M06 - Decision Making

Question 1

What processes are needed for decision making

Answer 1

• goal-directed behavior
• reward learning & memory
• executive control
• inference establishes causal links
• often in a social context

Question 2

What are the two discipline based models in decision-making?

Answer 2

• economic models
• psychological models

Question 3

What type of choice do you have in an economic model?

Answer 3

Rational choice but choice bias

Question 4

What is the type of choice in a psychological model?

Answer 4

Choices are context-dependent (social, cultural, moral)

Question 5

What are economic decisions?

Answer 5

• sophisticated rational beliefs
• stale preferences
• maximizes own payoff
• disregards other peoples well-being

Question 6

What is the disadvantage of economic decisions?

Answer 6

Prone to biases

Question 7

What disciplines make up neuroeconomics?

Answer 7

• psychology
• economics
• neuroscience

Question 8

What decisions are made in neuroeconomics?

Answer 8

• value-based decision making
  Is social value accounted like non-social value?
  Are the underlying circuits similar?
  Which brain chemicals are involved?

Question 9

What are the core concepts in decision making?

Answer 9

• expected value
• risk & ambiguity

Question 10

What is a risk?

Answer 10

Known variance of a distribution (you know all the possible outcomes of the distribution)

Question 11

What is ambiguity?

Answer 11

Unknown variance (outcomes) (we don’t know the entire distribution)

Question 12

What is risk aversion?

Answer 12

Prefer a lower, certain reward over a risky higher (on average) reward

Question 13

What is risk seeking?

Answer 13

You need to be paid more than the expected outcomes to not take the gamble

Question 14

What is the purpose of rewards?

Answer 14

To reinforce behavior

Question 15

What brain region is largely destroyed in Parkinson’s disease?

Answer 15

Up to 60% of Substantia Nigra

Question 16

What are the reasons of destroyed SNr in Parkinson’s?

Answer 16

• trauma, tumors
• encephalitis lethargica
• MTPT (frozen addicts)

Question 17

What happens to dopamine in Parkinson’s patients?

Answer 17

Up to 80% of dopamine is lost because brain desperately tried to compensate (reducing degradation, increasing receptors)

Question 18

What is the role of dopamine in learning?

Answer 18

• plays a large role in reinforcement learning
• acts as a teaching signal
• learning from (un)expected outcomes

Question 19

Where does dopamine act as a teaching signal?

Answer 19

• Reward Prediction Error
• Rescorla-Wagner learning rule
• Basis of associative learning

Question 20

What is the Rescorla-Wagner learning rule and prediction error?

Answer 20

→ mathematical rule used to describe and predict classical conditioning

→ basic idea: learning occurs when there is a discrepancy or prediction error between what is expected and what actually happens

→ rule suggests that learning occurs when actual outcome differs from what was predicted based on the existing associations

Question 21

What is Neuroeconomics for?

Answer 21

concepts and methods of neuroscience could help resolve issues in economic and social sciences

Question 22

What is an expected value?

Answer 22

The magnitude of an offer * its probability

Question 23

What is utility?

Answer 23

Subjective valuation of outcomes (an apple could be worth more to me than you)

Question 24

What does the certainty equivalent show?

Answer 24

It can show us the risk aversion level

Question 25

How does a risk neutral individual approach a gamble?

Answer 25

There don't prefer one outcome over another because they don't have a risk attitude

Question 26

How does a risk-averse individual approach a gamble?

Answer 26

The mean gamble payoff needs to be higher than the certainty equivalent aka positive risk premium aka happy to take a certain outcome even though it is lower than the expected outcome

Question 27

Reward Signals influence processing in the whole brain. True or False.

Answer 27

True.

Question 28

What is one of the most influential learning rules?

Answer 28

Temporal Difference Learning

Question 29

What is temporal difference learning?

Answer 29

- reward prediction is not just dependent on what is happening to right now Reward prediction error = actual reward at the time + predicted reward in the future - predicted rewards at this time

Question 30

What is ambiguity aversion?

Answer 30

The difference what you would normally pick without ambiguity (nothing hidden) vs pick with ambiguity (hidden info)

Question 31

What is the hyperbolic delay discounting?

Answer 31

You have small immediate reward (SS) vs large, delayed reward (LL). If you put the delay for the LL to a certain time, it's value will become same as the SS and you "might as well" choose the SS. The value of future rewards decays hyperbolically.

Question 32

Humans but not monkeys follow hyperbolic discounting. True or False.

Answer 32

False. BOTH humans and monkeys follow hyperbolic discounting.

Question 33

How can you map out the discount curve?

Answer 33

By pushing out the reward and increase it in size you can map out the discount curve

Question 34

Humans generally act pro-social (even in one-shot anonymous interactions). True or False.

Answer 34

True

Question 35

What drives pro-social behavior?

Answer 35

Evolutionary account: - stabilizes long-term social bonds - increases group fitness

Question 36

What are the 2 possible brain mechanisms behind pro-social behavior?

Answer 36

- High-valuation-specific - Extended common currency

Question 37

What is the Social-valuation-specific?

Answer 37

Network in the brain that is devoted to social value as opposed to non-social value (food etc.) are distinct

Question 38

What is the extended common currency?

Answer 38

Social and Non-social processed separately but ending up in the same mechanisms

Question 39

What are the main influences on trust?

Answer 39

- reputation matters (trust based on feedback, grows as you grow up) - perception of moral character (stories about a person affect trusting behavior)

Question 40

What is the reflection effect?

Answer 40

People become risk-seeking in the loss domain

Question 41

In what situation does dopamine act as pleasure?

Answer 41

- recreational drugs activate DA receptors - medial forebrain bundle electric stimulation prioritizes behaviour over basic needs

Question 42

When does dopamine act as motivation?

Answer 42

- destroying DA neurons does not change "liking" of rewards

Question 43

When does the dopamine level increase?

Answer 43

- when unexpected reward occurs - when cue predicts reward fully

Question 44

When does the dopamine level decrease?

Answer 44

- when outcome is lower that expected

Question 45

What brain region is modulated during an unexpected gain?

Answer 45

Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)

Question 46

What brain region is activate during unexpected events?

Answer 46

Basal Ganglia

Question 47

What brain region is activated during risk taking?

Answer 47

Insula

Question 48

What brain region is active during ambiguity (aka incomplete information)?

Answer 48

lateral PFC

Question 49

What are neural signatures of reputation?

Answer 49

- multi-round trust game (hyperscanning fMRI) - players learned to build trust (activity correlated between brains) - when reciprocated, players anticipated trust-reciprocation (potential signal of upcoming reward)

Question 50

When does altruistic punishment occur?

Answer 50

- in a 2-person interaction (tit-for-tat) - in a multi-person interaction (Public Goods games

Question 51

How can you do common currency evaluation?

Answer 51

Through Padoa-Schioppa

Question 52

What is Padia-Schioppa

Answer 52

- presented monkey with different rewards - psychometric curves establishes "rate of exchange" - neural activity reflected "integrated value"

Question 53

How does value-based decision-making change in vmPFC (vento-medial PFC) patients?

Answer 53

vmPFC patients do not adapt their choice away from risky decks with learning/feedback. They retain their levels of risk -sensitivity in a betting game in the face of losses.

Question 54

Explain drift-diffusion models.

Answer 54

- simulate the integration of evidence over time - represent the integration of positive and negative information - applied to various decision-making tasks

Question 55

What brain area in mainly involved in drift-diffusion models?

Answer 55

dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) - setting and maintaining the decision threshold - influences the speed and accuracy of decisions