Constrained choices: addiction, attention, and reasons-responsiveness

Federico Burdman (Universidad Alberto Hurtado)

We are pleased to announce a monthly online talk series on “Inferences & Capacities.” The series brings together work on inferential capacities, rationality, normativity, and cognition — across both human and non-human animals — with the aim of fostering discussion on the nature and limits of the cognitive sphere. 

Federico Burdman (Universidad Alberto Hurtado)

"Constrained choices: addiction, attention, and reasons-responsiveness"
May 18: 11am (Buenos Aires); 10am (New York); 4pm (Berlin)

Abstract: A major challenge for theories of addiction is to explain how the condition drives people's behavior through influencing the way they make choices. In this talk, I present a view—the attentional capture model—that addresses this challenge by explaining reduced responsiveness to reasons against using as an outcome of persistent biases in the allocation of internal attention. Building on the extensive empirical literature on attentional biases in addiction, the model centers on two such biases: preferential retrieval and preferential elaboration. The first affects the process of searching for considerations for or against using drugs, with the result that considerations that favor drug use come to mind more easily than other considerations. The second is the tendency to maintain attentional focus on drug-related thoughts once they are actively entertained. Both biases tilt the playing field of practical deliberation: considerations against using may fail to be called up or be only transiently entertained as the agent's attention is disproportionately drawn to considerations favoring drug use. This helps explain why people with addiction may end up making choices that conflict with their considered evaluative perspective.

Each talk in our series will last 40 minutes followed by 40 minutes open Q&A. To register, please send an email to Alfredo Vernazzani at:

alfredo-vernazzani AT protonmail.com

The series is co-organized by

Mariela Aguilera (National University of Córdoba)

Matías Osta-Vélez (Universidad de la República), and

Alfredo Vernazzani (TU Dortmund; Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg; University of Pittsburgh).

All talks take place online and are open to interested participants.

To register, please email Alfredo Vernazzani at:

alfredo-vernazzani AT protonmail.com

Here is the 2026 lineup: 

April 27: Angelica Kaufmann (University of Milan): “Mind Blanking as Mental Imagery”

May 18: Federico Burdman (Universidad Alberto Hurtado) “Constrained choices: addiction, attention, and reasons-responsiveness”

June 22: Susanna Schellenberg (Rutgers): TBA

July 20: Cameron Buckner (University of Florida): "Chains-of-Thought, Inner Speech, and Artificial Epistemic Agency"

September 7: Ulf Hlobil (Concordia University): TBA

October 19: Eva Schmidt (TU Dortmund): TBA

November 16: Hans-Johann Glock (University of Zürich): “Is ascribing inferences to brains or non-human animals a fallacy?"

December 14: Emma Borg (School of Advanced Studies, University of London): "Twitches, Fidgets, Habits, Skills: Exploring the scope of common-sense psychology."

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