CCN Colloquium: "The primate origins of human decision making"

Humans cognition is marked by high levels of cognitive control and flexible decision-making. What are the evolutionary roots of these cognitive traits? I will present research examining different aspects of value-based decision-making, executive function, and social decision making capacities in primates. I will use this comparative data to test hypotheses about when and why different facets of 'intelligent' behavior emerge. Specifically, I will compare across different species that show variation in their natural history, examine the comparative developmental trajectories of these skills, and finally test patterns of individual variation in animal cognition to understand the biological context of different cognitive capacities.

Alexandra Rosati is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Anthropology at the University of Michigan. She received an A.B. in Psychology from Harvard University, a Ph.D. in Evolutionary Anthropology from Duke University, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University. Dr. Rosati's research examines the evolutionary origins of the human mind through comparative studies of cognition and behavior in other primates. Her research is supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, and she has been recognized with an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship, an NSF CAREER award, and the American Psychological Association's Award for Early Career Contributions to Psychology.