Cognitive and social scientists have struggled with the irrationalities of human choice behavior; people consistently make logically inconsistent choices. Is human choice behavior evolutionarily, as widely assumed, an inefficient patchwork of competing mechanisms?
In this lecture, Paul Glimcher will discuss his work connecting new data with neurobiological and mathematical findings. Based on that work, he and his colleagues conclude that choice behavior reflects a precisely optimized trade-off between the biological costs of increasing the choice mechanism’s precision and the declining benefits that come as precision increases. Under these constraints, a ‘rationally imprecise’ strategy emerges that accounts for many of the idiosyncrasies of choice behavior. Moreover, this new approach rationalizes many of the puzzling inconsistencies of human choice behavior, explaining why these inconsistencies arise as an optimizing solution in biological choosers.
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.
