Sloan-NOMIS Workshop on the Cognitive Foundations of Economics

8:30am – 9:00am: Check-In/Registration and Light Breakfast (provided)

9:00am – 9:05am: Introductory Remarks: Michael Woodford (Columbia University)

Theme 1: Consequences of Cognitive Noise

9:05am – 9:50am: Keynote Lecture: Imprecise Minds: How Cognitive Noise Shapes Human

Decisions Under Uncertainty (Valentin Wyart, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris)

9:50am – 10:30am: Break

10:30am – 12:00pm: SESSION 1

“Reference Points as Information” (Mark Dean, Columbia University)

“Probability Distortions Arising from Boundary Repulsions of Cognitive Noise” (Christian Ruff, University of Zürich)

“Learning Optimal Behavior Through Reasoning and Experiences” (Cosmin Ilut, Duke University)

12:00pm – 1:30pm: Lunch (provided)

Theme 2: Endogenous Imprecision

1:30pm – 2:15pm: Keynote Lecture: “Biological Correlates of Rational Inattention” (Colin Camerer, California Institute of Technology)

2:15pm – 2:45pm: Break

2:45pm – 3:45pm: SESSION 2

“History-Dependent Cognitive Defaults” (Cary Frydman, University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business)

“Cultural Evolution of Efficient Communication Systems in Humans and AI” (Noga Zaslavsky, New York University)

3:45pm – 4:30pm: Break

4:30pm – 5:30pm: SESSION 3

“Resource Rationality and Generalization in Decision Making” (Chris Sims, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)

“Framing & Attention” (Ernst Fehr, University of Zürich)

Friday, May 22, 2026

8:30am – 9:00am: Check-In/Registration and Light Breakfast (provided)

Theme 3: Human-AI Decision Making

9:00am – 10:15am: SESSION 4

“AI Advice and Human Beliefs” (Daniel Martin, University of California, Santa Barbara)

“Doing as AI Says, Not as AI Does: Learning Calibration from Machine Predictions” (Jennifer Trueblood, Indiana University)

“Decision Theoretic Foundations for Human-AI Complementarity” (Jessica Hullman, Northwestern University)

10:15am – 11:00am: Break

11:00am – 12:15pm: SESSION 5

“Artificial Intelligence Clones” (Annie Liang, Northwestern University)

“Uncertainty Communication in Human-AI Collaboration” (Mark Steyvers, University of California, Irvine)

“Recovering Economic Preferences under Behavioral Attenuation Bias” (Keyu Wu, University of Zürich)

12:15 pm – 2:00pm: Lunch (provided)

Theme 4: Consumer Understanding in the Age of AI

2:00pm – 3:15pm: SESSION 6

“Optimal Use of Preferences in Artificial Intelligence Algorithms” (Joshua Gans, University of Toronto)

“Mecha-nudging Machines” (Kawin Ethayarajh, University of Chicago Booth School of Business)

“Measuring and Predicting Clarity” (Stefan Bucher, University of Cambridge)

3:15pm – 4:00pm: Break

4:00pm – 5:15pm : SESSION 7

“Agentic AI and Consumers” (Karen Croxson, UK Competition and Markets Authority)

“Stickiness in Attention” (Olivia Natan, University of California, Berkeley)

“Planning Under AI: Modeling and Measuring Question-Driven Learning” (Andrew Caplin, New York University)

5:15pm – 5:30pm: Closing Remarks