Speaker Series
The center's speaker series features invited guest speakers who are experts in various aspects of the decision sciences.
See the links on the side for the latest on what's coming up, including suggested readings. Join the CDS mailing list to be notified about upcoming meetings and topics.
Cognition and Decision Seminar Series
This semester sees the return of the Cognition and Decision Seminar Series, which brings together scholars from economics, psychology, neuroscience and other fields who are united by an interest in the cognitive mechanisms involved in decision making and related behavior, and the ways in which a better understanding of these mechanisms can lead to more accurate models of human behavior and more effective public policies.
The seminar organizers are Mark Dean, Eric Johnson, Michael Shadlen, Daphna Shohamy, and Michael Woodford. The Cognition and Decision Seminar Series is jointly sponsored by the Cognitive and Behavioral Economics Initiative of the Department of Economics and the Center for Decision Sciences.
*Please note: As of Fall 2020, seminars are remote via Zoom. You MUST register to receive an email with a Zoom link and password*
Past Seminars
Fall 2020
- Dr. Ariel Zylberberg (University of Rochester)
The Construction of Preferences During Deliberation Leading to a Decision
October 15, 2020, 10:00 am., Zoom
Spring 2020
- CANCELED: Dr. Ishita Dasgupta (Princeton University)
Learning to Infer: Algorithmic Approaches to Ecological Rationality
March 26, 2020, 4:15 p.m. - 5:30 p.m., Greene Science Center, 9th Floor Lecture Hall
- Dr. Andrei Shleifer (Harvard University)
Memory and Representativeness
February 25, 2020, 4:15 p.m. - 5:30 p.m., Uris Hall 142
Fall 2019
- Dr. Adam Sanborn (University of Warwick)
Bayesian Brains Without Probabilities
September 26, 2019, 4:15 p.m. - 5:30 p.m, Greene Science Center, 9th Floor Lecture Hall
- Dr. Rosemarie Nagel (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)
The Strategic Brain under Risk in Games and Lotteries with FMRI
October 31, 2019, 4:15 p.m. - 5:30 p.m, Uris Hall 140
Spring 2019
- Dr. Molly Crockett (Yale University)
Moral Decision-Making: Conscience, Context, and Conformity
March 7, 2019, 4:15 p.m. - 5:30 p.m, Greene Science Center, 9th Floor Lecture Hall
- CANCELED: Dr. Adam Sanborn (University of Warwick)
Bayesian Brains Without Probabilities
March 28, 2018, 4:15 p.m. - 5:30 p.m, Greene Science Center, 9th Floor Lecture Hall
Fall 2018
- Dr. Colin Camerer (California Institute of Technology)
Using Visual Saliency in Game Theory
September 13, 2018, 4:15 p.m. - 5:30 p.m, Greene Science Center, 9th Floor Lecture Hall
- Dr. Pietro Ortoleva (Princeton University)
Econographics
November 15, 2018, 4:15 p.m. - 5:30 p.m, Greene Science Center, 9th Floor Lecture Hall
- Dr. Tom Griffiths (Princeton University)
Resource-rational models of decision-making
November 29, 2018, 4:15 p.m. - 5:30 p.m, Greene Science Center, 9th Floor Lecture Hall
- Dr. Angela Yu (University of California San Diego)
Faces: A Window into Cognition
December 6th, 2018, 4:15 p.m. - 5:30 p.m, Greene Science Center, 9th Floor Lecture Hall
Other Seminars
Fall 2018
This talk is cosponsored by the Columbia Economics Program for Economic Research.
- Book Talk by Dr. Nick Chater (Warwick Business School)
The Mind is Flat: Thought as Case Law, Not Naive Science.
