Psychology
& Neuroscience
Experimental work on how people make moral judgments, regulate their thinking and acting, and understand where others are coming from. Most projects pair conceptual analysis with original experiments, often across cultures, informed by insights from the philosophy of science.
Methods
Behavioral experiments
Cross-cultural studies
Computational modeling
Prototype analysis
Research areas
Select an area to filter the work below.
Selected work
'26
Mental control and effort differ across different kinds of mental action
Krasich, K., Murray, S., Ghelfi, A., De Brigard, F., & Shepherd, J. — Consciousness and Cognition (2026)
Self-regulation, vigilance & cognitive control
Complement to The strategic allocation theory of vigilance
'26
Memories of forgiven wrongs: the role of interpersonal closeness and severity when remembering forgiven transgressions
Fernandez-Miranda, G., Faul, L., Murray, S., Amaya, S., & De Brigard, F. — Memory (2026)
Memory & forgetting
Follow-up to The emotional impact of forgiveness on autobiographical memories of past wrongdoings
'26
Varieties of negligence
Murray, S., Guzy, D., & Amaya, S. — Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (2026)
Moral cognition
Builds on Mental control and attributions of blame for negligent wrongdoing
'25
Validation of the Moral Foundation Vignettes in Latin America
Jimenez-Leal, W., Carmona, G., Murray, S., & Amaya, S. — Collabra: Psychology (2025)
Cross-cultural moral psychology
Builds on Loyalty from a personal point of view: A cross-cultural prototype study of loyalty
'25
The emotional impact of forgiveness on autobiographical memories of past wrongdoings
Fernandez-Miranda, G., Stanley, M., Murray, S., Faul, L., & De Brigard, F. — Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (2025)
Memory & forgetting
'25
Vigilance and mind wandering
Murray, S. — Mind \& Language (2025)
The dynamics of consciousness
Builds on Can the mind wander intentionally?
'24
What are the benefits of mind wandering to creativity?
Murray, S., Liang, N., Brosowsky, N., & Seli, P. — Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts (2024)
The dynamics of consciousness
Precursor to Fixation, flexibility, and creativity: The dynamics of mind wandering
'24
Blame for Hum(e)an beings: The role of character information in judgments of blame
Murray, S., O'Neill, K., Bridges, J., Sytsma, J., & Irving, Z. — Social Psychological and Personality Science (2024)
Moral cognition
Extends The Catch-22 of Forgetfulness: Responsibility for Mental Mistakes (philosophy)
'24
A Cross-Cultural Study of Everyday Moral Experiences
Murray, S., Jimenez-Leal, W., Amaya, S., & et al. — OSF (preprint) (2024)
Cross-cultural moral psychology
'24
Loyalty from a personal point of view: A cross-cultural prototype study of loyalty
Murray, S., Carmona, G., Vega, L., Jimenez-Leal, W., & Amaya, S. — Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (2024)
Cross-cultural moral psychology
Precursor to Validation of the Moral Foundation Vignettes in Latin America
'24
Within your rights: Dissociating wrongness and permissibility in moral judgement
Murray, S., Jimenez-Leal, W., & Amaya, S. — British Journal of Social Psychology (2024)
Moral cognition
'24
Commonsense Morality and the Bearable Automaticity of Being
Murray, S., & Nadelhoffer, T. — Consciousness and Cognition (2024)
Moral cognition
Companion to Not what I expected: Feeling of surprise differentially mediates effect of personal control on attributions of free will and responsibility
'24
The strategic allocation theory of vigilance
Murray, S., & Amaya, S. — Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science (2024)
Self-regulation, vigilance & cognitive control
Empirical complement to The nature and norms of vigilance (philosophy)
Empirical complement to Vigilance (philosophy)
'24
Believe in your self-control: Lay theories of self-control and their downstream effects
Bermudez, J.P., & Murray, S. — Current Opinion in Psychology (2024)
Self-regulation, vigilance & cognitive control
Synthesizes What's inside is all that counts? The contours of everyday thinking about self-control
Synthesizes Moralization and self-control strategy selection
'24
A computational modeling approach to investigating mind wandering-related adjustments to gaze behavior during scene viewing
Krasich, K., O'Neill, K., Murray, S., Brockmole, J.R., De Brigard, F., & Nuthmann, A. — Cognition (2024)
The dynamics of consciousness
'23
Intuitions about free will and the failure to comprehend determinism
Nadelhoffer, T., Murray, S., & Dykhuis, E. — Erkenntnis (2023)
Moral cognition
Inspired Do people understand determinism? The tracking problem for measuring free will beliefs (philosophy)
'23
What's inside is all that counts? The contours of everyday thinking about self-control
Bermudez, J.P., Murray, S., Chartrand, L., & Barbosa, S. — Review of Philosophy and Psychology (2023)
Self-regulation, vigilance & cognitive control
Inspired Moralization and self-control strategy selection
'23
Moralization and self-control strategy selection
Murray, S., Bermudez, J.P., & De Brigard, F. — Psychonomic Bulletin \& Review (2023)
Self-regulation, vigilance & cognitive control
Builds on What's inside is all that counts? The contours of everyday thinking about self-control
'23
Not what I expected: Feeling of surprise differentially mediates effect of personal control on attributions of free will and responsibility
Murray, S., & Nadelhoffer, T. — Review of Philosophy and Psychology (2023)
Moral cognition
Companion to Intuitions about free will and the failure to comprehend determinism
'22
Fixation, flexibility, and creativity: The dynamics of mind wandering
Smith, A.P., Brosowsky, N., Murray, S., Daniel, R., Meier, M.E., & Seli, P. — Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance (2022)
The dynamics of consciousness
Extends What are the benefits of mind wandering to creativity?
