Abstract
Decision neuroscience research, as currently practiced, employs the methods of neuroscience to investigate concepts drawn from the social sciences. A typical study selects one or more variables from psychological or economic models, manipulates or measures choices within a simplified choice task, and then identifies neural correlates. Using this “neuroeconomic” approach, researchers have described brain systems whose functioning shapes key economic variables, most notably aspects of subjective value. Yet, the standard approach has fundamental limitations. Important aspects of the mechanisms of decision making – from the sources of variability in decision making to the very computations supported by decision-related regions – remain incompletely understood. Here, I outline 10 outstanding challenges for future research in decision neuroscience. While some will be readily addressed using current methods, others will require new conceptual frameworks. Accordingly, a new strain of decision neuroscience will marry methods from economics and cognitive science to concepts from neurobiology and cognitive neuroscience.
Highlights
Ten challenges for decision neuroscienceAs currently practiced, employs the methods of neuroscience to investigate concepts drawn from the social sciences
Decision neuroscience, including its subfield of neuroeconomics, has provided new insights into the mechanisms that underlie a wide range of economic and social phenomena, from risky choice and temporal discounting to altruism and cooperation
Canonical results include the linking of dopaminergic neuron activity to information about current and future rewards (Schultz et al, 1997); the generalization of value signals from primary rewards to include money (Delgado et al, 2000; Knutson et al, 2001), social stimuli and interpersonal interactions (Sanfey et al, 2003; King-Casas et al, 2005); and the identification of neural markers for economic transactions (Padoa-Schioppa and Assad, 2006; Plassmann et al, 2007)
Summary
As currently practiced, employs the methods of neuroscience to investigate concepts drawn from the social sciences. A typical study selects one or more variables from psychological or economic models, manipulates or measures choices within a simplified choice task, and identifies neural correlates. Using this “neuroeconomic” approach, researchers have described brain systems whose functioning shapes key economic variables, most notably aspects of subjective value.Yet, the standard approach has fundamental limitations. While some will be readily addressed using current methods, others will require new conceptual frameworks. A new strain of decision neuroscience will marry methods from economics and cognitive science to concepts from neurobiology and cognitive neuroscience
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