Neuroscience of motivation, decision making, and cognitive control
Berkeley, CA
Joined June 2016
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Shenhav Lab retweeted
In this new paper I argue that the way we currently study motivation is broken: osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/6x…
I also explain how we can fix it, and how this will fundamentally change how we understand cognition, action, and affect/emotion.
Come see our work @affectScience!
😁P2.S.207: How Anticipated Feelings Guide Goal Prioritization Insights from an Inventory of Daily Goals- Skylar Brooks
😁P3.A.243: Decision Goals Shape the Integration of Affective and Perceptual Information about our Options- Ana Hernandez
Our latest paper, spearheaded by Harrison Ritz and Romy Frömer, is now out in Communications Psychology!! 🎉🎉
nature.com/articles/s44271-0…
See Harrison's excellent 🧵 below to learn more about what we found:
bsky.app/profile/hritz.bsky.…
Come see our lab’s presentations at #SFN2025! 🧠
1️⃣ NANO018.12: “Neural dynamics underlying divergent influences of reward and punishment on control allocation” (11/16, 3:45 PM) by @JasonLeng5
2️⃣PSTR293.21: “Distinct neurocomputational signatures of mental effort when motivated by success versus failure” by @ziweicheng_zc (11/18, 8:00 AM)
Check out our new preprint, led by @froemero1 and in collaboration with @ChihChungTing2 @SebastianGluth: “Goals shape dynamics of attention and selection for value-based decision-making”
🔗osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/zv…
New preprint led by @debyeeneuro: "Neurocomputational mechanisms underlying the distinct motivational influences of reward and punishment on cognitive control".
🔗biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/…
I'm thrilled to share our new preprint highlighting distinct neurocomputational mechanisms underlying how reward and punishment determine adaptive cognitive control - a massive fMRI study and collaborative team effort with the @ShenhavLab 🧠
Link here: biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/…
Shenhav Lab retweeted
What happens when you switch goals too quickly? A new study from @BerkeleyPsych Prof. @ShenhavLab + Researchers @GrahekIvan + Xiamin Leng finds doing so can hurt performance — even when the task stays the same. Learn more: bit.ly/3WisG9X
ALT Ivan Grahek
ALT Amitai Shenhav
At #SNE2025? Check out our lab's presentations!
➡️O.03.02: "Competitors or Opportunities? Mutual exclusivity alters neural and attentional processing of choice alternatives" by @JasonLeng5 at 9:00 on 10/4.
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Check out @GrahekIvan's new preprint on cognitive flexibility and aging:
biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/…
New preprint!
Shifting demands of daily life require constant adjustments in how we allocate cognitive resources. Here we show that slower transitions between different cognitive strategies limit cognitive flexibility across the lifespan: biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/…
A thread:
In a TEDx talk just out, @amitaishenhav discusses what research from our lab teaches us about “How to choose when choosing is hardest” (the talk’s original title 😆):
➡️ youtube.com/watch?v=zeHg1rhh…
I'm happy to now be able to share a talk I gave at @TEDxNewEngland last Fall!
The talk is about our lab's work on what makes decisions costly, and how to make them less so.
I discuss lessons for all kinds of decisions, including getting people to vote.
youtube.com/watch?v=zeHg1rhh…
We are excited to share the final version of this work, published at Psychological Review: psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-…
To learn more about it, check out Berkeley’s recent coverage here: ls.berkeley.edu/news/psychol…
After scrolling Twitter, it will take you a while to get back into work mode. Why? In our new work (now out in Psych Rev) with @JasonLeng5, @smusslick, @amitaishenhav, we explore the costs of adjusting cognitive control to meet different goals: psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-…
A thread:
Come and see our work at #cogsci2025!
@ziweicheng_zc will be presenting a talk “Incentive Effects Capture Variability in Task-General Control Allocation” on Fri 8/1 (4-5:30 pm, Cognition 7)
🔗Paper link: escholarship.org/content/qt7…
Our newest preprint “A novel approach-avoidance task to study decision making under outcome uncertainty” investigates the dynamics of approach-avoid decisions!
Check out biorxiv.org/cgi/content/shor…, led by @ziweicheng_zc and @NadjaGingJehli from @Franklab_LNCC.
Our newest paper, led by @froemero1 and @callfredaway, is now out in Open Mind: “Considering What We Know and What We Don’t Know: Expectations and Confidence Guide Value Integration in Value-Based Decision-Making”
🔗direct.mit.edu/opmi/article/…
👉“Leveraging Continuous Psychophysics to Study Cognitive Control Allocation in Dynamic Environments” by Yihuan Dong (A117)
👉“The Effect of Acute Stress on Mental Effort Allocation Across Motivational Contexts” by Tony El Nemer (A115)
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Attending #CNS2025? Check out the following posters! (A98, A115, A117)
👉“Decoding Cognitive Control Dynamics: Neural Evidence of Inertia in Cognitive Control Adjustments Following Goal Changes” by @GrahekIvan (A98)
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Also at #AffectScience2025,
📣@GrahekIvan will give the talk “Towards Emotion Regulation Dynamics: A View from Cognitive Control Optimization” for the New Perspectives on Effort in Emotion Regulation Symposium. See you there!
📅: Friday March 21st at 6pm
Currently at #AffectScience2025? 😁
👉Come visit @ziweicheng_zc's poster “Dissociable Influences Of Positive And Negative Incentives On
Challenge And Threat States During Mental Effort Allocation“ in Poster Session P1（P1.T.141)