Explore the Neurobiology of Learning & Decision Making

Interactive experiments that let you experience classic paradigms from cognitive science and neuroscience research. Test your perception, learning, and decision-making — then see how you compare.

4+
Experiments
100%
Browser-based
Live
Population Data
Reaction Time ~450ms avg
Live Analysis Real-time stats
Compare vs. population

Demonstrations

Visual explanations of key concepts in cognitive neuroscience. Watch, interact, and build intuition for how the brain makes decisions.

⚖️

Decision Making

How the brain accumulates evidence and commits to choices
1

Trading Silver

Value-Based Decision Making

Should you buy the silver? Watch the brain weigh subjective value against market price, accumulating evidence toward a BUY or DON'T BUY boundary.

Drift Rate Threshold DDM
Launch Demo
2

The Drift Diffusion Model

Mapping the Architecture of Choice

How does the brain decide what we perceive? See how an evidence accumulator integrates noisy sensory signals until committing to a choice.

Coherence Speed-Accuracy Shadlen & Newsome
Launch Demo
🧠

Learning & Prediction

How dopamine signals teach the brain to predict rewards
3

Learning Value Through Experience

The Rescorla-Wagner Model

An agent discovers a restaurant's true quality through noisy feedback, updating its estimate one meal at a time. Watch prediction errors shrink as learning converges.

Learning Rate α Prediction Error δ Dopamine
Launch Demo
4

Learning to Anticipate

TD Learning & Dopamine

Prediction errors shift backward from reward to the earliest predictive cue over learning — the exact pattern seen in dopamine neuron recordings.

TD Error Discount γ Schultz 1997
Launch Demo
5

The Coffee Walk

Learning State Values

Watch values propagate backward from a goal as an agent walks Home → Park → Street → Coffee Shop. See how discount factor shapes the value gradient.

State Values Spatial TD Discount γ
Launch Demo
🎯

Action Selection

How the brain chooses between competing actions under uncertainty
6

The Softmax Bandit

Explore vs Exploit

Two slot machines with hidden payoff rates. Should you exploit the best arm or explore? Temperature τ controls the balance in this Boltzmann policy demo.

Temperature τ Q-Values Regret
Launch Demo
7

The Actor-Critic Model

Separating Evaluation from Action

The Critic learns state value V, the Actor learns action preferences m(a), both taught by a shared dopamine-like prediction error δ. Compare learning rates for each system.

Critic (V) Actor (m) Striatum
Launch Demo
💡

Memory & Priming

How prior experience shapes perception and recall without awareness
8

Word-Stem Completion

Implicit Memory & Priming

Study a list of words, then complete word stems like MOT___. Does prior exposure bias what comes to mind? Experience the priming effect — a hallmark of implicit memory.

Priming Implicit Memory Schacter & Graf
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🗺️

Spatial Navigation

How the hippocampus builds a cognitive map of the environment
9

Place Cells & Visual Landmarks

Hippocampal Spatial Coding

Guide a rat through a three-armed maze and watch a hippocampal place cell fire. Rotate the maze and a visual cue card to discover that place fields are anchored to landmarks, not absolute position.

Place Fields Hippocampus O'Keefe & Nadel
Launch Demo

Choose Your Experiment

Each experiment is designed to illustrate key concepts in perception, learning, and decision-making. Run them yourself and explore the data.

New

Real-Time Allocation

Interactive classroom poll. Distribute 100 points across 5 categories and see the class consensus in real-time.

Classroom Poll Real-time
Join Poll View Dashboard →
Live

Random Dot Motion

The classic perceptual decision-making paradigm. Detect coherent motion in noisy dot fields and experience how the brain accumulates evidence over time.

Perception Evidence Accumulation Speed-Accuracy
Coming Soon

Two-Armed Bandit

Explore the exploration-exploitation tradeoff. Learn which option pays out more while balancing the need to gather information vs. maximize rewards.

Reinforcement Learning Explore vs Exploit Reward
Coming Soon

Stroop Task

Experience cognitive interference firsthand. Name ink colors while ignoring word meanings and discover the limits of attentional control.

Cognitive Control Interference Attention
Coming Soon

Rule Learning Task

Discover hidden rules through trial and error, then adapt when the rules suddenly change. A test of cognitive flexibility and hypothesis testing.

Cognitive Flexibility Rule Learning Set Shifting

Learn by Doing

These experiments aren't just demonstrations—they're tools for exploring how your own mind works. Each paradigm comes from decades of cognitive neuroscience research.

Run an experiment, see your results, and compare your performance against everyone else who has participated. The data updates in real-time.

No downloads — runs entirely in your browser
Real-time population histograms and percentiles
Adjustable parameters to explore effects
Open source — fork and create your own
// Your results, live

const myResults = {
  accuracy: 0.85,
  reactionTime: 423,
  percentile: 73
};

// Compare to everyone
showHistogram(populationData);
highlightMyScore(myResults);