Descripción del proyecto
Una nueva metodología para entender la manera en que los humanos toman decisiones
¿Cómo toman decisiones las personas cuando existen diversas alternativas y varios atributos que comparar? Para tomar una decisión es necesario combinar información con distintos atributos. En este contexto, los científicos sociales han estudiado el muestreo de información por medio de técnicas de seguimiento de los ojos. Sin embargo, se han propuesto distintos mecanismos relativos a la información. El proyecto financiado con fondos europeos INFOSAMPLE utilizará herramientas de la neurociencia sensorial para paliar la brecha del conocimiento sobre la manera en que la fijación de la vista influye sobre los elecciones. Más específicamente, utilizará la magnetoencefalografía para realizar un seguimiento del punto de atención y la tendencia a elegir una alternativa sobre la otra. Por otra parte, tratará de averiguar por qué los humanos cambian sus preferencias a partir de alternativas irrelevantes. Los hallazgos arrojarán luz sobre los mecanismos computacionales y neuronales que llaman la atención sobre distintos aspectos cuando nos enfrentamos a una elección con múltiples atributos.
Objetivo
Do we prefer a small flat with a short commute or a large house with a long commute? Many real-life decisions require combining information across different attributes. It has been shown that during such multiattribute decisions people serially attend to (or sample) a subset of the available information. The way this process takes place largely influences the final choice: for example, if the “commute” attribute is considered for longer, then the small flat will tend to appear better.
Up to date, information sampling has been studied within the social sciences using eye-tracking techniques. However, in the context of choice tasks, the way eye fixations influence the upcoming choice is not precisely known and, thus, this line of research has not yielded any definitive mechanistic conclusions. Recently, theorists have proposed different mechanisms of information sampling but these proposals were not constrained by relevant data.
I propose to fill this gap in a data-driven fashion by harnessing tools from sensory neuroscience. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG) we will simultaneously track the locus of attention and the tendency to choose one alternative over the other, during the entire time-course of a single multiattribute decision. This approach will enable us to unravel the computational and neural mechanisms that guide attention towards different aspects of a multiattribute choice problem.
This project will yield a neurophysiologically detailed theory of multiattribute choice–from the level of neurotransmitters, to large-scale brain networks, to behaviour– that will ultimately shed light on century-long questions, such as why humans reverse their preferences irrationally, when irrelevant alternatives are added to the choice-set. The emerging framework will be useful to policy makers and practitioners, interested in a descriptively enriched model of choice; and to clinicians aiming to understand how information sampling goes awry in neuropsychiatric disorders.
Ámbito científico
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
ERC-STG - Starting GrantInstitución de acogida
BS8 1QU Bristol
Reino Unido