Doctoral Dissertation Research: A Cognitive Model of Voting and New Issues

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The spatial model of voting proposed by Downs and extended by many scholars is a benchmark for theories purporting to explain political behavior. Yet evidence against the assumptions and predictions of this theory is accumulating. Further, spatial theory has not adapted to account for new findings in the fields of cognitive science, neural networks and artificial intelligence. This research tests a dynamic model of memory and attention, developed by the PI, as it informs alternative models of voting behavior. By focusing attention on the role of new issues in voter decision making, the theory will be tested in an area that traditional spatial theory has little to say: volatile environments where voters are subjected to new information. Three hundred citizens will participate in a series of controlled experiments that present alternative exposure conditions and atlternative contents.***