scholarly journals How Reward and Aversion Shape Motivation and Decision Making: A Computational Account

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeroen P. H. Verharen ◽  
Roger A. H. Adan ◽  
Louk J. M. J. Vanderschuren
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Substance Use ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Behavioral Adaptation ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Substance Addiction ◽  
The Core ◽  
Brain Circuits ◽  
Motivated Behaviors ◽  
The Brain

Processing rewarding and aversive signals lies at the core of many adaptive behaviors, including value-based decision making. The brain circuits processing these signals are widespread and include the prefrontal cortex, amygdala and striatum, and their dopaminergic innervation. In this review, we integrate historic findings on the behavioral and neural mechanisms of value-based decision making with recent, groundbreaking work in this area. On the basis of this integrated view, we discuss a neuroeconomic framework of value-based decision making, use this to explain the motivation to pursue rewards and how motivation relates to the costs and benefits associated with different courses of action. As such, we consider substance addiction and overeating as states of altered value-based decision making, in which the expectation of reward chronically outweighs the costs associated with substance use and food consumption, respectively. Together, this review aims to provide a concise and accessible overview of important literature on the neural mechanisms of behavioral adaptation to reward and aversion and how these mediate motivated behaviors.

scholarly journals How the brain integrates costs and benefits during decision making

2010 ◽  
Vol 107 (50) ◽  
pp. 21767-21772 ◽  
Author(s):  
U. Basten ◽  
G. Biele ◽  
H. R. Heekeren ◽  
C. J. Fiebach
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
The Brain

Business Ethics and the Brain: Rommel Salvador and Robert G. Folger

2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rommel Salvador ◽  
Robert G. Folger
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Business Ethics ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Ethics Training ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Field Of Study ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
The Brain

ABSTRACT:Neuroethics, the study of the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying ethical decision-making, is a growing field of study. In this review, we identify and discuss four themes emerging from neuroethics research. First, ethical decision-making appears to be distinct from other types of decision-making processes. Second, ethical decision-making entails more than just conscious reasoning. Third, emotion plays a critical role in ethical decision-making, at least under certain circumstances. Lastly, normative approaches to morality have distinct, underlying neural mechanisms. On the basis of these themes, we draw implications for research in business ethics and the practice of ethics training.

Neurobiological processes in addiction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Nutt ◽  
Liam J. Nestor
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Psychological Treatment ◽  
Neural Substrates ◽  
Reward Processing ◽  
Psychological Processes ◽  
Substance Addiction ◽  
Brain Circuits ◽  
Processing Motivation ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Chronic Use

The brain is involved in controlling necessary motivational and cognitive processes optimized for survival. These processes can be disrupted by substances of addiction. The key neural substrates underlying these processes are made up of a network of four independent and overlapping brain circuits. These circuits govern reward processing, motivation and/or drive, learning and memory, and cognitive control. Anomalies within these circuits may also pre-date the addiction state, and facilitate the progress from experimentation to substance addiction. The subsequent excessive and chronic use of substances further exacerbates these abnormalities. Therefore, these brain circuits and key psychological processes related to their functioning must be understood if we are to develop and test new pharmacological and psychological treatment approaches in substance addiction.

Neural Mechanisms of Itch

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 187-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Lay ◽  
Xinzhong Dong
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Immune Response ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Mechanical Stimuli ◽  
External Threats ◽  
Brain Circuits ◽  
Cross Modulation ◽  
Itch Sensation ◽  
Neuron Terminals ◽  
The Brain

Itch is a unique sensation that helps organisms scratch away external threats; scratching itself induces an immune response that can contribute to more itchiness. Itch is induced chemically in the peripheral nervous system via a wide array of receptors. Given the superficial localization of itch neuron terminals, cells that dwell close to the skin contribute significantly to itch. Certain mechanical stimuli mediated by recently discovered circuits also contribute to the itch sensation. Ultimately, in the spinal cord, and likely in the brain, circuits that mediate touch, pain, and itch engage in cross modulation. Much of itch perception is still a mystery, but we present in this review the known ligands and receptors associated with itch. We also describe experiments and findings from investigations into the spinal and supraspinal circuitry responsible for the sensation of itch.

scholarly journals Distinct Roles of Dopamine D1 and D2 Receptor-expressing Neurons in the Nucleus Accumbens for a Strategy Dependent Decision Making

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tadaaki Nishioka ◽  
Tom Macpherson ◽  
Kosuke Hamaguchi ◽  
Takatoshi Hikida
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Nucleus Accumbens ◽  
Dopamine D2 Receptor ◽  
D2 Receptor ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Good Option ◽  
Psychological Study ◽  
Dopamine D2 ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Brain

To optimize decision making, animals need to execute not only a strategy to choose a good option but sometimes also one to avoid a bad option. A psychological study indicates that positive and negative information is processed in a different manner in the brain. The nucleus accumbens (NAc) contains two different types of neurons, dopamine D1 and D2 receptor-expressing neurons which are implicated in reward-based decision making and aversive learning. However, little is known about the neural mechanisms by which D1 or D2 receptor-expressing neurons in the NAc contribute to the execution of the strategy to choose a good option or one to avoid a bad option under decision making. Here, we have developed two novel visual discrimination tasks for mice to assess the strategy to choose a good option and one to avoid a bad option. By chemogenetically suppressing the subpopulation of the NAc neurons, we have shown that dopamine D2 receptor-expressing neurons in the NAc selectively contribute to the strategy to avoid a bad option under reward-based decision making. Furthermore, our optogenetic and calcium imaging experiments indicate that dopamine D2 receptor-expressing neurons are activated by error choices and the activation following an error plays an important role in optimizing the strategy in the next trial. Our findings suggest that the activation of D2 receptor-expressing neurons by error choices through learning enables animals to execute the appropriate strategy.

