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Benjamin Y. Hayden is a neuroscientist and Professor at the University of Rochester. He studies the neural basis of self-control and decision-making, including how the brain compares different options and informs behaviors related to value-based decisions, neuroeconomics, and curiosity. More specifically, Hayden measures the brain activity of animals faced with self-control to serve as a model for how humans perceive risk and uncertainty. His research on brain activity, a BLEND of cognitive science, psychology, and animal behavior, has implications for treating behavioral conditions such as addiction, gambling addiction, depression, obesity, and obsessive compulsive disorder. Hayden earned a B.A. at Rice University and a Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley. An expert for Psychology Today, Hayden is Author of The Decision Tree, a blog dedicated to discussing research studies in the field of cognitive science and how those studies inform common problems in society and daily life.