Skip to main content
ScIU Indiana University Bloomington

Tag: cognitive science

The brain and moral decision making

Posted by

[A person holding up a heart on one side and a brain on the other side of their head.]

How do we separate right from wrong in moral decision making? Some moral decisions, like whether or not to commit murder, seem like easy and intuitive moral decisions. However, we are often caught in moral dilemmas in our lives where the “right” thing to do is not as clear…

Philosophy and moral decision making

Posted by

[An arrow pointing left labeled “Wrong Way” and an arrow pointing right labeled “Right Way.”]

Should you cheat on your exam to get a good final grade in your class? When is it okay to lie? If your child is going for an internship at your company, is it morally permissible to give them a leg up over other applicants? We make moral decisions every day, forming a moral personality from the choices we make about right and wrong…

How computer science aids psychology: Cognitive modeling of natural objects

Posted by

[A cartoon drawing of a brain with the left hemisphere depicted with brain tissues and the right hemisphere a circuit board with cogs and gears.]

Could you imagine that a computer program can infer the nutritional content of some food item from reading articles on related topics? How about an algorithm that can give medical diagnoses based on radiological images? Although these abilities sound like science fiction, they are becoming closer to reality thanks to the recent integration of computer science and cognitive science…

The cognitive process behind categorizing objects

Posted by

[Schematic drawings of various everyday objects embedded in a person’s brain. A question mark is drawn to indicate the question of categorization.]

Conscious or not, we are faced with countless categorization decisions during our everyday lives. When organizing kids’ rooms, parents need to decide if various items are tools or toys, to know in which drawer to place them… No matter how fast and intuitive some categorizations may feel, the process of making any classification decision involves a chain of cognitive steps…

Seeking canine companions: A study on human decision making

Posted by

A small white and black dog stands behind a fence, looking at the camera. Sam is shown, out of focus, in the background.

On most weekends, you can find Indiana University graduate student Sam Cohen at Bloomington Animal Care and Control, a local animal shelter where she has volunteered for two years as a pet adoption counselor. She gets to know the dogs, talks with visitors, and helps them identify which dogs they might want to adopt. But,… Read more »

The brain science of cognitive control

Posted by

Ever wonder how your brain knows exactly what to do to achieve the goal of acquiring a cup of coffee, even if you’ve just stumbled out of bed? You need to take a number of steps in the correct order, including putting in the filter, adding the water, adding the coffee and turning on the… Read more »

College of Arts + Sciences

Are you a graduate student at IUB? Would you like to write for ScIU? Email sciucomm@iu.edu