معرفی
Tadeg Quillien is a Chancellor's Fellow in the Department of Psychology within the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, where he leads the Edinburgh Concepts and Causality Lab. His research bridges cognitive science, philosophy, and evolutionary biology to investigate fundamental aspects of human cognition, particularly causal reasoning and social judgment mechanisms.
Dr. Quillien's primary research focuses on formalizing intuitive judgments about causality, including causal responsibility attribution, counterfactual reasoning, and intentional action. He employs computational cognitive science frameworks—using probability theory, information theory, and causal modeling—to analyze how people assign causes to events, evaluate explanations, and make social inferences. His work extends to meta-theoretical questions about evolutionary biology's role in psychological theory and rational analysis of cognitive functions. Current projects examine how causal information shapes categorization, why certain counterfactual possibilities feel more plausible, and how theory of mind operates under cognitive constraints.
His publications (2020-2025) reveal a cohesive trajectory toward computational formalization of cognitive intuitions, with increasing integration of information-theoretic approaches. Key themes include causal selection logic, social valuation inference, and probabilistic judgment under uncertainty, consistently published in top-tier journals like Cognition and Psychological Review. The 2025 paper on lossy encoding in judgment exemplifies his trend toward unifying cognitive modeling with information theory.
His scientific recognition includes:
- Chancellor's Fellowship at the University of Edinburgh
As director of the Concepts and Causality Lab, Dr. Quillien oversees an interdisciplinary research program combining experimental psychology with computational modeling. While specific student mentorship details aren't provided in available sources, his active publication record and lab structure indicate ongoing supervision of graduate researchers. His work receives support through the Chancellor's Fellowship framework, enabling collaborations across cognitive science and philosophy.
The Edinburgh Concepts and Causality Lab serves as an interdisciplinary hub investigating how causal models inform real-world cognition. Current research streams include causal reasoning (examining responsibility attribution in complex events and counterfactual plausibility) and theory of mind (modeling social valuation inference and efficient mental state attribution under resource limitations). The lab integrates methodologies from experimental philosophy, evolutionary game theory, and computational neuroscience to address foundational questions about human cognition.
