Deciding when to decide : time-variant sequential sampling models explain the emergence of value-based decisions in the human brain

The cognitive and neuronal mechanisms of perceptual decision making have been successfully linked to sequential sampling models. These models describe the decision process as a gradual accumulation of sensory evidence over time. The temporal evolution of economic choices, however, remains largely unexplored. We tested whether sequential sampling models help to understand the formation of value-based decisions in terms of behavior and brain responses. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure brain activity while human participants performed a buying task in which they freely decided upon how and when to choose. Behavior was accurately predicted by a time-variant sequential sampling model that uses a decreasing rather than fixed decision threshold to estimate the time point of the decision. Presupplementary motor area, caudate nucleus, and anterior insula activation was associated with the accumulation of evidence over time. Furthermore, at the beginning of the decision process the fMRI signal in these regions accounted for trial-by-trial deviations from behavioral model predictions: relatively high activation preceded relatively early responses. The updating of value information was correlated with signals in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, left and right orbitofrontal cortex, and ventral striatum but also in the primary motor cortex well before the response itself. Our results support a view of value-based decisions as emerging from sequential sampling of evidence and suggest a close link between the accumulation process and activity in the motor system when people are free to respond at any time

The interplay of hippocampus and ventromedial prefrontal cortex in memory-based decision making

Episodic memory and value-based decision making are two central and intensively studied research domains in cognitive neuroscience, but we are just beginning to understand how they interact to enable memory-based decisions. The two brain regions that have been associated with episodic memory and value-based decision making are the hippocampus and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, respectively. In this review article, we first give an overview of these brain–behavior associations and then focus on the mechanisms of potential interactions between the hippocampus and ventromedial prefrontal cortex that have been proposed and tested in recent neuroimaging studies. Based on those possible interactions, we discuss several directions for future research on the neural and cognitive foundations of memory-based decision making

The creative application of knowledge in university education: a case study

This paper documents a research project undertaken by the authors to investigate the recognized need for creativity based education at all levels. National and international bodies in business, politics and education have emphasized the need for creativity, recognising the importance of innovative and creative thinking in a wide range of human endeavors. Acknowledging the need to cope with constant change that will only increase in the future

Neural Evidence for Adaptive Strategy Selection in Value-Based Decision-Making

In everyday life, humans often encounter complex environments in which multiple sources of information can influence their decisions. We propose that in such situations, people select and apply different strategies representing different cognitive models of the decision problem. Learning advances by evaluating the success of using a strategy and eventually by switching between strategies. To test our strategy selection model, we investigated how humans solve a dynamic learning task with complex auditory and visual information, and assessed the underlying neural mechanisms with functional magnetic resonance imaging. Using the model, we were able to capture participants' choices and to successfully attribute expected values and reward prediction errors to activations in the dopaminoceptive system (e.g., ventral striatum [VS]) as well as decision conflict to signals in the anterior cingulate cortex. The model outperformed an alternative approach that did not update decision strategies, but the relevance of information itself. Activation of sensory areas depended on whether the selected strategy made use of the respective source of information. Selection of a strategy also determined how value-related information influenced effective connectivity between sensory systems and the VS. Our results suggest that humans can structure their search for and use of relevant information by adaptively selecting between decision strategie

The attraction effect modulates reward prediction errors and intertemporal choices

Classical economic theory contends that the utility of a choice option should be independent of other options. This view is challenged by the attraction effect, in which the relative preference between two options is altered by the addition of a third, asymmetrically dominated option. Here, we leveraged the attraction effect in the context of intertemporal choices to test whether both decisions and reward prediction errors (RPE)-in the absence of choice-violate the independence of irrelevant alternatives principle. We first demonstrate that intertemporal decision making is prone to the attraction effect in humans. In an independent group of participants, we then investigate how this affects the neural and behavioral valuation of outcomes, using a novel intertemporal lottery task and fMRI. Participants' behavioral responses (i.e., satisfaction ratings) were systematically modulated by the attraction effect, and this modulation was correlated across participants with the respective change of the RPE signal in the Nucleus Accumbens. Furthermore, we show that since exponential and hyperbolic discounting models are unable to account for the attraction effect, recently proposed sequential sampling models might be more appropriate to describe intertemporal choices. Our findings demonstrate for the first time that the attraction effect modulates subjective valuation even in the absence of choice. The findings also challenge the prospect of using neuroscientific methods to measure utility in a context-free manner and have important implications for theories of reinforcement learning and delay discounting.; Many theories of value-based decision making assume that people first assess the attractiveness of each option independently of each other and then pick the option with the highest subjective value. The attraction effect, however, shows that adding a new option to a choice set can change the relative value of the existing options, which is a violation of the independence principle. Using an intertemporal choice framework, we test whether such violations also occur when the brain encodes the difference between expected and received rewards (i.e., the reward prediction error). Our results suggest that both intertemporal choice and valuation without choice do not adhere to the independence principle

The Reflection Effect in Memory-Based Decisions

Previous research has indicated a bias in memory-based decision-making, with people preferring options that they remember better. However, the cognitive mechanisms underlying this memory bias remain elusive. Here, we propose that choosing poorly remembered options is conceptually similar to choosing options with uncertain outcomes. We predicted that the memory bias would be reduced when options had negative subjective value, analogous to the reflection effect, according to which uncertainty aversion is stronger in gains than in losses. In two preregistered experiments ( N = 36 each), participants made memory-based decisions between appetitive and aversive stimuli. People preferred better-remembered options in the gain domain, but this behavioral pattern reversed in the loss domain. This effect was not related to participants' ambiguity or risk attitudes, as measured in a separate task. Our results increase the understanding of memory-based decision-making and connect this emerging field to well-established research on decisions under uncertainty

Kognition bei benigner multipler Sklerose: Eine prospektive Fallstudie – Patientenrekrutierung und Datenanalyse für die Verlaufsuntersuchung nach zwölf Monaten sowie die longitudinale Analyse im Hinblick auf die zum Zeitpunkt Null gewonnenen Daten

Die Multiple Sklerose (MS) ist eine autoimmune Erkrankung des zentralen Nervensystem (ZNS) mit stark variierenden physischen und psychischen Symptomen. Die Definition von "benigner" MS beruht hauptsächlich auf motorischen- und Gehfähigkeiten ohne Berücksichtigung der kognitiven Funktionen. In der vorliegenden Studie wurden 21 Patienten (20 Probandinnen, 1 Proband) mit "benigner" MS im Abstand eines Jahres zweimal mittels körperlicher, zerebraler bildgebender 3T-MRT- und neuropsychologischer Untersuchung evaluiert. In der Bildgebung zeigten sich keine signifikanten Veränderungen der Anzahl der Läsionen. Im Bereich der körperlichen Untersuchung zeigte die maximale Gehstrecke eine signifikante Veränderung im Sinne einer Verschlechterung. Die neuropsychologische Untersuchung im Hinblick auf die kognitiven Funktionen zeigte wenige signifikante Veränderungen, vorwiegend Verbesserungen, in den Tests zu Aufmerksamkeit, Gedächtnis und Lernen. Bei fehlender signifikanter Änderung der Läsionszahl muss von weiteren Einflussfaktoren auf die kognitiven Funktionen ausgegangen werden