scholarly journals Retrosplenial cortex is necessary for spatial and non-spatial latent learning in mice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Carolina Bottura de Barros ◽  
Liad J Baruchin ◽  
Marios C Panayi ◽  
Nils Nyberg ◽  
Veronika Samborska ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Brain Area ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
Internal Models ◽  
Retrosplenial Cortex ◽  
Latent Learning ◽  
Subjective Value ◽  
Spatial Decision Making ◽  
The Creation

Latent learning occurs when associations are formed between stimuli in the absence of explicit reinforcement. Traditionally, latent learning in rodents has been associated with the creation internal models of space. However, increasing evidence points to roles of internal models also in non-spatial decision making. Whether the same brain structures and processes support the creation of spatially-anchored or non-spatial internal models via latent learning, is an open question. To address this question, we developed a novel operant box task that allows to test spatial and non-spatial versions of a flavour-based sensory preconditioning paradigm. We probed the role of the retrosplenial cortex, a brain area associated with spatial cognition and subjective value representation, in this task using precise, closed-loop optogenetic silencing during different task phases. We show that the retrosplenial cortex is necessary for both spatial and non-spatial latent learning in mice. We further demonstrate that the requirement of retrosplenial cortex is limited to the preconditioning phase of the task. Our results provide insight into the specific role of the retrosplenial cortex in latent learning, demonstrate that latent learning plays a general part in the creation of internal models, independent of spatial anchors, and provide a novel avenue for studying model-based decision making.

scholarly journals Consciousness, decision making, and volition: freedom beyond chance and necessity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Liljenström
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Free Will ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Neural Information ◽  
Neural Information Processing ◽  
Stochastic Population Model ◽  
The Brain

AbstractWhat is the role of consciousness in volition and decision-making? Are our actions fully determined by brain activity preceding our decisions to act, or can consciousness instead affect the brain activity leading to action? This has been much debated in philosophy, but also in science since the famous experiments by Libet in the 1980s, where the current most common interpretation is that conscious free will is an illusion. It seems that the brain knows, up to several seconds in advance what “you” decide to do. These studies have, however, been criticized, and alternative interpretations of the experiments can be given, some of which are discussed in this paper. In an attempt to elucidate the processes involved in decision-making (DM), as an essential part of volition, we have developed a computational model of relevant brain structures and their neurodynamics. While DM is a complex process, we have particularly focused on the amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) for its emotional, and the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) for its cognitive aspects. In this paper, we present a stochastic population model representing the neural information processing of DM. Simulation results seem to confirm the notion that if decisions have to be made fast, emotional processes and aspects dominate, while rational processes are more time consuming and may result in a delayed decision. Finally, some limitations of current science and computational modeling will be discussed, hinting at a future development of science, where consciousness and free will may add to chance and necessity as explanation for what happens in the world.

scholarly journals The role of visual saliency and subjective-value in rapid decision making

2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 388-388
Author(s):  
M. Milosavljevic ◽  
V. Navalpakkam ◽  
C. Koch ◽  
A. Rangel
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Visual Saliency ◽  
Subjective Value

scholarly journals Valuation of peers’ safe choices is associated with substance-naïveté in adolescents

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (50) ◽  
pp. 31729-31737
Author(s):  
Dongil Chung ◽  
Mark A. Orloff ◽  
Nina Lauharatanahirun ◽  
Pearl H. Chiu ◽  
Brooks King-Casas
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Functional Neuroimaging ◽  
Quantitative Model ◽  
Social Signals ◽  
Risky Decision ◽  
Substance Exposure ◽  
Subjective Value ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Substance Exposed

Social influences on decision-making are particularly pronounced during adolescence and have both protective and detrimental effects. To evaluate how responsiveness to social signals may be linked to substance use in adolescents, we used functional neuroimaging and a gambling task in which adolescents who have and have not used substances (substance-exposed and substance-naïve, respectively) made choices alone and after observing peers’ decisions. Using quantitative model-based analyses, we identify behavioral and neural evidence that observing others’ safe choices increases the subjective value and selection of safe options for substance-naïve relative to substance-exposed adolescents. Moreover, the effects of observing others’ risky choices do not vary by substance exposure. These results provide neurobehavioral evidence for a role of positive peers (here, those who make safer choices) in guiding adolescent real-world risky decision-making.

Why Business Unit Controllers Create Budget Slack: Involvement in Management, Social Pressure, and Machiavellianism

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 27-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank G. H. Hartmann ◽  
Victor S. Maas
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Social Pressure ◽  
Business Unit ◽  
Budgetary Slack ◽  
Management Accountants ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Personality Construct

ABSTRACT: This paper investigates business unit (BU) controllers’ inclination to engage in the creation of budgetary slack. In particular, we explore whether controllers who are involved in BU decision making are more susceptible to social pressure to engage in slack creation than controllers who are not. We expect, and find, a crucial role of the controller’s personality. Results from an experiment among 136 management accountants suggest that the personality construct Machiavellianism interacts with involvement to explain controllers’ responses to social pressure to create budgetary slack. Controllers scoring high on Machiavellianism are more likely to give in to pressure by BU management to create budgetary slack when they have been involved in decision making. In contrast, controllers scoring low on Machiavellianism are less likely to give in to pressure to create slack when they have been involved in decision making.

