Michelle Chen-Sien-Yee Oxtoby

I am a PhD Researcher studying the relationship between cognitive control and gambling.

In my first PhD study, I examined the association between inhibitory control and gambling severity by applying drift diffusion modelling (HDDM) to break down task performance measures into separate cognitive processes. I found that lower caution rather than inhibitory control predicts gambling severity. This study has been published as a registered report with the journal Addiction Research & Theory. 

I am currently working on better understanding proactive control, specifically post-error behaviours - recreating (mal)adaptive post-error slowing and speeding in computer-based decision-making tasks. I aim to explore whether post-error behaviours differ between gamblers and non-gamblers. 

Finally, following on from the findings of my first PhD study, I hope to investigate whether one can be "trained" to approach decision-making with more caution.

I received the Aston University Open Research Award 2025, in the postgraduate researcher category.

Lecture on the Applied Psychology and Professional Skills module.

Support workshops in the following modules:

   Key Skills in Psychology 1 and 2

   Research Methods and Data Analysis

   Social Psychology

Deliver Year 1 Key Skills tutorials.