Article
Economics
Paul W. Glimcher, Agnieszka A. Tymula
Summary: We propose a descriptive model of choice based on efficient value representation in the brain. Our model is a special case of Expected Utility Theory and can explain behaviors predicted by Prospect Theory. With only two parameters, it captures the Allais Paradox and sheds light on the computational origins and evolution of risk attitudes and aversion to outcomes below the reference point. It offers novel explanations of the endowment effect, heterogeneity in probability weighting functions, and the Allais Paradox with fewer parameters and higher descriptive accuracy than Prospect Theory.
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR & ORGANIZATION
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Tony B. Williams, Christopher J. Burke, Stephan Nebe, Kerstin Preuschoff, Ernst Fehr, Philippe N. Tobler
Summary: Decisions are made based on the subjective values of choice options, which are theoretical constructs. Different theoretical models competing to explain how subjective values are assigned to choice options often make similar behavioral predictions, posing a challenge for establishing a biologically plausible explanation of decision-making based on behavior alone. Research demonstrates that model comparison at the neural level can provide insights into how cognitive processes are implemented.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Stefan Duerschmid, Andre Maric, Marcel S. Kehl, Robert T. Knight, Hermann Hinrichs, Hans-Jochen Heinze
Summary: The study found that impulsive decisions often prioritize smaller but sooner rewards compared to larger but later rewards, and the contribution of neural activity and attention to choice alternatives to reward decisions is not yet clear.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Leonie Koban, Sangil Lee, Daniela S. Schelski, Marie -Christine Simon, Caryn Lerman, Bernd Weber, Joseph W. Kable, Hilke Plassmann
Summary: Individual differences in delay discounting, associated with various life outcomes, psychopathology, and obesity, were studied using machine learning on fMRI activity during inter-temporal choice tasks. A functional brain marker was developed and validated in two independent datasets, with significant correlations to prediction outcomes and long-term discounting behavior. The marker also showed differences between overweight and lean individuals and predicted blood levels of insulin, c-peptide, and leptin.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Management
Mohammed Abdellaoui, Enrico Diecidue, Emmanuel Kemel, Ayse Onculer
Summary: This paper reports two experiments on attitudes towards temporal risk resolution, where individuals make choices between two-outcome lotteries that pay out at a fixed future date, either immediately or later. The findings indicate that individuals become less sensitive and more pessimistic regarding winning probabilities when lotteries are resolved later.
MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Developmental
Louisa Thomas, Patricia L. Lockwood, Mona M. Garvert, Joshua H. Balsters
Summary: Research has shown that understanding others' beliefs can lead to contagion effects, making individuals more susceptible to influence. Despite social deficits in autism, individuals with autism showed similar levels of contagion and accuracy when learning about others compared to neurotypical individuals. The contagion of value preferences appears to be intact in individuals with autism.
JOURNAL OF AUTISM AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Blair R. K. Shevlin, Stephanie M. Smith, Jan Hausfeld, Ian Krajbich
Summary: It is widely believed that people's choices become less sensitive to changes in value as the value increases. However, contrary to predictions, research shows that decisions between high-value options are made faster and more accurately.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Haijiao Cui, Bin Cao, Aimei Li, Zhaohui Li
Summary: Subjective value plays a fundamental role in decision-making processes and individuals' sense of happiness. We propose an attention-and-reference-dependent subjective value model that considers absolute and relative subjective value as well as attention distribution to better capture decision-makers' psychological characteristics. This model offers a theoretical tool for explaining, predicting, and adjusting decision behaviors. Additionally, our study compares hedonic editing strategies to maximize the overall experienced subjective value and reveals the stimulus-intensity-sensitive optimal strategy, contradicting the hedonic editing strategy based on the prospect theory value function when stimulus intensity is relatively small. The findings enrich transaction utility theory and expectation-disconfirmation theory, providing guidance for decision-makers to enhance happiness by rational management of gains and losses.
