Senior Cognitive Neuroscience Researcher
Ph.D. (1994), Psychology, Harvard University
i.dror@ucl.ac.uk

Dr. Dror's academic work relates to theoretical issues underlying human performance and cognition. His research examines the information processing involved in perception, judgment and decision-making. Dr. Itiel Dror has published dozens of peer-reviewed scientific articles and serves as Associate Editor and on the Editorial Boards of several scientific journals.

Dr. Itiel Dror's specialty is in taking the most theoretical scientific understanding of the human mind, brain and cognition, and translating it into practical and tangible ways to improve human performance in real world domains. This applied research has primarily focused on enhanced cognition through training, decision-making, and use of technology. For example, Dr Dror has advised how to use technology (e.g., interactive videos, web design, gaming) to make training more effective, helped organizations understand the cognitive aptitudes and skills needed for specific task performance (and designed tools useful to predict job performance and for selection & screening), developed ways to minimize expert examiners’ vulnerability to confirmation and other cognitive biases, and conducted research and training on how to best utilize technology in the workplace.

The applied research has taken place in a variety of countries and has included governmental bodies (such as the UK Passport and Identity Services, Department of Health; the US Air Force; and Police Forces in the UK, the US, the Netherlands and Australia) and commercial companies (such as Orange, Deutsche Bank, PWC, and IBM), as well as providing expert reports and testimonies in court cases (such as in the Levi Bellfield case in the Central Criminal Court at the Old Bailey in London).

See coverage of Dr. Dror's work in Nature (18 March 2010) and in The Economist (21 January 2012).

Some recent & selected publications (post 2010):
• Dror, I.E. (2011). The paradox of human expertise: Why experts can get it wrong. In N. Kapur (Ed.), The Paradoxical Brain (pp. 177-188). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Dror, I. E. & Harnad, S. (eds.) (2008). Cognition Distributed: How Cognitive Technology Extends Our Minds. (258 pp.) John Benjamins, Amsterdam.
• Dror, I. E. (2011). A novel approach to minimize error in the medical domain: Cognitive neuroscientific insights into training. Medical Teacher, 33 (1), 34-38.
• Dror, I. E. (2011). Patient care and training: Minimizing errors in medical care that result in patient harm. Medical Teacher, 33 (5), 426-427.
• Dror, I. E. (2013). The ambition to be scientific: Human expert performance and objectivity. Science and Justice.
• Dror, I. E. & Cole, S. (2010). The vision in 'blind' justice: Expert perception, judgment and visual cognition in forensic pattern recognition. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 17(2), 161-167.
• Dror, I. E., Kassin, S. M., & Kukucka, J. (2013). New application of psychology to law: Improving forensic evidence and expert witness contributions. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 2 (1), 78-81.
• Dror, I.E. & Hampikian, G. (2011). Subjectivity and bias in forensic DNA mixture interpretation. Science and Justice, 51 (4), 204-208.
• Dror, I. E., Schmidt, P., and O'Connor, L. (2011). A cognitive perspective on technology enhanced learning in medical training: Great opportunities, pitfalls and challenges. Medical Teacher, 33 (4), 291-296.
• Kassin, S. M., Dror, I. E., & Kukucka, J. (2013). The forensic confirmation bias: Problems, perspectives, and proposed solutions. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition , 2 (1), 42-52.
• Dror, I. E. (2013). Cognitive technology. In the 2013 Yearbook of Science & Technology (pp. 80-82). New York: McGraw Hill.
• Dror, I. E. (in press). Patient safety. In J. A. Dent & R. M. Harden (Eds.), A Practical Guide for Medical Teachers. Elsevier.
• Dror, I. E. (2012). Combating bias: The next step in fighting cognitive and psychological contamination. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 57 (1), 276-277.
• Dror, I. E. & Mnookin, J. (2010). The use of technology in human expert domains: Challenges and risks arising from the use of automated fingerprint identification systems in forensics. Law, Probability and Risk, 9 (1), 47-67.
• Dror, I. E., Champod, C., Langenburg, G., Charlton, D., Hunt, H., & Rosenthal R. (2011). Cognitive issues in fingerprint analysis: Inter-and intra-expert consistency and the effect of a 'target' comparison. Forensic Science International, 208, 10-17.
• Charlton, D., Fraser-Mackenzie, P., & Dror, I. E. (2010). Emotional experiences and motivating factors associated with fingerprint analysis. Journal of Forensics Sciences, 55 (2), 385-393.
• Dror, I. E. & Stoel, R. (in press). Cognitive forensics: human cognition, contextual information and bias. In the Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Springer.
• Busey, T. & Dror, I.E. (2011). Special abilities and vulnerabilities in forensic expertise. In A. McRoberts (Ed.), Fingerprint Sourcebook (ch. 15, pp. 1-23). Washington DC, USA: NIJ Press.

To contact Dr Itiel Dror, please e-mail: i.dror@ucl.ac.uk