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Neurocomputational determinants of decision urgency in humans

Obiettivo

A central question in the behavioural, cognitive and neural sciences is how humans choose between available alternatives (Does this patient have flu, or meningitis? Should I go on holiday to Spain, or Scotland?). However, much less attention has been devoted to the question of when an agent should decide. Longer deliberation is more likely to lead to better decisions (because it allows greater accumulation of decision-relevant evidence) but it also incurs a cost (because it delays reinforcement, and increases the chance that deadlines will be missed). Humans adjust their decision strategy to match the urgency with which a decision should be made, but how they do so is unknown. In the proposed research, we ask how humans compute the urgency associated with simple perceptual categorisation judgments, and use functional brain imaging to identify neural circuits involved in these computations. Our approach to this question is grounded in formal mathematical models of the decision process, allowing us to compare human performance to that of an ideal observer that computes decision urgency in order to maximise economic outcome. Using tools from experimental psychology, we measure the sensitivity of healthy individuals to quantities that are relevant for computing decision urgency. We will then use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) to ask where they are encoded in the human brain. Subsequently, we turn our attention to individuals who are prone to make impulsive decisions, using individual difference and pharmacological manipulations. We ask which decision-relevant information is computed inappropriately in impulsivity, and use fMRI and MEG to ask which brain regions may be responsible for atypical computations. This new ‘computational neuropsychiatry’ approach will allow us to move towards a neural and computational account decision-making deficits in disorders such as addiction and ADHD.

Invito a presentare proposte

ERC-2011-StG_20101109
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Meccanismo di finanziamento

ERC-SG - ERC Starting Grant

Istituzione ospitante

THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Contributo UE
€ 1 182 176,00
Indirizzo
WELLINGTON SQUARE UNIVERSITY OFFICES
OX1 2JD Oxford
Regno Unito

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Regione
South East (England) Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Oxfordshire
Tipo di attività
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Ricercatore principale
Christopher Summerfield (Dr.)
Contatto amministrativo
Gill Wells (Ms.)
Collegamenti
Costo totale
Nessun dato

Beneficiari (1)