Laboratory for Rational Decision Making

Under the direction of Valerie Reyna, Ph.D.,  the Laboratory for Rational Decision Making researches human judgment and decision making, numeracy and quantitative reasoning, risk and uncertainty, medical decision making, social judgment, and memory. Dr. Reyna is a developer of fuzzy-trace theory, a model of the relation between memory and higher reasoning that has been widely applied in law and medicine. 

• Explainable and Interpretable AI
• Spread of Misinformation through Social Media
• Adolescents’ and Young Adults’ Risky Decision Making
• Health and Medical Decision Making
• Neuroscience
• Psychology and Law
• Basic Science
• In the News

Students and advisees may contact Dr. Reyna via email: vr53 [at] cornell.edu (vr53[at]cornell[dot]edu)

November 2025

Dr. Valerie Reyna, Expert Advisor and Member of the American Psychological Association Health Advisory Panel, contributed to the "Health advisory: Use of generative AI chatbots and wellness applications for mental health." Read more.

July 2025

Dr. Valerie Reyna was awarded a grants by TRAILS (Trustworthy AI in Law & Society) funded by NSF (National Science Foundation): Science of Substantial Similarity in AI-related Copyright Violations, Principal Investigator, 2025-2026. Read more.

Dr. Valerie Reyna received the Lifetime Achievement Award to honor an individual who has made long-lasting and distinguished theoretical and empirical contributions to basic research in experimental psychology, awarded by the Society for Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Science and by Division 3 of the American Psychological Association (APA). To learn about her research, visit the Publications page. The APA interviewed Dr. Reyna in honor of the occasion for their podcast, Speaking of Psychology. Listen here and on podcast streaming platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Dr. Valerie Reyna and the members of her lab engaged in outreach/extension with high school students as part of the 4-H Career Explorations Program workshop, Scientific Literacy and AI, featured in the Cornell Chronicle.

January 2025

Dr. Valerie Reyna was awarded a seed grant by TRAILS (Trustworthy AI in Law & Society) funded by NSF (National Science Foundation): Believing, Sharing, and Detecting Human versus AI-generated True and False Health Information, Principal Investigator, 2024-2025. Read more here: TRAILS AI Institute Seed Funding.

Dr. Reyna is extremely pleased with the first round of TRAILS-funded projects at Cornell. Drs. Peng, Gao, and Jung’s project epitomizes the potential of values-driven AI to improve human lives while building trust and accountability.

We are often faced with situations that require us to make important decisions that affect our health and wellbeing. The mission of the Laboratory for Rational Decision Making is to understand how people make decisions and how to help them make better decisions. Dr. Valerie Reyna has proposed a powerful theory called “Fuzzy Trace Theory” to explain how choices that emphasize the bottom-line or “gist,” and not a collection of numerical facts or “verbatim,” are essential to making good decisions. One area of particular focus in our lab has been to learn how adolescents make decisions about engaging in risky behaviors such as sex and underage drinking. Our research projects have included the use of cutting-edge technologies such as functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to examine brain processes involved with decision-making and web-based tutorials with avatars to improve the decision-making process. Results of our research program have been used to inform public health and education policy as well as, guide intervention programs. Further, the lab is an exciting, dynamic learning environment that provides undergraduates with training and skills that will help them succeed in their careers and advanced studies. Your help is essential to support students, cutting-edge research, and outreach to the community to achieve our goal of “Developing Brains, Developing the Future.”

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