Professor Spotlights: Prof. Joshua Davis

What classes do you teach and which is your favorite?

So I’ve been teaching for a couple years, and I’ve taught quite a few classes. Let’s see. In this quarter, I’m teaching COGS 13 Field Methods and 14A Research Methods and I’m teaching those classes next quarter as well. But then in spring, I’m teaching Language 101C and Language Comprehension, which is COGS 153. And then I’ve also taught 101A Sensation Perception and 101B Learning Memory and Attention.

Which one’s my favorite? I like them all for different reasons. I don’t know, that’s a tough one. I really enjoy research methods, because I can, you know, help students, I mean, just because I like experimental design. And I can help students kind of learn about that. I really enjoyed the Learning Memory and Attention, because it’s just so many topics, you know, you have the detailed basic science, but then so much of it can be applied, and I enjoy getting students to kind of think about how they could apply what they’ve learned about basic science to their own lives in different ways to help them as a student. You know, it’s your job to learn to remember and to pay attention, and to think critically, you know, so 101B is really useful in that, and then I really enjoy Sensation and Perception, because, you know, before I did any, before I even considered cognitive science or psychology, I was an artist, and there’s just so much that has to do with, I mean, the class isn’t about art, but you know, it’s about so much of art has to do with just like, looking and, you know, learning to really see, and stuff like that. And I like language, because I, you know, at one point in my life, I wanted to write fiction, and I was in a language lab and in grad school, and so I don’t know, it’s tough. I like all the classes… So yeah, I mean, a lot of people think more about the doing, but no, I think, you know, it’s become a real artist, it’s really about, like, you know, seeing if you’re a visual artist, it’s about learning to see and pay attention and recognize things if you’re in music, it’s about really developing your ear. And yeah, you got to know what sounds to play, but you have to know kind of it to kind of be able to see and listen. More than anything. That’s a really big improvement.

What kind of research do you do?

Research that’s unrelated to this. So, um, so my research has been a lot about, about emotion recognition, recognizing facial expressions, recognizing emotion and language. And in particular like in looking at it from an embodied perspective, and how do we use our own bodies to understand and comprehend language in, and well, facial expressions? So my most recent research that I’m working on writing up is about how do we, how do we, you know, do we mimic people when we can only see part of their face? Like if someone’s wearing a mask and how does, how does that influence our mimicry and our recognition? So, you know, social cognition, a topic that I don’t teach any classes on? Kind of diverse, I guess you could say.

What was your path to getting to where you are now?

Oh, so you know, I school, I, my goal was to have a lot of fun. And so I didn’t go to college right away. I, well, I went to community college, because I’ve always loved learning. But you know, I got a job. And I did graphic design for quite a while. So I was a graphic designer. And I just wasn’t satisfied with that. And during that time, I went to community college and I was taking classes that were just fun for me, art classes, you know, fiction, writing classes, poetry, writing classes, all sorts of different classes I enjoyed, and then also some general electives. And then I was just, I really became unsatisfied. I became, I wasn’t satisfied doing graphic design, I just didn’t like the idea of advertising and getting people to buy products that I don’t think they needed. And so I decided to pursue higher education. And I, and I, at the time I started, I was just, I was motivated, to go to school to study I wanted to, I was trying to decide what I wanted to study art, like visual arts, or, or fiction writing, or psychology, and where and I decided to go for psychology because I figured, you know, the more I understood, the better I understood people, I could sort of, you know, that would reflect itself in my art.

