scholarly journals Neuronal origins of biases in economic choices under sequential offers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weikang Shi ◽  
Sebastien Ballesta ◽  
Camillo Padoa-Schioppa
Keyword(s):  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Rhesus Monkeys ◽  
Choice Behavior ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Choice Accuracy ◽  
Bias Analysis ◽  
Economic Decisions ◽  
Economic Choices ◽  
Shed Light

Economic choices are characterized by a variety of biases. Understanding their origins is a long-term goal for neuroeconomics, but progress on this front has been limited. Here we examined choice biases observed when two goods are offered sequentially. In the experiments, rhesus monkeys chose between different juices offered simultaneously or in sequence. Choices under sequential offers were less accurate (higher variability). They were also biased in favor of the second offer (order bias) and in favor of the preferred juice (preference bias). Analysis of neuronal activity recorded in orbitofrontal cortex revealed that these phenomena emerged at different computational stages. The lower choice accuracy reflected weaker offer value signals (valuation stage), the order bias emerged during value comparison (decision stage), and the preference bias emerged late in the trial (post-comparison). Our approach, leveraging recent notions on the neural mechanisms of economic decisions, may shed light on other aspects of choice behavior.

scholarly journals Neural mechanisms of economic choices in mice

eLife ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masaru Kuwabara ◽  
Ningdong Kang ◽  
Timothy E Holy ◽  
Camillo Padoa-Schioppa
Keyword(s):  
Decision Process ◽  
Choice Behavior ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Binary Choice ◽  
Economic Decisions ◽  
Economic Choice ◽  
Relative Value ◽  
Neuronal Representation ◽  
Economic Choices ◽  
Level Analysis

Economic choices entail computing and comparing subjective values. Evidence from primates indicates that this behavior relies on the orbitofrontal cortex. Conversely, previous work in rodents provided conflicting results. Here we present a mouse model of economic choice behavior, and we show that the lateral orbital (LO) area is intimately related to the decision process. In the experiments, mice chose between different juices offered in variable amounts. Choice patterns closely resembled those measured in primates. Optogenetic inactivation of LO dramatically disrupted choices by inducing erratic changes of relative value and by increasing choice variability. Neuronal recordings revealed that different groups of cells encoded the values of individual options, the binary choice outcome and the chosen value. These groups match those previously identified in primates, except that the neuronal representation in mice is spatial (in monkeys it is good-based). Our results lay the foundations for a circuit-level analysis of economic decisions.

scholarly journals Neural Mechanisms of Economic Choices in Mice

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masaru Kuwabara ◽  
Timothy E. Holy ◽  
Camillo Padoa-Schioppa
Keyword(s):  
Decision Process ◽  
Choice Behavior ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Binary Choice ◽  
Economic Decisions ◽  
Economic Choice ◽  
Relative Value ◽  
Neuronal Representation ◽  
Economic Choices ◽  
Level Analysis

AbstractEconomic choices entail computing and comparing subjective values. Evidence from primates indicates that this behavior relies on the orbitofrontal cortex. Conversely, previous work in rodents provided conflicting results. Here we present a mouse model of economic choice behavior, and we show that the lateral orbital (LO) area is intimately related to the decision process. In the experiments, mice chose between different juices offered in variable amounts. Choice patterns closely resembled those measured in primates. Optogenetic inactivation of LO dramatically disrupted choices by inducing erratic changes of relative value and by increasing choice variability. Neuronal recordings revealed that different groups of cells encoded the values of individual options, the binary choice outcome and the chosen value. These groups match those previously identified in primates, except that the neuronal representation in mice is spatial (in monkeys it is good-based). Our results lay the foundations for a circuit-level analysis of economic decisions.

scholarly journals Values Encoded in Orbitofrontal Cortex Are Causally Related to Economic Choices

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sébastien Ballesta ◽  
Weikang Shi ◽  
Katherine E. Conen ◽  
Camillo Padoa-Schioppa
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Stimulation ◽  
Neuronal Activity ◽  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Rhesus Monkeys ◽  
Fundamental Issue ◽  
High Current ◽  
Neural Processes ◽  
Economic Choices ◽  
The Brain

