TB4 Lecture 4; Decision making and the brain

The main objectives in this lecture are;

  • Expected value v.s expected utility
  • Reward and the brain
  • Temporal discounting
  • Social decision making
  • Heuristics in decision making
?
  • Created by: mint75
  • Created on: 25-05-15 17:59
What is meant by expected value?
The probability of the outcome x associated reward (e.g 100% chance of getting 50 - 1/1 x 50 = £50)
1 of 21
What is expected utility?
The psychological as opposed to economic value assigned to an outcome (e.g happiness with getting 50,000 or 100,000)
2 of 21
What two concepts were added to expected utility by prospect theory?
Reference dependence (making decisions in terms of anticipated gains/loss compared to current state), probability weighting (probability is perceived highly subjectively, underestimating the chance of high prob. events)
3 of 21
What is loss aversion?
The tendency for people to strongly prefer avoiding loss than acquiring gains
4 of 21
What is probability weighting?
The tendency for people to underestimate the chances of high probability events (a coin toss) and overestimate low probability events (the lottery)
5 of 21
What is meant by an unconditioned reinforcer?
A stimulus that is reinforcing or rewarding even without previous training
6 of 21
What is negative reinforcement?
Removal of an adverse outcome following a reaction
7 of 21
Dopamine neurons in which 4 areas are linked to rewards?
Ventromedial pFC, Nucleus accumbens, Ventral-tegmental area, substantianigra
8 of 21
In a study where a reward was either what was expected or more/less than expected, what was found?
When reward was more than expected, there was more DP activation and vice versa in the ventral tegmental area
9 of 21
What did a study by Matsumoto & Hikosake (2009) find?
A subset of DP neurons in the midbrain responded to both positive and negative events.
10 of 21
What is temporal discounting?
The tendency for people to discount rewards as they approach a temporal horizon in the future or the past (i.e., become so distant in time that they cease to be valuable)
11 of 21
What are the two distinct neural processes in McClure et als (2004) dual-system model
1) Fast, automatic and context dependent; an emotion based decision 2) slower, controlled and evidence based; a deliberation decision
12 of 21
Which areas seem to be implicated in immediate smaller-sooner (**) rewards?
Posterior cingulate (PCC), mPFC, VStr
13 of 21
Which areas seem to be implicated in larger-later rewards?
DLpFC, LOBFC
14 of 21
What have results from neural studies into temporal discounting shown in general?
Mixed results. Either evidence for a dual-process system which processes ** or LL rewards, or a SINGLE neural process that tracks subjective value of reward regardless of delay
15 of 21
What did Sanfey (2003) find in their ultimatum game study?
Unfairness generated activation in the anterior insula
16 of 21
What is a heuristic?
A mental shortcut that allows people to make mental judgements quickly and efficiently
17 of 21
What is a problem with heuristics?
Although helpful, they are error prone and susceptible to biases
18 of 21
What is the framing effect?
People tend to avoid risk when a positive frame is presented, but sees risk more when a negative frame is presented (even when options are the same! For example saving people, or killing people in vaccine example).
19 of 21
What is the status quo bias?
Preference for current state of affairs
20 of 21
What is the decoy effect?
Presentation of another option that is inferior in all respects has shown to influence preference
21 of 21

Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

What is expected utility?

Back

The psychological as opposed to economic value assigned to an outcome (e.g happiness with getting 50,000 or 100,000)

Card 3

Front

What two concepts were added to expected utility by prospect theory?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What is loss aversion?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

What is probability weighting?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
View more cards

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar Psychology resources:

See all Psychology resources »See all Y1 B&B resources »