AFRL/AFOSR Awards Grant for “Center of Excellence” Focused on the Neuroscience of Decision Making

Pilots landing their aircraft on a carrier deck or Wall Street hedge fund traders trying to reduce volatility in their portfolio have to make immediate decisions based on the context and conditions they are under. While researchers have made progress in understanding the neuroscience of decision making for simple decisions in humans and model (animal) systems, there is a huge gap between that and what actually happens in the brain for tasks that require multiple, interdependent decisions made under stress, fatigue, and time constraints.

A team led by Biomedical Engineering Professor Paul Sajda, a leading neuroscience researcher, has won a $5 million five-year grant from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research to establish an AFRL “center of excellence” (COE) focused on studying human decision making in real-world environments.