And so I went and got my undergraduate degree in psychology. And when I was doing that, I joined a lab. I, first, the first lab I was in was in Professor- So I was at UCSD- I went to UCSD for my undergrad and I was in the psychology, psychology department, but I did my research. In the cog sci department, I was taking a class on gesture. And the student, Kinsey Cooper-writer(name misspelled) who was a grad student at the time, said he was looking for research assistants and I thought it sounded super interesting. So I joined Professor Nunez lab. And, and from there, I joined Professor Coulson’s lab. And at the same time, I was doing an honors project in psychology. And I just really, I love research, I love the design aspect of research how you can set up a situation and kind of a, with, you know, a situation with, you know, constraining situation so that the outcome, you know, it basically tells you, it gives you an answer, you know, you set up a situation you, you test things out, and it’s really enjoyed the idea of setting up such a, you know, designing a situation where, you know, it could tell you some sort of answer some truth about the world, you know, especially like, I, you know, yeah, I just thought it was super cool.

And the reason I was into embodiment was because at the time I was really into, like I said, the arts and I was really into a lot of my friends were professional, contemporary, modern dancers. And so I was really, I was surrounded by artists who were always talking about how they thought with their bodies. And, you know, they use the, you know, that’s the way they thought and then I went to, you know, I started hearing about embodiment, and like, you know, people in science are saying, Oh, yeah, you know, think, think with your body and it was a different sense of the phrase, but you know, I just really it’s just really seemed super cool, I guess. And that’s, that’s sort of how I got started. And then, you know, once you kind of get in research, involved in research, it’s all sorts of avenues open up to you and right, and then I applied to grad school and quite a few different places. One of them was UCSD in the cognitive science department.

So I was switching departments and I switched. You know, I wanted to try working with someone new and I really admired Professor bergens work and I was lucky enough to be a grad student in this lab where I learned quite a bit and then, and then I kind of started teaching, as I you know, after I advanced to candidacy, and at first, it was just to kind of, give me some sort of income for the summer. But then I found out, I really loved it, and I really enjoy it. And I was just like I loved, you know, in a lot of my classes, well, I don’t really do it too much online. But in a lot of my live classes, I do kind of a lot of interactive, you know, I post questions and then ask students to, to respond, and we discuss it, and I just really enjoyed hearing the ideas that students had, and, you know, helping them shape it, and just the creativity that you get, when you talk to a room, you know, of a room of 200 people, you’re gonna get some really different, you know, 200 diverse people, you get some really cool ideas that pop up, and it’s just really fun. I really enjoy it, that kind of thing.

Looking back, what do you think has been the highlight of your career so far?

The highlight of my career. Um, I mean, I think the most exciting time, I don’t know, if it’s the highlight, I would have to think more, I don’t know, if I have a clear highlight. But I would say probably one of the most exciting times for me, was just getting involved in research as an undergrad, and, you know, exploring this whole new world, that, you know, my like, my background, none of my family are scientists, they’re mostly like blue collar workers. And, you know, it’s just, it’s totally different. And just so there’s, you know, there’s an undergrad and getting involved in labs and knows doing neuroscience in Professor Coulson’s lab, and it was just like, you know, it’s incredible, it was just super exciting, and had, you know, lots of support from the people I was working with, and it’s just really enthusiastic and getting into grad school, you know, I didn’t, I didn’t, these were all things that I didn’t think were necessarily possible, for me growing up or, or anything like that.

And so just seeing all the possibilities, and having my eyes open to this whole new world that was kind of like the, that’s the high point that I was like, kind of the most exciting, you know, a exciting part about academics for me was just like, it’s incredible new world, to explore and learn about and, and to use the information that I was learning there to sort of inform how I make decisions in my ordinary life, how I, you know, I want to teach myself how to play guitar, you know, I know a lot about learning, and like sort of what methods are effective, and which methods are like less effective. And, you know, and so it’s just been learning about cognition has just like improved my ad, that’s the highlight of, it’s sort of diffused and spread out over a lot of things.

But I think the highlight would be taking the stuff I’ve learned in school and applying it to transform my personal life, my own life, just the everyday decisions I make, you know, how to interpret something I hear on the radio and kind of think about it in a way that’s informed. And you know, how to, yeah, just the way that it’s sort of informed my everyday living. I mean, I know that’s not really like a, I mean, you know. A point or something like that, or like, Oh, this is like, like my moment of glory or something like that. I mean, I would say like, Yeah, but my highlight would probably be the, just how its transformed, you know, understanding how well maybe understanding Subic a word, but learning how the mind works. How that has shaped how I just deal with everyday things and the choices I make, whether it’s going it’s things I do in the supermarket. Or while I’m sitting on the couch playing my guitar or whatever.

