Decision-making and Choice Behaviour Systems

Question 1

What is a decision?

Answer 1

A deliberative process that results in the comittment to a categorical proposition.

Question 2

What are the elements of a simple decision?

Answer 2

Lecture 12, slide 3

Question 3

What is signal detection theory?

Answer 3

Lecture 12, slide 4-6

Question 4

What is sequential analysis?

Answer 4

Lecture 12, slide 7

Question 5

What is the difficulty in finding neural correlates of perceptual decisions?

Answer 5

Lecture 12, slide 8

Question 6

How may perceptual/simple decision making be implemented in the brain? What studies have shown this?

Answer 6

Lecture 12, slide 9-10

Question 7

What is neuro-economics?

Answer 7

Lecture 12, slide 11

Question 8

What are some additional elements of higher-order value-based decision-making?

Answer 8

Lecture 12, slide 12

Question 9

What is expected value?

Answer 9

Expected value of a choice can have multiple economic choice decision variables that contribute to the valuation of the choice, such as expected gain/payoff, probability of gain, cost and even abstract variables such a beauty. These value variables have been shown to modulate neuronal activity in different brain areas.

Question 10

What brain areas have a role in encoding the expected value of choices? What studies have shown this?

Answer 10

Lecture 12, slide 15-17

Question 11

What is subjective value?

Answer 11

Subjective value is the value the individual assigns to a choice/object in an economic choice decision. It is dependent on subjective preferences.

Question 12

What brain area has a role in encoding the subjective value of choices? What studies have shown this?

Answer 12

Lecture 12, slide 20-23

Question 13

What is cost-benefit analysis/decision-making?

Answer 13

During decision making, cost and benefits are weighed up. Potential costs and rewards influence decision making.

Question 14

What brain areas have a role in cost-benefit decision-making? What studies have shown this?

Answer 14

Lecture 12, slide 25

Question 15

Which brain areas have a role in making uncertain or risky decision? What studies have shown this?

Answer 15

Lecture 12, slide 28-31

-Decisions may have uncertain or risky outcomes.

Question 16

Give two emotional biases.

Answer 16

Emotional biases have an influence on decision making:

• The framing effect: human decisions are susceptible to the manner in which the options are presented in
• The somatic marker theory: somatic markers (feelings in the body that are associated with emotion, e.g. rapid heartbeat associated with anxiety) can influence/bias decision making.

Question 17

What brain areas may mediate the influence of emotional biases on decision-making? What studies have shown this?

Answer 17

Lecture 12, slide 33, 35-36

Question 18

What are some problems with the Somatic Marker Theory?

Answer 18

Lecture 12, slide 37

Question 19

What is value/credit assignment?

Answer 19

Credit/value assignment is the ability to assign the reward that can be obtained from a decision to the correct choice.

Question 20

What brain region may be involved in credit/value assignment? What studies have shown this?

Answer 20

Lecture 13, slide 3

• The lateral OFC (lOFC) has a role in credit/value assignment. Macaque lesion study:
• lOFC lesioned macaques were impaired in associating reward with the correct choice (I.e. they have impaired credit assignment). Instead of relying on credit assignment to make decisions, they relied on associations between the recent history of outcomes.

Question 21

What brain region may be involved in value comparison? What studies have shown this?

Answer 21

Lecture 13, slide 4

Question 22

What are the different serial models of decision-making neural pathways? What evidence is there for each model? What is the parallel model?

Answer 22

Lecture 13, slide 5-7

Question 23

What evidence is there for parallel value comparison systems during foraging behaviour?

Answer 23

Lecture 13, slide 8-9

Question 24

What is rule-guided decision making? What are the different types?

Answer 24

Rule-guided decision making is a type of decision making that is governed by rules:
-Simple cued rules
-Cued abstract rules
-Uncued abstract rules
Different brain regions are involved in the different types of rule-guided decision making.

Question 25

What are simple cued rules? How can simple cued rule-guided behaviour be investigated?

Answer 25

• These rules require associations to be made between a stimulus and a predetermined response (e.g. if X then Y).
• Simple cued rule guided behaviour can be experimental investigated with tasks that utilise conditional learning tasks, such as visuomotor mappings.

Question 26

What brain regions have a role in encoding simple cued rules? What studies have shown this?

Answer 26

Lecture 13, slide 14-16

Question 27

What are cued abstract rules? How can cued abstract rule-guided behaviour be investigated?

Answer 27

• The behavioural response to the cued rules is dependent on the context.
• Cued abstract rule guided behaviour can be investigated using tasks such as delayed matching-to-sample or delayed nonmatching-to-sample.

Question 28

What brain regions have a role in encoding cued abstract rules? What studies have show this?

Answer 28

Lecture 13, slide 18-19

Question 29

What are uncued abstract rules? How can uncued abstract rule-guided behaviour be investigated?

Answer 29

• The rules are uncued/not specified explicitly, so one have to decide for oneself which behavioural response is the most appropriate.
• Uncued abstract rule guided behaviour can be investigated using tasks where the rules are not cued. The rule has to be self-initiated or be acquired by trial and error, and then held in working memory.

Question 30

What brain regions have a role in encoding uncued abstract rules? What studies have shown this?

Answer 30

Lecture 13, slide 22-31

Question 31

What is the role of the frontopolar cortex in decision making? What studies show this?

Answer 31

Lecture 13, slide 33-42

Question 32

Summarise the distributed network of brain regions (human and macaque) involved in abstract rule guided behaviour.

Answer 32

Lecture 13, slide 43

Question 33

What is a strategy?

Answer 33

Lecture 13, slide 45

-overt behaviour may be similar even if internal strategies differ

Question 34

What is the neural basis of abstract response strategies?

Answer 34

Lecture 13, slide 46-47