Principal Investigator

Amitai Shenhav is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at UC Berkeley. Prior to becoming a faculty member, he earned a B.A. in Cognitive Science from UC Berkeley in 2005, a Ph.D. in Psychology from Harvard University in 2012, and completed a C.V. Starr Postdoctoral Fellowship at Princeton University.
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E-mail, Curriculum vitae

Lab Manager

Laura Spieler is a current undergraduate student majoring in psychology at UC Berkeley. She is a lab manager and research assistant at the Shenhav Lab, as well as an undergraduate research assistant for the Joyner C.R.E.A.M. (Clinical Research on Externalizing and Addiction Mechanisms) Lab at the University of California, Berkeley. Broadly, Laura is interested in how people perceive goals and how substance seeking is affected by decision-making processes.

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Postdoctoral Fellows

 
 

Ziyao Zhang received his PhD in cognitive neuroscience from UT Austin in 2025. He earned his MSc from Lehigh University and his BSc from Central China Normal University. His research integrates behavioral, neural, and computational methods to investigate how working memory and attention interact to support flexible behavior, and how motivation shapes these processes. In his spare time, he enjoys rock climbing and matcha.

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Email, Website

 

Graduate Students

 

Yi-Hsin (Sheen) Su had his BSc. in Electrical Engineering and Physics (double-major) and his MSc. in Electronics Engineering at National Taiwan University (NTU). After working as an engineer for one and a half years, he decided to shift his career into understanding how human minds work with the ultimate goal to help those suffering from mental illness. His general research interest lies in computational psychiatry. Before coming to the Shenhav Lab, he worked at the Modeling and Informatics Lab with Dr. Tsung-Ren Huang at NTU, focusing on the nature of learning-rate bias in experience-based decision-making. In his free time, he likes baseball, scientific writing, and rock music. He has also been engaged in fighting stigma toward people with mental illness.

E-mail

 

Ziwei Cheng is set to begin her PhD studies in Fall 2023. Ziwei completed her BA in Psychology and Statistics at the University of Colorado Boulder. Before joining the Shenhav Lab, she worked at the Research on Affective Disorders and Development Lab and focused on neurocognitive markers for psychiatric health in adolescents and young adults. She is broadly interested in goal-directed behavior across motivational contexts and the translational utility of computational research.

E-mail

 
 
 

Skylar Brooks received her B.S. in Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT in 2020. Currently, she is a neuroscience PhD student and is co-advised between the Shenhav and Hsu labs. Her research broadly examines how social and motivational factors shape decision-making. Her interests include understanding how individuals evaluate and pursue goals, and how emotions influence these processes. Outside of the lab, she enjoys practicing aerial arts and drumming.

E-mail

 

Reed Walker Boardman is a PhD student in Psychology on the Cognitive Neuroscience track. Reed received his BA in Psychology with Honors from the University of Iowa in 2025. Reed then worked as a post-baccalaureate researcher before joining the Shenhav lab in Fall 2026. Reed is interested in understanding cognitive control in the human brain. Specifically, Reed is interested in the neural dynamics underlying error monitoring, motor inhibition, and adaptive control. In his free time, Reed enjoys hiking, calisthenics, and EDM.

E-mail

 

If you are interested in joining the lab as a graduate student, you should apply through Berkeley’s Psychology Department. 

Undergraduate Research Assistants

 

Crystal Xu is an undergraduate research assistant majoring in neurobiology (graduating Spring 2027) working with Sheen Su. She is particularly interested in decision making and the biological aspects that underlie the decision making process. In her free time she enjoys art and exploring new hobbies with friends.

 
 

Chuhan Ouyang is a UC Berkeley student who is double-majoring in Economics and Psychology (Graduating Spring 2026). She is interested in the intersection of cognitive science and psychological processes, particularly how motivation and decision-making are shaped by individual differences. In her spare time, she enjoys bouldering, surfing, learning new languages.

 

Daniel Porter is an undergraduate student at UC Berkeley majoring in Statistics (graduating Fall 2026) . He is interested in the fundamental mechanisms of cognition and how they can be computationally modeled. In his free time, he enjoys building computers, experimenting with computer systems, and working on personal cybersecurity projects.

 

Ella Ryan is a fourth-year student at UC Berkeley double majoring in Psychology and Data Science (graduating Spring 2026) . She is passionate about exploring cognitive psychology and decision-making processes, particularly how data-driven approaches can enhance our understanding of human behavior. She enjoys camping, skiing, surfing, and other outdoor activities in her free time.

 

Hani Jamila Haris is studying Statistics and Cognitive Science (graduating Spring 2027). She is particularly interested in exploring decision-making, motivation, and neurodegenerative diseases. In her free time, she loves to exercise, chill with her cats, and create art.

 

Inna Habibollahzadeh is studying Psychology (graduating Spring 2027). She is passionate about exploring the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying attention, decision-making, memory, and motivation, as well as the intersection between cognitive neuroscience and clinical psychology. In her free time, she enjoys playing board games, knitting, hiking, trying new recipes, and spending quality time with her family and friends.

 

Joana Wang is a UC Berkeley student double-majoring in Data Science and Psychology, graduating in Fall 2029. She is interested in how computational and data-driven methods can help us understand human cognition and behavior, and how that understanding can shape the design of technology. In her free time, she enjoys playing tennis, listening to music and going to concerts, spending time with kids, chatting with just about anyone, and exploring things she has never tried before.

