Profile of Michael N. Shadlen

Neuroscientist and neurologist Michael N. Shadlen is a world leader in the neurobiology of decision-making, a field of study he helped establish. His research explores higher brain functions—memory retrieval, reasoning, and multitasking, among others—that he theorizes share underlying mechanisms. His work suggests that a holy grail of neuroscience—the “hard problem” of consciousness, or the mechanism(s) by which physical brain operations are translated into lived experiences—could be resolved. Shadlen’s Inaugural Article explains what distinguishes conscious from nonconscious thought.