September 18, 2018, 4:15 p.m. - 5:30 p.m, Warren 416
Fall 2017
- Dr. Rava Azeredo da Silveira (École Normale Supérieure and Princeton University)
Various approaches to online inference — human behavior and theoretical models
November 9th, 2017, 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Uris 326
Spring 2017
- Dr. Cary Frydman (University of Southern California)
The Role of Science and Attention in Choice Under Risk: An Experimental Investigation
March 2 2017, 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Uris 303
- Dr. Ben Hayden (University of Rochester)
Neuronal Foundations of Economic Value
April 6 2017, 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Uris 301
- Dr. Peter Dayan (University College London)
Betwixt fast and slow: Integrating model-free and model-based decision-making
April 27 2017, 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Uris 33
Fall 2016
- Dr. Ernst Fehr (University of Zurich)
The brain’s functional network architecture reveals human motives
September 29, 2016, 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Uris 326
- Dr. Jan Drugowitsch (Harvard Medical School)
Normative decisions between more than two alternatives
October 20, 2016, 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Uris 301
A multisensory approach for understanding decision circuits
December 8, 2016, 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Warren 209
Spring 2016
- Dr. Jonathan Cohen (University of Princeton)
Capacity Constraints in Cognitive Control: Toward a Rational Explanation
February 25, 2016, 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Uris 326
- Dr. Martin Hellwig (Max Planck Institute)
Regulatory Reform after the Crisis: Has the Financial System Become Safe?
March 8, 2016, 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Uris 301
- Dr. Giorgio Coricelli (University of Southern California)
Strategizing and attention in games
March 24, 2016, 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Uris 326
- Symposium on Information Selection Featuring Mark Dean, Jacqueline Gottlieb and Eric Johnson
April 21, 2016, 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Uris 326
Fall 2015
- Dr. Wolfram Schultz (University of Cambridge)
Experimental Economics on Reward Neurons
September 21, 2015, 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Uris 141
- Dr. David Laibson (Harvard University)
Myopia and Discounting
November 4, 2015, 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Warren Hall 208
Spring 2015
- Dr. Drazen Prelec (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Behavioral and Brain Mechanisms of Self-Signaling
February 5, 2015, 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. 207 Warren Hall
- Dr. Yael Niv (Princeton University)
What is the role of the orbitofrontal cortex in reinforcement learning?
February 26, 2015, 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. 207 Warren Hall
- Dr. Tom Cunningham (IIES and California Institute of Technology)
Hierarchical Aggregation of Information and Decision-Making
March 31, 2015, 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. 311 Warren Hall
Imperfect choice and the brain: confidence in value-based judgments
April 30, 2015, 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. 207 Warren Hall
Fall 2014
- Dr. Aldo Rustichini (University of Minnesota)
Intelligence and Social Behavior
September 22nd, 2014, 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. 326 Uris Hall
- Dr. Josh Gold (University of Pennsylvania)
October 22nd, 2014, 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Room 326 Uris Hall
- Dr. Lorenz Goette (University of Lausanne)
November 20th, 2014, 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. 207 Warren
Spring 2014
- Dr. Michael Shadlen (Columbia University)
Decision Neuroscience Colloquium
April 9th, 2014 - 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm Uris Hall Faculty Lounge
- Sendhil Mullainathan (Harvard University)
Scarcity: A Talk for People Too Busy to Attend Talks
March 31, 2014
Spring 2013
- Nassim Taleb (NYU Polytechnic Institute)
Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder
April 4th, 2013 - 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm Uris 301
- Martin Weber (Uni Mannheim)
Time Inconsistent Preferences and the Annuitization Decision
April 4th, 2013 - 5:15 pm - 6:45 pm Uris 333
Spring 2012
- Public Policy and Choice Architecture lecture series
Shlomo Benartzi (UCLA and SaveMoreTomorrow)
Save More Tomorrow: Practical Behavioral Finance Solutions to Improve 401(k) Plans
March 27th, 2012
- Co-Sponsored with the Finance and Economics Division
David Hirshleifer (UC Irvine)
Self-Enhancing Transmission Bias and Active Investing
April 5th, 2012 (Special time 2:15-3:45pm - Uris 332)
- Public Policy and Choice Architecture lecture series
Todd Rogers (Harvard and ideas42)
The Psychology of Voting: Increasing Turnout with Behavioral Science
April 11th, 2012
Fall 2011
- Daniel Kahneman (Princeton)
Thinking, Fast and Slow
October 10th, 2011
- Dan Goldstein (Yahoo! Research/London Business School)
Targeting and Diffusion with Social Networks
December 8th, 2011
Fall 2011
- Antonio Rangel (Caltech)
The neuroeconomics of complex choice: self-control and altruism
March 1st, 2012