Noldus News) as well as in a virtual navigation task (Kallai,
Makany, Karadi, & Jacobs, 2005, Behav.Brain.Res.). In this line of
work, we have identified groups of exploratory patterns, which were
functionally relevant to navigation. Moreover, the dynamics of the strategies
were analysed as a function of time and spatial learning.
I was
also involved in an MRI volumetry study of lateralization and development
interactions of human brain structures due to intrauterine hormonal levels. We
found evidence that external bodily features, such as the 2D:4D finger digit
ratio, can be associated with asymmetry of certain neural structures as a
consequence of the level of testosterone hormone in the mother during
pregnancy, but not linked to actual hormone level in the participant itself (Kallai,
Csatho, Kover, Makany, et al., 2005, Psy.Res.Neuroimaging).
I have received distinction in my MSc in Research Methods
at the University of Southampton (UK). I was investigating spatial exploratory
patterns with a special focus on the dynamic linkage between strategy
representation and navigation efficiency. I have developed an automated
classification algorithm that clustered initial exploration patterns in a real
world navigation task. These initial cluster groups determined subsequent
navigation efficiency, suggesting a difference in the utilized strategy
representations from the first encounter of the spatial environment (Makany,
Redhead, & Dror, 2007, QJExpPsy).
As a PhD
student, I have continued
to work on understanding how spatial learning and representation take place in
the human cognitive system. My PhD thesis investigated the exploratory
strategies that influence the optimality of spatial cognition in different
environments. Humans, as adaptive intelligent agents, developed cognitive
mechanisms to overcome the limitations of the information processing capacity
and to best utilize the available resources. An inherent trade-off mechanism
optimizes between the cognitive demands and behavioural costs of an action.
Spatial strategies, in particular, are dynamic and emergent patterns of a
continuously changing interaction between the explorer and its environment. In
addition, research in behavioural economics, optimal foraging and computational
optimization demonstrated that spatial trade-offs often appear in a biased and
non-linear way. To account for these complex system properties of spatial
cognition, the basic underlying principles need to be tested in various
environments, including physical and virtual spaces.