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Representative publications
Shenhav, A. (in press). The three biggest obstacles to solving motivated behavior, and how to overcome them. Advances in Motivation Science. [Preprint]
Leng, X., Su, Y.H., Frömer, R.*, & Shenhav, A.* (2026). Breaking the tug-of-war: What neuroeconomics can gain by moving past competition-only models. In: Neuroeconomics: Core Topics and Current Directions, edited by D. Smith, D. Fareri, and P. Lockwood. Springer Nature. [Chapter]
Su, Y.H. & Shenhav, A. (2026). Rejection-based choices discourage people from opting out of voting. Nature Communications. [Article, News]
Leng, X., Frömer, R., Summe, T., & Shenhav, A. (2025). Mutual inclusivity improves decision-making by smoothing out choice's competitive edge. Nature Human Behaviour 9: 521-533. [Article; Press Release]
Frömer, R., Nassar, M.R., Ehinger, B.V., & Shenhav, A. (2024). Common neural choice signals emerge artefactually amidst multiple distinct value signals. Nature Human Behaviour 8:2194–2208 . [Article]
Frömer, R., & Shenhav, A. (2022). Filling the gaps: Cognitive control as a critical lens for understanding mechanisms of value-based decision-making. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 134, 104483. [Article]
Frömer, R., Dean Wolf, C.K., & Shenhav, A. (2019). Goal congruency dominates reward value in accounting for behavioral and neural correlates of value-based decision-making. Nature Communications, 10(1): 4926 [Article, Supplement, Code]
Shenhav, A., Straccia, M.A., Cohen, J.D., & Botvinick, M.M. (2014). Anterior cingulate engagement in a foraging context reflects choice difficulty, not foraging value. Nature Neuroscience 17(9): 1249-1254. [Article; Supplementary Data; News & Views]
Shenhav, A. & Buckner, R.L. (2014). Neural correlates of dueling affective reactions to win-win choices. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111(30): 10978-10983. [Article; Press Release]
All publications
Su, Y., Leng, X., Shenhav, A. Characterizing the causes, dynamics, and consequences of choice deferral. [Preprint]
*Leng, X., *Fengler, A., ^Shenhav, A., ^Frank, M.J. (2026). The Perils of Omitting Omissions when Modeling Evidence Accumulation. PLOS Computational Biology 22(8): e1014667. [Article]
*Ritz, H., *Frömer, R., & Shenhav, A. (2026). Misspecified models create the false appearance of adaptive control during value-based choice. Communications Psychology. [Article]
Frömer, R., Ting, C.C., ^Shenhav, A, ^Gluth, S. Goals shape dynamics of attention and selection for value-based decision-making. [Preprint]
Cheng, Z., Ging-Jehli, N.R., Tarlow, M., Kim, J., Chase, H.W., Arora, M., Bonar, L., Stiffler, R., Grattery, A., Graur, S., Frank, M.J., *Phillips, M.L., *Shenhav, A. (2026). A Novel Approach-Avoidance Task to Study Decision Making Under Outcome Uncertainty. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 33(114). [Article]
Leng, X., Frömer, R., Summe, T., & Shenhav, A. (2025). Mutual inclusivity improves decision-making by smoothing out choice's competitive edge. Nature Human Behaviour 9: 521-533. [Article; Press Release]
*Frömer, R., *Callaway, F., Griffiths, T., & Shenhav, A. (2025). Considering what we know and what we don't know: Expectations and confidence guide value integration in value-based decision-making. Open Mind 9: 791–813. [Article]
Shenhav, A. (2024). The affective gradient hypothesis: An affect-centered account of motivated behavior. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 28(12):1089-1104. [Article]
Frömer, R., Nassar, M.R., Ehinger, B.V., & Shenhav, A. (2024). Common neural choice signals emerge artefactually amidst multiple distinct value signals. Nature Human Behaviour 8:2194–2208 . [Article]
Bustamante, L.A., Oshinowo, T., Lee, J.R., Tong, E., Burton, A.R., Shenhav, A., Cohen, J.D., Daw, N.D. (2023). Effort Foraging Task reveals positive correlation between individual differences in the cost of cognitive and physical effort in humans and relationship to self-reported motivation and affect. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 120 (50): e2221510120. [Article]
Kim, J., Frömer, R., Leng, X., & Shenhav, A. (2022). Confidently conflicted: The impact of value confidence on choice varies with choice context. In Proceedings of the 5th Multidisciplinary Conference on Reinforcement Learning and Decision Making. Providence, RI. [Paper].
Leng, X., Frömer, R., & Shenhav, A. (2022). A theoretical and experimental investigation of the role of mutual inhibition in shaping choice. In Proceedings of the 5th Multidisciplinary Conference on Reinforcement Learning and Decision Making. Providence, RI. [Paper].
Frömer, R., Gluth, S., & Shenhav, A (2022). Hidden knobs: Representations for flexible goal-directed decision-making. In Proceedings of the 5th Multidisciplinary Conference on Reinforcement Learning and Decision Making. Providence, RI. [Paper].