 

Krish Chikara is a UC Berkeley student studying Cognitive Science and Data Science (graduating Spring 2029). He is particularly interested in decision-making and attention, and how insights into human cognition can inform the development of technology and AI in healthcare. In his free time, he loves watching and playing sports, trying new foods with friends, spending time with family, and watching movies.


 

Maddie Grieb is double-majoring in Psychology and Neuroscience (graduating Spring 2026). She is passionate about researching the neural mechanisms underlying affect and decision-making, as well as neurodegenerative disease and learning-related plasticity in the brain. In her free time, she enjoys taking her two Maltipoos to the park, skiing, hiking, and spending time with her twin sister. 

 

Audrey Wang is a student at UC Berkeley studying Cognitive Science and Analytics (graduating Spring 2028). She has interested in using computational methods to understand emotions, decision-making, and human behavior to develop responsible AI/ tech. In her free time, she enjoys journaling, exploring nature, and writing calligraphy.

 

Alumni

  • Ana Hernandez - Lab Manager

  • Meriel Doyle - Lab Manager

    • Psychology PhD student at Harvard University

  • Carolyn Dean Wolf - Lab Manager

    • Medical Student at the The University of Arizona College of Medicine

  • Maisy Tarlow - Lab Manager

    • Sales Engineer at Datadog

  • Joonhwa Kim - Lab Manager

    • PhD student at Brown University

  • Adanne Ogbaa - Lab Manager

    • Master’s student at Brown University

Postdoctoral Fellows

  • Jason Leng

    • Postdoctoral Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics

  • Jasmin Brummer

    • AI Insights Expert at Delta Labs

  • Debby Lee

    • Assistant Professor in Psychological and Brain Science at the University of Iowa

  • Ivan Grahek

    • Research Associate in the Department of Cognitive and Psychological Sciences at Brown University

  • Amanda Arulpragasam

    • Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University

  • Romy Frömer

    • Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Birmingham

  • Hayley Brooks

    • Quantitative UX Researcher at META

Graduate Students

  • Harrison Ritz

    • C.V. Starr Postdoctoral Fellow at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute with Jonathan Cohen and Nathaniel Daw, website

  • Mahalia Prater Fahey

    • Postdoctoral Fellow at King’s College

Undergraduate Students

  • Adrian Lopez

    • Clinical Research Assistant at Rhode Island Hospital

  • Ailita Eddy

  • Ainsley Bonin

    • PhD student at the University of Pennsylvania

  • Aislinn Baxter

  • Ali Zaidi

  • Alice Bai

  • Allegra Friedman

  • Alessandra Bianco

  • Alli Loynd

    • Product researcher for Shiseido Global Innovation Center in Yokohama, Japan

  • Angela Zhang

  • Anna Park

  • Anna Xu - Thesis Student

    • Graduate Student in Russ Poldrack’s Lab at Stanford

  • Arden Orwicz

  • Ayenna Cagaanan

  • Charis Tang

  • Chris Bravo

  • Cora Ordway

    • Project Coordinator for the Biobehavioral and Social-Emotional Development Lab at Boston University

  • Cornelius Braun

    • PhD Student in Machine Learning and Robotics

  • Eva Swartz

    • Clinical Research Coordinator at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

  • Felicia Renelus

  • Gabby Laurente

  • Gloria Feng

    • Graduate Student at the Rutledge Lab at Yale

  • Hattie Xu, MPH

  • Henry Chan Lin

  • Isabel Shaw

    • MBA candidate at The Wharton School

  • James Nesbit

    • Lab Manager for the Social and Moral Cognition Lab at Columbia University

  • Kaila Zimnavoda

  • Kaitlyn Gosakti

  • Kaitlyn Mundy

    • PhD Student at the Columbia Social Neuroscience Lab

  • Keelin Lyons

  • Kia Sadahiro

  • Liz Cory - Thesis Student

  • Linda Zhang - Thesis Student

    • Developmental Psychology PhD Candidate at the University of Michigan

  • Maja Nieweglowska, MS

  • Maximilien Boucher

  • Maya Hoffman

  • Meg Talikoff

    • MA student in Marriage and Family Therapy at Syracuse University

  • Michelle Basta

  • Milena Rmus, Phd - Thesis Student

  • Natalie Knowles

    • J.D. Candidate at the University of Michigan Law School

  • Noa Mintz

    • Stealth Health Tech startup Cofounder and CEO

  • Paulina Sengeridis, MS

    • Graduate Research Assistant at the University of Oxford, MS in Translational Neuroscience

  • Peyton Strong

  • Rohan Kumaran

    • MD Candidate at the Yale School of Medicine

  • Ryan Waite

  • Sam Nevins

  • Savannah Doelfel

    • JD/MD student at Harvard Law School and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

  • Selin Baydar - Thesis Student

    • Master's student in Clinical and Therapeutic Neuroscience in the department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford

  • Sydney Tucker

    • PhD student in Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation at the University of Oxford

  • Thomas Summe

    • PhD Student at the University of Notre Dame

  • Tony El Nemer

  • Wasita Mahaphanit - Thesis Student

    • PhD candidate in Luke Chang’s Computational Social Affective Neuroscience Lab at Dartmouth

  • William McNelis

  • Yihuan Dong

    • Research assistant in Bernardo Sabatini's lab under Neurobiology Department at Harvard Medical School

  • Zhuo Chen, MPH

High School Students

  • Natalie Cardoso

    • B.S. in Computer Science and Cognitive Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute