David G. Kamper
Law, Cognition, Computation, Creativity, Aesthetics, Morality, Experimental Jurisprudence, Intellectual Property, Tort
I am a PhD student in cognitive neuroscience and computational cognitive science at University of California, Los Angeles in the Reasoning Lab, where I am advised by Keith Holyoak and Hongjing Lu. I also work with the Craig Fox, and Jaime Castrellon. I will be attending law school in Fall 2025. I am supported as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow.
My research uses computational and cognitive neuroscientific techniques to study legal cognition and decision making, particularly in intellectual property law and tort. My primary focus on copyright and patent law and how those intersect with the cognitive neuroscience of creativity and the philosophy of aesthetics. Moreover, how I look at how individuals and groups in social networks come to develop norms around intellectual property using computational cognitive modeling and data science analyses of naturalistic behavior, which then come to be reflected in our legislation and caselaw around intellectual property.
I work with my post-baccalaureate research labs at Brown University: The Causality and Mind Laboratory with Dr. David Sobel and The Perception, Cognition, and Action Lab with Dr. Joo-hyun Song. I am an affiliate/collaborator in the Causal Cognition Lab at University College London with Dr. David Lagnado, an affiliate/collaborator in the MADLAB at Duke University with Dr. Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, an affiliate/collaborator with the Mind at Large Lab at Duke University with Dr. Paul Seli, and an affiliate with the Center for the Science of Moral Understanding at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
I previously studied at the University of Michigan in the Computational Neurolinguistics Laboratory with Dr. Jonathan Brennan. I completed post-baccalaureate research at Brown University. I also worked at the University of Minnesota and Harvard Law Schools in the Neurolaw Laboratory with Dr. Francis X. Shen.
I received my B.S. in Neuroscience, Philosophy, Cognitive Science, and a minor in Linguistics summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Michigan. I simultaneously received my B.M. in Trombone Performance summa cum laude from the School of Music, Theater & Dance at the University of Michigan.