Ignacio Saez, PhD

Every day we are faced with an endless stream of decisions, from the mundane (what to have for lunch) to the transcendent (career goals). How we evaluate the different options available to us, make choices and learn from the outcomes is the main focus of my research. A main idea is that human choice is not entirely free, but constrained by our biology. This is manifested at multiple levels: your brain activity immediately prior to making a choice reflects valuation and action selection processes, there are specific circuits and neurotransmitter systems encoding that activity and there are even more distant forces at play, such as your genetic makeup.

These examples reflect the complex influence of your biology in your everyday behavior, and showcase the need for a multi-level approach to the study of this fascinating problem. Besides strong implications in psychiatric conditions characterized by damaged choice behavior (such as addiction, depression, anxiety and a long etc.), these questions are at the heart of human nature and identity.