Richard Huskey

Headshot of Richard Huskey. He has light brown hair and is standing with arms crossed, wearing a blue patterned shirt.

Position Title
Associate Professor

377 Kerr Hall
Bio

About

Richard Huskey (PhD, University of California Santa Barbara) is an associate professor in the Department of Communication and the Cognitive Science Program at the University of California Davis. Dr. Huskey is the principal investigator in the Cognitive Communication Science Lab and an affiliated faculty member at the Center for Mind and Brain, Center for Neuroengineering & Medicine, and Designated Emphasis in Computational Social Science. He is the former Chair of the International Communication Association Communication Science and Biology interest group, and is an Associate Editor at Journal of Communication

Research Focus

Why do we choose the information we engage with, and how does it come to shape what we believe, value, and decide? Dr. Huskey studies how media experiences become meaningful and motivating, and how those experiences guide attention, learning, and choice. His research integrates neuroimaging, computational modeling, and behavioral experimentation to develop mechanistic accounts of motivated cognition and decision-making. Drawing from cognitive neuroscience and communication science, he directs a research program that links media selection, enjoyment, and everyday media use to the neural and computational processes that underlie belief formation, value updating, and behavior.

Education and Degree(s)
  • Ph.D., Communication, Emphasis in Cognitive Science, University of California Santa Barbara, 2016
  • M.A., Communication, University of California Santa Barbara, 2014
  • B.S. Business Administration, California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, 2006