JOURNAL OF HAPPINESS STUDIES
(2023)
Article
Psychiatry
Janine Thome, Mathieu Pinger, Patrick Halli, Daniel Durstewitz, Wolfgang H. Sommer, Peter Kirsch, Georgia Koppe
Summary: This study develops an adaptive paradigm to increase discounting behavior and homogenize behavior in reward and loss discounting tasks. The results suggest that hyperboloid models are superior in predicting unseen discounting behavior. The study also reports commonalities and differences between reward and loss discounting, providing important insights.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHIATRY
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Biological
Kai Ruggeri, Amma Panin
Summary: A study conducted across 61 countries found that individuals, regardless of their economic conditions, often exhibit inconsistent behavior when choosing between immediate and future financial options. This inconsistency can lead to worse choices, even among wealthy individuals.
NATURE HUMAN BEHAVIOUR
(2022)
Review
Behavioral Sciences
Warren K. Bickel, Roberta Freitas-Lemos, Devin C. Tomlinson, William H. Craft, Diana R. Keith, Liqa N. Athamneh, Julia C. Basso, Leonard H. Epstein
Summary: This study examines temporal discounting as a behavioral marker of obesity and finds that it shows predictive utility in many areas, but limited evidence in some. Further research is needed to explore temporal discounting as a behavioral marker of obesity.
NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS
(2021)
Article
Biology
Abraham Katzen, Hui-Kuan Chung, William T. Harbaugh, Christina Della Iacono, Nicholas Jackson, Elizabeth E. Glater, Charles J. Taylor, Stephanie K. Yu, Steven W. Flavell, Paul W. Glimcher, James Andreoni, Shawn R. Lockery, Manuel Zimmer
Summary: In value-based decision making, individuals select options based on subjective values. By studying food preferences in the nematode C. elegans, researchers found that the worms exhibit utility maximization, indicating that they maintain a representation of subjective value. This value is learned and requires intact dopamine signaling. The findings provide insights into the computational requirements for utility maximization and offer a complete explanation of value-based decision making at the resolution of single neurons in this organism.
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Cheng Wang, Yu Liu, Jun Wang
Summary: The study reveals a new phenomenon, the lexical kappa effect, where word distance affects the subjective perception of time intervals. When two words are closer in the lexicon, the temporal distance between them is perceived to be shorter.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Kevin M. Smith, Margaret P. Chapman
Summary: The standard approach to risk-averse control is to use the exponential utility (EU) and more recently, there has been growing interest in using the conditional value-at-risk (CVaR) for risk-averse control. This study aims to examine the applications of these risk-averse functionals to controller synthesis and safety analysis through numerical examples.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CONTROL SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Wojciech Bialaszek, Przemyslaw Marcowski, Pawel Ostaszewski
Summary: The study found that the magnitude effect is present for monetary gains but not for monetary losses in delay discounting and probability discounting. The subjective probability of receiving future outcomes is amount-dependent for gains but not for losses. The risk associated with future payoffs of different magnitudes may explain the magnitude effect.
CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY
(2021)
Editorial Material
Medicine, General & Internal
Nozomu Matsuda, Hiroyuki Minemura, Shunsuke Kobayashi, Kazuaki Kanai
Article
Neurosciences
Simone Ferrari-Toniolo, Philipe M. Bujold, Fabian Grabenhorst, Raymundo Baez-Mendoza, Wolfram Schultz
Summary: Expected Utility Theory describes choices as a process of maximizing utility, where decision makers assign subjective value to each choice option and select the one with the highest utility. The continuity axiom is central to the theory, requiring decision makers to be indifferent between different gambles, which is crucial for defining numerical utilities.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Leo Chi U. Seak, Konstantin Volkmann, Alexandre Pastor-Bernier, Fabian Grabenhorst, Wolfram Schultz
Summary: The study demonstrates that reward-related brain structures in humans can integrate multiple reward components into a scalar signal, beyond the known subjective value coding of single-component rewards.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Kathryn M. Rothenhoefer, Tao Hong, Aydin Alikaya, William R. Stauffer
Summary: This study found that rare rewards amplify dopamine responses, even when conventional prediction errors are identical, indicating a mechanism for learning the complexities of real-world incentives.
