How do we update our knowledge, beliefs, and behaviors?
We apply insights from cognitive neuroscience...
...to tackle real-world challenges
in education, health, and climate change.
Helping students
learn from error
Correcting and counteracting
misinformation
Motivating preventative
health behaviors
Motivating action to
address climate change
These real-world challenges are linked by common cognitive and neural mechanisms. In the Learning & Behavior Change Lab, we study how the brain engages in "mental time travel" by recalling the past and predicting the future. This cycle of memory and imagination guides adaptive behavior and helps people learn from error. We also explore how emotion and motivation shape learning and behavior change.
Our research combines behavioral experiments, brain imaging (fMRI), and large-scale online field studies. We curate a metaphorical intervention toolbox of generalizable strategies that can enhance learning, belief updating, and behavior change across domains.