Descripción del proyecto
Nueva forma de detectar patologías encefálicas relacionadas con la edad
Uno de los objetivos de la psicología moderna es explicar la diferenciación entre sujetos de las causas mecánicas de la toma de decisiones. Sin embargo, esto es una tarea complicada dado que incluso nuestra elección perceptual más simple depende de numerosos procesos. Los modelos matemáticos de «muestreo secuencial» están pensados para analizar estos procesos diferenciando la conducta de toma de decisiones, pero todavía carecen de precisión debido a sus limitaciones metodológicas. El proyecto financiado con fondos europeos IndDecision tiene como objetivo superar este problema aplicando un método innovador y revolucionario que permite el uso de modelos de procesos de decisión basados en resultados observados, comparados y medidos gracias a la electrofisiología no invasiva. El proyecto ayudará a detectar patologías encefálicas relacionadas con la edad en una fase temprana y propiciará una mejora de los efectos de su tratamiento.
Objetivo
Pinpointing the mechanistic origins of inter-individual differences in decision making is a central goal of modern psychology and a considerable challenge because even elementary perceptual choices rely on a multitude of sensory, cognitive, motivational and motoric processes. For this reason, researchers have relied heavily on a set of mathematical ‘sequential sampling’ models that are designed to parse the latent psychological processes driving variations in choice behaviour. Although these models have been fruitfully employed in thousands of theoretical and neurophysiological investigations, they suffer from several limitations that particularly undermine their utility in inter-individual or -group comparisons including: A) parameter values are estimated on a relative, within-subject scale; B) the models come in many forms that can make identical behavioural predictions despite invoking fundamentally different mechanisms (‘model mimicry’); and C) they deal in abstract psychological constructs that are themselves dependent on multiple neural processes. The objective of this proposal is to address each of these issues by pioneering a ground-breaking decision modelling framework in which models are constructed and evaluated based on their ability to explain key observable aspects of the neural implementation of the human decision process in addition to its behavioural output. This ambitious goal is made possible by recent advances in non-invasive electrophysiology which enable direct observation, measurement and manipulation of the decision process as it unfolds in the human brain. Across a series of empirical investigations that will use adult aging as a test-bed for studying inter-individual and -group differences, this research will yield new methods for directly comparing model parameter values across subjects, resolve prominent theoretical debates regarding decision making algorithms and gain important new insights into their susceptibility to cognitive aging.
Ámbito científico
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantInstitución de acogida
D02 CX56 DUBLIN 2
Irlanda