NATURE NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Morgane M. Moss, Peter Zatka-Haas, Kenneth D. Harris, Matteo Carandini, Armin Lak
Summary: Research suggests that dopamine in the striatum plays a critical role in visual decision-making, encoding visual stimuli and rewarded actions in a lateralized fashion. Contrary to previous beliefs, dopamine signals in the DMS respond to contralateral stimuli and rewarded actions, facilitating associations between specific visual stimuli and actions.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Alexandre Pastor-Bernier, Arkadiusz Stasiak, Wolfram Schultz
Summary: This study demonstrates that satiety affects reward value coding and that Revealed Preference Theory may offer a solution to assess economic reward value. Neuronal signals in the OFC closely track subjective value changes, supporting the idea of subjective economic reward value coding in OFC neurons.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Philipe M. Bujold, Leo Chi U. Seak, Wolfram Schultz, Simone Ferrari-Toniolo
Summary: Decisions can be risky or riskless, depending on the outcomes of the choice. The utility functions for risky and riskless choices can be different, which should be taken into account in neuronal investigations of utility-based choice.
Article
Neurosciences
Alaa Al-Mohammad, Wolfram Schultz
Summary: Economic choice involves eliciting the subjective values of the choice options. Traditional animal value estimation methods are complex and do not capture the immediacy of individual choices. This study implemented a simple auction-like mechanism called BDM in monkeys, demonstrating its feasibility for meaningful value estimation of liquid rewards.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Yuichi Hamada, Takamichi Kanbayashi, Kazusa Takahashi, Hisao Kamiya, Shunsuke Kobayashi, Masahiro Sonoo
Summary: This study describes two new signs, weak shoulder and arm sparing signs, in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The weak shoulder sign is highly sensitive in ALS and specific when compared with multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN). The arm sparing sign is highly specific for ALS. These two new signs are promising as clinical clues in the diagnosis of ALS.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Wolfram Schultz, Wiliam R. Stauffer, Armin Lak, Alexandre Pastor-Bernier
Summary: Studies have shown that neuronal reward signals demonstrate a propensity for rational choice, with dopamine signals following transitivity and first-order stochastic dominance. Additionally, neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex exhibit unchanged preferences when a dominated option is removed, satisfying the Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives (IIA) principle.
CURRENT OPINION IN BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Zhouhuan Xi, Bilge E. Ozturk, Molly E. Johnson, Serhan Turunc, William R. Stauffer, Leah C. Byrne
Summary: This study evaluated the efficiency and tropism of 18 AAV serotypes in human retinal explants using a recently developed RNA sequencing AAV engineering pipeline. The top-performing serotypes, K91, K912, and 7m8, were further validated in non-human primate and human retinal explants. The findings provide important information for the translation of retinal gene therapies to the clinic.
MOLECULAR THERAPY-METHODS & CLINICAL DEVELOPMENT
(2022)
Article
Business, Finance
Simone Ferrari-Toniolo, Leo Chi U. Seak, Wolfram Schultz
Summary: This study tested the Independence Axiom of Expected Utility Theory and found violations of this axiom. By analyzing the probabilities of gambles, it was discovered that Cumulative Prospect Theory provided a better explanation for choices. The monkeys' preference changes were consistent with those reported for humans.
JOURNAL OF RISK AND UNCERTAINTY
(2022)
Article
Cell Biology
Karolina Farrell, Armin Lak, Aman B. Saleem
Summary: Midbrain dopamine neurons encode reward prediction error signals to improve goal-directed navigation.
Article
Neurosciences
Tao Hong, William R. Stauffer
Summary: This study investigates the decision-making process in nonhuman primates by observing their behavior in a combinatorial optimization task. The findings suggest that the animals employ different algorithms based on the complexity of the problem, and the deliberation time is correlated with the computational complexity. These results provide evidence for algorithm-based reasoning and establish a paradigm for studying sustained deliberation in the brain.
NATURE NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Alexandre Pastor-Bernier, Konstantin Volkmann, Leo Chi U. Seak, Arkadiusz Stasiak, Charles R. Plott, Wolfram Schultz
Summary: This article presents a protocol to identify single-dimensional neural responses for multi-component choice options in humans and monkeys. It utilizes concept-based behavioral choice experiments and stringent economic concepts to develop and implement behavioral tasks. The article also discusses regional neuroimaging in humans and fine-grained neurophysiology in monkeys, as well as approaches for data analysis.