Assembling Information to Guide Decisions: When It Works, and How It Can Go Wrong
- Speaker
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Anne K. Churchland, Ph.D.University of California, Los Angeles
Presidential Lectures are free public colloquia centered on four main themes: Biology, Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science, and Neuroscience and Autism Science. These curated, high-level scientific talks feature leading scientists and mathematicians and are intended to foster discourse and drive discovery among the broader NYC-area research community. We invite those interested in the topic to join us for this weekly lecture series.
Difficult decisions often rely on multiple sources of information, especially when each source individually is somewhat unreliable. In this lecture, Anne Churchland will discuss her lab’s discovery that rodents – like humans – understand when multiple sources of information bear on the same decision. Further, both species are skilled at figuring out the reliability of each information source and letting each piece of information appropriately guide the decision. She hypothesizes that similar brain circuits support these clever decisions in both rodents and humans and fail in similar ways during bad choices. Her team’s measurements of neural activity during decision-making are beginning to reveal which brain areas are involved and how neurons within those areas perform the computations needed to guide skilled decisions.
To attend this in-person event, you will need to register in advance and provide:
- Acceptable proof of vaccination (vaccine card/certificate, a copy or photo of vaccine card/certificate or electronic NYS Excelsior Pass or NJ Docket Pass)
- Photo ID
- Eventbrite ticket confirmation email with QR code
- Simons Foundation Health Screening Questionnaire approval email
Guests are expected to complete these requirements each time they visit the Simons Foundation and entrance will not be granted without this documentation.
On-site registration will not be permitted. Walk-in entry will be denied.