AbstractIt has long been hypothesized that economic choices rely on the assignment and comparison of subjective values. Indeed, when agents make decisions, neurons in orbitofrontal cortex encode the values of offered and chosen goods. Moreover, neuronal activity in this area suggests the formation of a decision. However, it is unclear whether these neural processes are causally related to choices. More generally, the evidence linking economic choices to value signals in the brain remains correlational. We address this fundamental issue using electrical stimulation in rhesus monkeys. We show that suitable currents bias choices by increasing the value of individual offers. Furthermore, high-current stimulation disrupts both the computation and the comparison of subjective values. These results demonstrate that values encoded in orbitofrontal cortex are causal to economic choices.

scholarly journals Neuronal variability in orbitofrontal cortex during economic decisions

2015 ◽  
Vol 114 (3) ◽  
pp. 1367-1381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine E. Conen ◽  
Camillo Padoa-Schioppa
Keyword(s):  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Rhesus Monkeys ◽  
Decision Model ◽  
Quantitative Information ◽  
Neuronal Population ◽  
Lower Strength ◽  
Economic Decisions ◽  
Stochastic Fluctuations ◽  
Mathematical Relation ◽  
Cortical Regions

Neuroeconomic models assume that economic decisions are based on the activity of offer value cells in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), but testing this assertion has proven difficult. In principle, the decision made on a given trial should correlate with the stochastic fluctuations of these cells. However, this correlation, measured as a choice probability (CP), is small. Importantly, a neuron's CP reflects not only its individual contribution to the decision (termed readout weight), but also the intensity and the structure of correlated variability across the neuronal population (termed noise correlation). A precise mathematical relation between CPs, noise correlations, and readout weights was recently derived by Haefner and colleagues (Haefner RM, Gerwinn S, Macke JH, Bethge M. Nat Neurosci 16: 235–242, 2013) for a linear decision model. In this framework, concurrent measurements of noise correlations and CPs can provide quantitative information on how a population of cells contributes to a decision. Here we examined neuronal variability in the OFC of rhesus monkeys during economic decisions. Noise correlations had similar structure but considerably lower strength compared with those typically measured in sensory areas during perceptual decisions. In contrast, variability in the activity of individual cells was high and comparable to that recorded in other cortical regions. Simulation analyses based on Haefner's equation showed that noise correlations measured in the OFC combined with a plausible readout of offer value cells reproduced the experimental measures of CPs. In other words, the results obtained for noise correlations and those obtained for CPs taken together support the hypothesis that economic decisions are primarily based on the activity of offer value cells.

Customary rule-following behaviour in the work of John Stuart Mill and Alfred Marshall

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 783-801 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHEL S. ZOUBOULAKIS
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
John Stuart Mill ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Economic Decisions ◽  
Norms And Values ◽  
The Social ◽  
Economic Choices

AbstractThe informal institutional structure embraces the social norms and moral values of a particular society and together with the formal institutional frame, they compose the social environment. Social norms and values, congealed into customary rules of behaviour, provide a stable and enduring context to economic life that acts positively or negatively on economic activity. Despite their methodological and theoretical differences, Mill and Marshall have both suggested that individual economic decisions are fully embedded in their social environment. Thus, in order to explain the economic phenomena, from simple transaction processes to long term development, they adopted a broader perspective by including the social frame inside which economic choices are made, divulging the role of custom, yet in a quite distinctive way.

EXPRESS: How Does Bonus Payment Affect the Demand for Auto Loans and Their Delinquency?