Beyond Rationality: Clarity-Based Decision Making

1992 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Kaplan
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cognitive Structure ◽  
Spatial Context ◽  
Economic Man ◽  
Environmental Cognition ◽  
Spatial Decision Making ◽  
The Subject ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Rationality Model

The study of how people make decisions has long been dominated by the economic man or rationality model. In recent years researchers have extended the study of decision making into the spatial context. Given the pervasive role of the rationality model it was not surprising to see reliance on it in this new domain as well (Golledge & Timmermans, 1987; Timmermans, this volume). There are, however, at least two reasons why one might have hoped for a broader perspective. First, given its obvious kinship to the area of environmental cognition, research on spatial decision making could have reflected the concern for cognitive structure central to the wayfinding literature. Second, the rationality model has increasingly been the subject of searching questions and criticism. Cracks have been appearing in the once near-monolithic support for this model. A number of psychologists have been quite articulate about what they see as serious deficiencies in this approach (Einhorn & Hogarth, 1985; Herrnstein & Mazur, 1987; Kruglanski & Ajzen, 1983; Simon, 1957; Wallach & Wallach, 1983). Even economists have expressed serious reservations (Bell & Kristol, 1981; Earl, 1983a; Eichner, 1983; Kuttner, 1985; Lutz, 1987). Decision theorists have not been insensitive to these concerns; many modifications have been proposed (see Jungermann, 1983, for an extensive review). If there is a consensus among them, it is far from obvious. In the absence of such a consensus, many stalwart investigators (including economists and planners) continue within the comfortable and familiar confines of the classical framework. In the discussion that follows, the term “rationality” will be used to refer to the classical rationality position that still endures in many quarters, and that still serves as a center of gravity for the multitude of dissatisfied revisionists. In its simplest form, the position can be summarized as stating that people have perfect knowledge and that they strive to maximize their gains. A most interesting analysis of the increasingly obvious inadequacy of the rationality model and of how planners are coping with this state of affairs is provided by E.R. Alexander (1984). The picture he paints is essentially one of a paradigm decline, with heroic efforts on the part of practitioners to carry on nonetheless.

scholarly journals ROLE OF THE STREET NETWORK IN BURGLARS' SPATIAL DECISION-MAKING*

Criminology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 344-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL J. FRITH ◽  
SHANE D. JOHNSON ◽  
HANNAH M. FRY
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Street Network ◽  
Spatial Decision Making

scholarly journals Words Faithful to the Phenomenon

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 160940691879779
Author(s):  
Luigina Mortari ◽  
Roberta Silva
Keyword(s):  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Critical Care ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Phenomenological Approach ◽  
Discursive Practice ◽  
Team Members ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Do So

The article presents the developing of a tool aimed to analyze the decision-making (DM) processes in critical care contexts. It was developed in a study conducted through a phenomenological approach. By analyzing the discursive practice through which physicians in an intensive care unit (ICU) arrive at decisions, we construct a discursive profile of each ICU involved, to improve the ICU team members’ knowledge of the complexity of their DM processes. To do so, we develop a system of analysis capable of capturing discursive actions faithfully. Our method facilitates a system of analysis that highlights the role of the various discursive acts in conversational flow, starting from the needs in an ICU setting, which are spontaneously recognized from the data, to the almost simultaneous processes of description and understanding. This has led to the creation of a tool follows the phenomenological-grounded route.

The Role of Affect in the Creation and Intentional Pursuit of Entrepreneurial Ideas

2012 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
James C. Hayton ◽  
Magdalena Cholakova
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cognitive Psychology ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Judgment And Decision Making ◽  
Dual Processes ◽  
The Core ◽  
Affect And Cognition ◽  
Attention Memory ◽  
The Creation

The creation and intentional pursuit of entrepreneurial ideas lies at the core of the domain of entrepreneurship. Recent empirical work in a number of diverse fields such as cognitive psychology, social cognition, neuroscience, and neurophysiology all suggest that dual processes involving affect and cognition have a significant impact on judgment and decision making. Existing cognitive models ignore this significant role. In this article we develop a framework for understanding the role of affect on idea perception and the intention to develop the entrepreneurial idea. We present a set of testable propositions that link affect to entrepreneurial idea perception through its influence on attention, memory, and creativity. A second set of propositions links affect to the intention to pursue these ideas further. We explore the boundary conditions and moderators of the proposed relationships, and discuss the implications of this framework for existing cognitive and psychological perspectives on entrepreneurship.

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