Federal Grant Award Summary

The National Science Foundation's Office of Multidisciplinary Activities awarded $918,934 to the University of California, Santa Cruz on August 1, 2026, under the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences program (CFDA 47.075) to conduct a three-year project (completion date: July 31, 2029) investigating how the human brain integrates information across sensory modalities, temporal scales, and prior knowledge. The research will develop and test a computational framework centered on subjective-reliability weighting—a rapid, metacognitive heuristic algorithm that explains how humans achieve near-optimal decision-making despite the computational demands of assigning appropriate weights to diverse information sources. Using combined behavioral measures and computational modeling, the project will advance understanding of the brain's adaptive mechanisms for managing noisy, variable, and complex informational inputs.

The research outcomes are expected to generate foundational insights applicable to metacognitive artificial intelligence development, next-generation intelligent systems design, and clinical interventions for neurological conditions characterized by impaired information integration. This award reflects NSF's investment in basic research that bridges cognitive science, neuroscience, and computational theory to elucidate fundamental principles of human cognition with potential applications across AI development and healthcare.