scholarly journals The Mechanism of Fear at Behavior, Brain Circuits and Molecular Level

2019 ◽  
Vol 131 ◽  
pp. 01007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuting Chen
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Level ◽  
Mental Illnesses ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Plasticity Mechanism ◽  
The Core ◽  
Brain Circuits ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
Memory Acquisition ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Dependent Mechanism

The study of “fear” can be traced back to the differences between “behaviorism” and “psychoanalysis” on cognition, while recent research on the learning and memory of fear by using modern cell and molecular biology experimental techniques has made our understanding of “fear” gradually multi-level and in-depth. At present, our research on fear can be divided into three levels, namely behavior, brain circuits and molecular. At the level of behavior, Pavlovian conditioning experiments have become the core method for studying fear, and behavioral approaches have been used for fear-related mental illnesses, such as the treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). At the level of brain circuits, the brain circuits with the amygdala as the core have gradually become clear, and there is also a two-system or one-system debate on how to recognize the fear process. At the molecular level, the Hebbian synaptic plasticity mechanism and neuromodulatory-dependent mechanism are used to explain the process of fear memory acquisition. Based on the current three levels of research, revealing how feelings of fear may generate is likely to play a guiding role in the further understanding of “fear” and treatment of related diseases.

Tjaco Walvis (2010), Branding With Brains: The Science of Getting the Customers to Choose Your Company, Pearson Education Limited, UK, p.244, Price: Rs.499

Metamorphosis ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 82-84
Author(s):  
Harshit Maurya
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Brand Management ◽  
The Core ◽  
Economic Significance ◽  
Core Solution ◽  
The Brain

The book “Branding with Brains” approaches its target customers with a practical perspective. Author attempts to take a more fundamental look into brand management. Branding here is approached with a neuroscientific purview but the findings are unambiguous and are catered in the most simplified manner. This work thoroughly emphasizes that decision making happens in the subconscious part of the brain. An attempt has been made to bridge the gap between the economic significance of brands and the professionalism of the field. Book starts with the idea that branding is about what the brand commits and delivers. The author is of the view that instead of only making a presence in the market space, the strategy should be to foster engagements through relevant creative content. The core solution to branding put forward by the writer is a balanced and chronological unification put through- “Relevance-Coherence-Participation”.

Neural Mechanisms of Decision-Making and the Personal Level

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Shea
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Voluntary Action ◽  
Mental Phenomenon ◽  
Neural Data ◽  
Personal Level ◽  
Mental Properties ◽  
Empirical Generalizations ◽  
The Brain

Can findings from psychology and cognitive neuroscience about the neural mechanisms involved in decision-making tell us anything useful about the commonly-understood mental phenomenon of making voluntary choices? Two philosophical objections are considered. First, that the neural data is subpersonal, and so cannot enter into illuminating explanations of personal-level phenomena like voluntary action. Secondly, that mental properties are multiply realized in the brain in such a way as to make them insusceptible to neuroscientific study. The chapter argues that both objections would be weakened by the discovery of empirical generalizations connecting subpersonal properties with personal-level phenomena. It gives three case studies that furnish evidence to that effect. It argues that the existence of such interrelations is consistent with a plausible construal of the personal-subpersonal distinction. Furthermore, there is no reason to suppose that the notion of subpersonal representation relied on in cognitive neuroscience illicitly imports personal-level phenomena like consciousness or normativity, or is otherwise explanatorily problematic.

Aging and Neuroeconomics: Insights from Research on Neuromodulation of Reward-based Decision Making

2007 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shu-Chen Li ◽  
Guido Biele ◽  
Peter N. C. Mohr ◽  
Hauke R. Heekeren
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Dopaminergic System ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Neurotransmitter Systems ◽  
Reward Prediction ◽  
Dopaminergic Modulation ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Expected Outcomes

Abstract‘Neuroeconomics’ can be broadly defined as the research of how the brain interacts with the environment to make decisions that are functional given individual and contextual constraints. Deciphering such brain-environment transactions requires mechanistic understandings of the neurobiological processes that implement value-dependent decision making. To this end, a common empirical approach is to investigate neural mechanisms of reward-based decision making. Flexible updating of choices and associated expected outcomes in ways that are adaptive for a given task (or a given set of tasks) at hand relies on dynamic neurochemical tuning of the brain’s functional circuitries involved in the representation of tasks, goals and reward prediction. Empirical evidence as well as computational theories indicate that various neurotransmitter systems (e.g., dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin) play important roles in reward-based decision making. In light of the apparent aging-related decline in various aspects of the dopaminergic system as well as the effects of neuromodulation on reward-related processes, this article focuses selectively on the literature that highlights the triadic relations between dopaminergic modulation, reward-based decision making, and aging. Directions for future research on aging and neuroeconomoics are discussed.

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