Valerie F. Reyna

Valerie F. Reyna, PhD, is codirector, Center for Behavioral Economics and Decision Research, and professor of human development, psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience (IMAGINE Program), at Cornell University.

Dr. Reyna is a developer of fuzzy trace theory, an influential model of memory and decision making that has been widely applied in law, medicine, and public health, as well as in neuroscience. A leader in using memory principles and mathematical models to explain judgment and decision making, she helped initiate what is now a burgeoning area of research on developmental differences in judgment and decision making.

Her recent work has focused on neuroeconomics; aging, neurocognitive impairment, and genetic risk factors (e.g., in Alzheimer’s disease); rationality and risky decision making, particularly risk taking in adolescence; and neuroimaging models of framing and decision making. She has also extended fuzzy trace theory to risk perception, numeracy, and medical decision making by both physicians and patients.

She is the past president of the Society for Judgment and Decision Making, and she currently serves on scientific panels of the National Academy of Sciences, National Institutes of Health, and National Science Foundation. Dr. Reyna is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association for Psychological Science, and four divisions of APA.