2021 ◽  
pp. 002224372110092
Author(s):  
Zhenling Jiang ◽  
Dennis J. Zhang ◽  
Tat Chan
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Products ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Financial Decisions ◽  
Consumer Panel ◽  
Loan Demand ◽  
Bonus Payments ◽  
Base Salary ◽  
Long Term Impact ◽  
Shed Light

This paper studies how receiving a bonus changes the consumers’ demand for auto loans and the risk of future delinquency. Unlike traditional consumer products, auto loans have a long-term impact on consumers’ financial state because of the monthly payment obligation. Using a large consumer panel data set of credit and employment information, the authors find that receiving a bonus increases auto loan demand by 21 percent. These loans, however, are associated with higher risk, as the delinquency rate increases by 18.5 −31.4 percent depending on different measures. In contrast, an increase in consumers’ base salary will increase the demand for auto loans but not the delinquency. By comparing consumers with bonuses with those without bonuses, the authors find that bonus payments lead to both demand expansion and demand shifting on auto loans. The empirical findings help shed light on how consumers make financial decisions and have important implications for financial institutions on when demand for auto loans and the associated risk arise.

scholarly journals Withdrawal from long-term methamphetamine self-administration ‘normalizes’ neurometabolites in rhesus monkeys: a1H MR spectroscopy study

2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaolin Yang ◽  
Annabelle M. Belcher ◽  
Svetlana Chefer ◽  
D. Bruce Vaupel ◽  
Charles W. Schindler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mr Spectroscopy ◽  
Rhesus Monkeys ◽  
Spectroscopy Study ◽  
Self Administration

Acute activation and inactivation of macaque frontal eye field with GABA-related drugs

1995 ◽  
Vol 74 (6) ◽  
pp. 2744-2748 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. C. Dias ◽  
M. Kiesau ◽  
M. A. Segraves
Keyword(s):  
Injection Site ◽  
Rhesus Monkeys ◽  
Frontal Eye Field ◽  
Surgical Removal ◽  
Gamma Aminobutyric Acid ◽  
Eye Field ◽  
Distribution Of Points ◽  
Direction Opposite ◽  
Voluntary Saccades

1. This project tests the behavioral effects of reversible activation and inactivation of sites within the frontal eye field of rhesus monkeys with microinjections of the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-related drugs bicuculline and muscimol. 2. Muscimol injections impaired the monkeys' ability to make both visually and memory-guided saccades to targets at the center of the area represented by the injection site. The latencies of saccades to targets in regions flanking the injection were increased. For memory-guided saccades, saccades in the direction opposite to that represented by the injection site, were made with shorter latency than controls and often occurred before the movement cue. 3. Bicuculline injections produced irrepressible saccades equivalent to the saccade vector represented by the injection site, often in a staircase of several closely spaced movements. 4. Both substances decreased the accuracy of fixation of a central light. The distribution of points of fixation on different trials was diffuse, and the angle of gaze tended to deviate towards the side of the injection. 5. The results of these acute injections are similiar to those observed in the superior colliculus and are much more substantial than the effects observed in the long term after surgical removal of the frontal eye field. The results of this study promote a central role for the frontal eye field in the generation of all voluntary saccades and in the control of fixation.

scholarly journals Human spatial representation: what we cannot learn from the studies of rodent navigation

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (5) ◽  
pp. 2453-2465 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mintao Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Representation ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Storage System ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Cellular Mechanisms ◽  
Human Navigation ◽  
Behavioral Studies ◽  
Closing The Loop ◽  
Species Similarity ◽  
Shed Light

Studies of human and rodent navigation often reveal a remarkable cross-species similarity between the cognitive and neural mechanisms of navigation. Such cross-species resemblance often overshadows some critical differences between how humans and nonhuman animals navigate. In this review, I propose that a navigation system requires both a storage system (i.e., representing spatial information) and a positioning system (i.e., sensing spatial information) to operate. I then argue that the way humans represent spatial information is different from that inferred from the cellular activity observed during rodent navigation. Such difference spans the whole hierarchy of spatial representation, from representing the structure of an environment to the representation of subregions of an environment, routes and paths, and the distance and direction relative to a goal location. These cross-species inconsistencies suggest that what we learn from rodent navigation does not always transfer to human navigation. Finally, I argue for closing the loop for the dominant, unidirectional animal-to-human approach in navigation research so that insights from behavioral studies of human navigation may also flow back to shed light on the cellular mechanisms of navigation for both humans and other mammals (i.e., a human-to-animal approach).

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