ELSC Class: 24 (2016)
I am a PhD candidate in the Loewenstein lab for decision making. My BA is in psychology and cognitive sciences and my MA, with the supervision of Prof. Oron Shagrir, focused on the philosophy of the cognitive sciences. During my PhD, I have argued that the widely held belief that neurons in a brain region called ‘striatum’ encode the values of actions should be reconsidered. This is because this belief likely rests on statistical artifacts. Currently, I am investigating the reasons that people imitate others’ behavior, when there is low evidence for its success. I also continue my research in the philosophy of the cognitive sciences, where I examine the explanatory value of computational and causal models.