Frömer, R., & Shenhav, A. (2022). Filling the gaps: Cognitive control as a critical lens for understanding mechanisms of value-based decision-making. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 134, 104483. [Article]
Fontanesi, L., *Shenhav, A., *Gluth, S. (2022). Disentangling choice value and choice conflict in sequential decisions under risk. PLOS Computational Biology 18(10): e1010478. [Article]
Kane, G. A., James, M. H., Shenhav, A., Daw, N. D., Cohen, J. D., Aston-Jones, G. (2022). Rat anterior cingulate cortex continuously signals decision variables in a patch foraging task. Journal of Neuroscience 42 (29) 5730-5744. [Article]
Rmus, M., Ritz, H., Hunter, L.E., *Bornstein, A.M., & *Shenhav, A. (2022). Humans can navigate complex graph structures acquired during latent learning. Cognition 225, 105103. [Article]
Collins, A.G.E. & Shenhav, A. (2022). Advances in modeling learning and decision-making in neuroscience. Neuropsychopharmacology 47: 104-118. [Article]
Frömer, R. & Shenhav, A. Spatiotemporally distinct neural mechanisms underlie our reactions to and comparison between value-based options. [Preprint]
Frömer, R., Dean Wolf, C.K., & Shenhav, A. (2019). Goal congruency dominates reward value in accounting for behavioral and neural correlates of value-based decision-making. Nature Communications, 10(1): 4926 [Article, Supplement, Code]
Kane, G. A., Bornstein, A. M., Shenhav, A., Wilson, R. C., Daw, N. D., & Cohen, J. D. (2019). Rats exhibit similar biases in foraging and intertemporal choice tasks. eLife, 8:e48429 [Article]
*Miller, KJ., *Shenhav, A., & Ludvig, E.A. (2019). Habits without values. Psychological Review 126(2): 292-311. [Article; Press Release, Coverage]
Shenhav, A. & Karmarkar, U.R. (2019). Dissociable components of the reward circuit are involved in appraisal versus choice. Scientific Reports 9(1958): 1-12. [Article; Supplementary Data]
FeldmanHall, O & Shenhav, A. (2019). Resolving uncertainty in a social world. Nature Human Behaviour 3: 426-435. [Article, Press release]
Spitzer, M., *Musslick S., Shvartsman, M., Shenhav A., Cohen, J.D. (2019). Asymmetric switch costs as a function of task strength. Proceedings of the 41st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Montreal, CA. [Paper]
Shenhav, A., Dean Wolf, C.K., & Karmarkar, U.R. (2018). The evil of banality: When choosing between the mundane feels like choosing between the worst. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 147(12): 1892-1904. [Article; Supplementary Data]
Ritz, H., Nassar, M.R., Frank, M.J., & Shenhav, A. (2018). A control theoretic model of adaptive behavior in dynamic environments. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 30(10): 1405-1421. [Article]
Shenhav, A., Straccia, M.A., Musslick, S., Cohen, J.D., & Botvinick, M.M. (2018). Dissociable neural mechanisms track evidence accumulation for selection of attention versus action. Nature Communications 9 (1): 2485. [Article; Supplementary Data]
Zacharopoulos G., Shenhav A., Constantino S., Maio G.R., Linden D.E.J. (2018). The effect of self-focus on personal and social foraging behavior. Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience: 13(9): 967-965. [Article]
Kane, G., Vazey, E., Wilson, R., Shenhav, A., Daw, N., Aston-Jones, G., & Cohen, J.D. (2017). Increased locus coeruleus tonic activity causes disengagement from a patch foraging task. Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience 17(6): 1073-1083. [Article]
Shenhav, A. (2017). The perils of losing control: Why self-control is not just another value-based decision. Psychological Inquiry 28(2-3): 148-152. [Article]
Kane, G.A., Bornstein, A.M., Shenhav, A., Wilson, R.C., Daw, N.D., & Cohen, J.D. (2017). Mechanisms of overharvesting in patch foraging in rodents. In G. Gunzelmann, A. Howes, T. Tenbrink, & E. Davelaar (Ed.), Proceedings of the 39th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pp. 637-642). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society. [Paper]
Shenhav, A., Straccia, M.A., Botvinick, M.M., & Cohen, J.D. (2016). Dorsal anterior cingulate and ventromedial prefrontal cortex have inverse roles in both foraging and economic choice. Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience 16(6): 1127-1139. [Article; Supplementary Data]
Shenhav, A., Straccia, M.A., Cohen, J.D., & Botvinick, M.M. (2014). Anterior cingulate engagement in a foraging context reflects choice difficulty, not foraging value. Nature Neuroscience 17(9): 1249-1254. [Article; Supplementary Data; News & Views]
Shenhav, A. & Buckner, R.L. (2014). Neural correlates of dueling affective reactions to win-win choices. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111(30): 10978-10983. [Article; Press Release]
Shenhav, A. & Greene, J.D. (2014). Integrative moral judgment: Dissociating the roles of the amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Journal of Neuroscience 34(13): 4741-4749. [Article]
Shenhav, A. & Greene, J.D. (2010). Moral judgments recruit domain-general valuation mechanisms to integrate representations of probability and magnitude. Neuron 67 (4): 667-677. [Article; Supplementary Data; Press Release]