How humans take difficult decisions decoded

Written by PTI | Washington | Updated: Dec 9 2013, 19:09pm hrs
CoinNeuroeconomics is combining economists' insights with brain's scientific study to learn about decision-making processes.
Heads or tails Random fluctuations in the brain determine how we make decisions when faced with two equally appealing options, scientists say.

An emerging field of study known as neuroeconomics is combining the economists' insights with scientific study of the brain to learn more about decision-making processes and how they can go awry.

"Neuroeconomics is not only helpful for the development of better economic theory, it is also relevant from a clinical point of view," said author Camillo Padoa-Schioppa, from Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis.

"There are a number of conditions that involve impaired economic decision-making, including drug addiction, brain injury, some forms of dementia, schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder," said Padoa-Schioppa.




Analysing data from the original experiment, Padoa-Schioppa showed that different groups of cells in the orbito frontal cortex reflect different stages of the decision-making process.

"Some neurons encode the value of individual drinks; other neurons encode the choice outcome in a binary way -these cells are either firing or silent depending on the chosen drink," he said.

"Yet other neurons encode the value of the chosen option," said Padoa-Schioppa.


"The fluctuations in the network took place before the primates were even offered a choice of juices, but they seem to somehow bias the decision," Padoa-Schioppa said. The study was published in the journal Neuron.