Objective 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. Fields of science social sciencespsychologyengineering and technologymedical engineeringdiagnostic imagingmagnetic resonance imagingnatural sciencesmathematicsapplied mathematicsmathematical model Programme(s) FP7-IDEAS-ERC - Specific programme: "Ideas" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) Topic(s) ERC-SG-LS5 - ERC Starting Grant - Neurosciences and neural disorders Call for proposal ERC-2011-StG_20101109 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-SG - ERC Starting Grant Host institution THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD EU contribution € 1 182 176,00 Address WELLINGTON SQUARE UNIVERSITY OFFICES OX1 2JD Oxford United Kingdom See on map Region South East (England) Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Oxfordshire Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Principal investigator Christopher Summerfield (Dr.) Administrative Contact Gill Wells (Ms.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD United Kingdom EU contribution € 1 182 176,00 Address WELLINGTON SQUARE UNIVERSITY OFFICES OX1 2JD Oxford See on map Region South East (England) Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Oxfordshire Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Principal investigator Christopher Summerfield (Dr.) Administrative Contact Gill Wells (Ms.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data