What would you say was that the hardest challenge you faced?

The hardest challenge has been, um, you know, just that academia can be rough. There can be times where you where things aren’t going your way, or things aren’t turning out, right way where you’re misinterpreting things. You know, there can be some, there can be some periods, where, where everything seems kind of overwhelming and difficult. And I think, I mean, that’s really broad. I don’t have any, like specific examples, but you know, just anything from feelings of imposter syndrome, you know, like, when I first started, and I’m just like, I’m older than everybody, and I don’t fit in. And, you know, that sort of thing, too.

I guess the other hard thing for me, I’m just not the most socially adept person, because like, making the social connections out. So it’s in any sort of academia or business or something, a lot of it, you know, a big chunk of it is making good social connections and developing rapport with people and, you know, attending talk, like, you know, meetings and talking to people and stuff like that. And I’ve always been really terrible at that. I’m like, much more like, I’m very comfortable in my room with my, with my box of paints. And I like talking to new people. And so that was probably that’s probably the most difficult thing. And I’m still not very good at it. Actually. Honestly.

What would you do differently if you could go back in time?

You know, I’ve had multiple times in my life, where I’m like, you know, if I would have just started college when I was 18, I would be so much farther ahead of time. And there have been so many times where I’ve kind of had those thoughts where, like, if only I had done this, but you know, I, and I think about this, I’m like, you know, when I’m older, and I’m on my deathbed, you know, how many regrets will I have? You know, and I probably won’t regret not going to school sooner, because I have a good time. And I sort of lived life ritually. And so I don’t know, it’s like, there are definitely times where, like, I wish I would have started playing guitar when I was 16. You know, and still, instead of waiting, like, so many years later, but, you know, I learned to play congas in the interim. And so it’s not like I wasted my time. I don’t know that I would do things differently. I mean, I guess what I would do, if I want to, like be more successful, I would get over my social hiccups and just kind of go for the go for things, when I felt sort of like, shy and inhibited, I would just kind of go out there and put myself out there a bit more. Because, you know, all these fears I have, like, never, or hardly ever manifested into something real, I try and like, Oh, that was so much easier than I thought, you know, people were so much nicer than I expected, you know,

um, most of the time, it’s like that.

So, you know, that would be something, that’s something I’m still working on helping. And then I suppose the other thing, with my academic career, I wish I would have learned, would have, would have developed some stronger computational skills early on, you know, like, learned our early, you know, steps to do data analysis. I mean, of course, the stuff I would have learned, would be totally outdated, right, like JavaScript and stuff when you start learning, and nobody uses that anymore. But, but, you know, learning those still learning those skills, and kind of keeping up, up on that.

But you know, at the same time, I just remind myself, it’s a trade off, like, I have lots of interests and things that kind of keep me, you know, lots of lots of interests, lots of things I’m interested in, and lots of things I pursue outside of my job. And so I wouldn’t want to like trade any of those, but I think taking some programming skills, learning that a little earlier on, would have been, would have made a lot of my, would have made well, I would have liked it because it would have made so many things easier. You know, I could have like, written a script to do stuff that I maybe would have done that I may have done by hand. You know, I would have, I would have? Yeah, I guess those are some things. Yeah. Be a little bit better, more social and learn. Learn how to code a little bit earlier.

What advice do you have for undergraduates?

I guess I would say, don’t worry so much about your grades. A lot of people focus on their grades, they should focus on learning the material. If you learn the material, well, the grades are gonna reflect that because that’s what the grades are supposed to measure. The grades are supposed to measure how you know, how much you know the material. I find a lot of students spend a lot of time thinking about how to get an A, you know, thinking about how many points do I need, you know, you spend an hour thinking about how many points do you need on the next exam, you could have spent that hour learning the material.