'22
Mental control and attributions of blame for negligent wrongdoing
Murray, S., Krasich, K., Irving, Z.C., Nadelhoffer, T., & De Brigard, F. — Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (2022)
Moral cognition
Empirical complement to The place of the trace: Negligence and responsibility (philosophy)
'22
Neural differences between internal and external episodic counterfactual thoughts
Khoudary, A., O'Neill, K., Faul, L., Murray, S., Smallman, R., & De Brigard, F. — Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (2022)
Memory & forgetting
Empirical complement to Times imagined and remembered (philosophy)
'21
Attention need not always apply: Mind wandering impedes explicit but not implicit sequence learning
Brosowsky, N.P., Murray, S., Schooler, J.W., & Seli, P. — Cognition (2021)
The dynamics of consciousness
Builds on What's in a task? Complications in the study of the task-unrelated-thought variety of mind wandering
'21
Piercing the smoke screen: Dualism, free will, and Christianity
Murray, S., Murray, E., & Nadelhoffer, T. — Journal of cognition and culture (2021)
Moral cognition
Precursor to Intuitions about free will and the failure to comprehend determinism
'21
Thought dynamics under task demands: Evaluating the influence of task difficulty on unconstrained thought
Brosowsky, N.P., Murray, S., Schooler, J.W., & Seli, P. — Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance (2021)
The dynamics of consciousness
Companion to Fixation, flexibility, and creativity: The dynamics of mind wandering
'21
The neurocognitive mechanisms of responsibility: a framework for normatively relevant neuroscience
Murray, S., & De Brigard, F. — Developments in Neuroethics and bioethics (2021)
Moral cognition
Empirical complement to Vigilance and Control (philosophy)
'21
The impact of error-consequence severity on cue processing in importance-biased prospective memory
Krasich, K., Gjorgieva, E., Murray, S., Bhatia, S., Faber, M., De Brigard, F., & Woldorff, M.G. — Cerebral Cortex Communications (2021)
Memory & forgetting
Empirical complement to Vigilance and Control (philosophy)
Empirical complement to The neurocognitive mechanisms of responsibility: a framework for normatively relevant neuroscience
'20
What's in a task? Complications in the study of the task-unrelated-thought variety of mind wandering
Murray, S., Krasich, K., Schooler, J.W., & Seli, P. — Perspectives on Psychological Science (2020)
The dynamics of consciousness
Precursor to Vigilance and mind wandering
'20
I've said it before and I will say it again: Repeating statements made by Donald Trump increases perceived truthfulness
Murray, S., Stanley, M., McPhetres, J., Pennycook, G., & Seli, P. — OSF (preprint) (2020)
Political psychology
No work in this area yet.
Department
Neuroscience Program, Providence College
Collaboration
- Santiago Amaya Rice
- Juan Pablo Bermúdez Southampton
- Paulo Boggio Mackenzie Presbyterian
- Felipe De Brigard Duke
- Gino Carmona-Díaz Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá
- Elise Dykhuis West Point
- William Jiménez-Leal Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá
- Zac Irving Virginia
- Kristina Krasich Elon
- Thomas Nadelhoffer College of Charleston
Past
- Postdoc — Imagination & Modal Cognition Lab Duke
- Postdoc — Moral Attitudes & Decision-Making Lab Duke
- Postdoc — Facultad de Ciencias Sociales Universidad de los Andes
- Research assistant — Department of Neurobiology Stanford
- Research assistant — Princeton Neuroscience Institute Princeton