You know, when I was an undergrad at UCSD, you know, after I transferred I decided I was like okay, I probably don’t belong here. I’m just going to do my best. I’m not going to even like, think about my grades hardly ever. I’m not going to check my credits that much you know, because it just stressed me out and I ended up getting excellent grades, you know, I had like a 3.99 GPA. And I had more A pluses than As. You know, I got like, perfect scores on most of my exams. But that’s because I never spent my time thinking about my scores, I spent my time thinking about this material. And like I said, you know, why I liked it so much was because I could relate it to myself. So it wasn’t just, you know, memorizing the stuff. I mean, some classes were memorizing, there was a class where it didn’t get an A, because I was like, “I can’t even I can’t pay attention”. And I honestly, probably went to three of all the lectures. I couldn’t, I couldn’t do it.

For all my Cog Sci classes, and like classes in psychology, that were about the mind and how people work. It was why I was going there, I was going there to learn, I really didn’t have a great idea about what kind of job I would get, you know, so I didn’t really target it in that way, which made me that’s another sort of regret. But at the same time, I was just there, because I was learning, I wanted to learn, I was interested. And I focused on just learning the material. And I found that a lot of times, a lot of times students stress out because their grades, and I would just encourage them to kind of try to understand the material, and the grades will come, you know, the grades are supposed to reflect your understanding. So if you spend more time trying to understand that, well, it’s gonna it’s gonna, you know, that the causal arrow is like, understand good grades, it’s not like good grades, and then maybe I’ll come back and understand it later, you know. So that that would be my biggest suggestion.

The other suggestion is, try to, you know, relax and have a little more compassion for yourself, a lot of times people will be really upset because they missed a couple points or something, you know, and they’ll kind of take it hard on themselves. Not everybody feels like they’re really smart, you know, all the time, but they are. That’s why UCSD is one of the best schools. So, you know, if you’re here, you’re smart, like, whether you want to believe it or not, it’s true. So, you know, you’re comparing yourself to other smart people. You know, remember who you’re comparing, if you need some self esteem, just go watch the news and people out in the real world, you know, watch their ways of thinking.

I would say, try to relax. A lot of people who are very successful, have had hiccups in their life. The expectation that you’re gonna be perfect all the time is, you know, maybe it’s a goal. It’s a, maybe it’s a useful goal to strive toward. But it shouldn’t be something that if you don’t need it, you should sort of think poorly of yourself, you know, strive, you know, do your best, but don’t like, don’t beat yourself up for not being perfect all the time. You know, there’s so many perfectionists at UCSD, you know, so you got to remember that you’re in a world of perfectionists.

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve witnessed in your field?

Weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. Okay. Well, um, I suppose it’s ethical if I say this, it’s totally anonymous. I remember, I was an undergrad, I don’t know if this is the weirdest thing. But this was like something that just totally struck me. So I was, I was an undergrad and I was working in a lab. And that lab also shall be anonymous. I worked in multiple labs. And there was a participant who was doing an experiment and the speakers, you know, I could hear the experiment. You’re in a little room, and I could hear that the experiment had concluded, you know, because it was no longer going. And the person was supposed to come out after they were done. And they didn’t. And so I opened the door. And they were like, laying on the ground with their hand up on the desk, with their hand on the mouse with their hands on them. I don’t know how it was still there. But they basically had laid down and kind of taken a nap and we’re just clicking through the experiment. We didn’t use their data, right, but that was pretty unexpected. It was unexpected, and, you know, it still stands out. Which is why you should, in your experiment want to kind of make sure that you have some sort of like, way to evaluate if people are just totally not paying attention and pressing buttons, because, you know, sometimes participants just want to get the credit, and they just will sort of do the minimum possible and will start pressing buttons and even taking a nap. So when you design your experiments, you know, make sure there’s some sort of way to rule that out to throw out that data.