Cost-benefit Decision Research Articles

Generalized Encoding of the Relative Subjective Value of Cognitive Effort in the Dorsal ACC.

Making choices about whether and when to engage cognitive effort are a common feature of everyday experience, with important consequences for academic, career, and health outcomes. Yet, despite their hypothesized importance, very little is understood about the underlying mechanisms that support this form of human cost-benefit decision-making. To investigate these mechanisms, we used the Cognitive Effort Discounting Paradigm (Cog-ED) during fMRI scanning to precisely quantify the neural encoding of varying cognitive effort demands relative to reward outcomes, within two distinct cognitive domains (working memory, speech comprehension). The findings provide strong evidence that the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) plays a central and selective role in this decision-making process. Trial-by-trial modulations in dACC activation tracked the relative subjective value of the low-effort, low-reward option, with the strongest activity occurring when this was of greater value than the high-effort, high-reward option. In contrast, dACC activity was not modulated by decision difficulty, though such effects were found in other frontoparietal regions. Critically, dACC activity was also strongly correlated across the two decision-making task domains and further predicted subsequent choice behavior in both. Together, the results suggest that dACC activity modulation reflects a domain-general valuation comparison mechanism, which acts to bias participants away from decisions to engage in cognitive effort, when the perceived subjective costs of such engagement outweigh the reward-related benefits. These findings complement work in other cost domains and species by pointing to a clear role of the dACC in representing subjective value differences between choice options during cost-benefit decision-making.

Continued Use Trajectories: How Entropy Work Sustains Technology Assemblages

Why do some technology products enjoy enduring continued use, whereas others are quickly discarded? Existing marketing research explains that continued use is motivated by cost–benefit decisions over how useful and easy to use a tech product is. Yet the interconnected nature of contemporary technologies means that continued use can depend on tech products’ capacities to interact with other devices, objects, infrastructures, and people as parts of assemblages that generate useful properties. By analyzing interview and observational data of technology consumption through the lens of assemblage theory, the authors identify four continued use trajectories. These explain different paths from adoption to discontinued use by distinguishing component parts’ capacities to interact and hold assemblages together to sustain emergent properties. In each trajectory, continued use is sustained by entropy work to support a tech product's usefulness and ease of use. The authors consider implications of entropy work for theories of continued use and broader marketing scholarship, and offer recommendations to help firms manage the opportunities and risks that accompany different continued use trajectories.

Learning approaches to cost–benefit decision analysis of pile designs from site investigation plans

ABSTRACT The study introduces an approach to pile design optimisation in geotechnical engineering, integrating both Reinforcement Learning (RL) and Machine Learning (ML) algorithms with Cost–Benefit Decision Analysis (CBDA). The study explores three Site Investigation Plans (SIPs), described as Current (CSIP), Actual (ASIP) and Optimal (OSIP), that can be used to address uncertainties in subsurface conditions and pile design. RL is used to determine the optimal action in transitioning between these interrelated SIPs. Apart from the SIPs, the optimal action is also shown to depend on structural variables for the pile design. These variables are used in ML algorithms, such as Random Forest (RF), Gradient Boosting Machine (GBM) and Support Vector Machine (SVM), to predict the optimal action for decision-making of the SIP at a given site. The proposed CBDA framework is applied to a database consisting of 152 usable test piles across various U.S. states, which enables the assessment of SIPs under diverse geological conditions. The results show that RL effectively optimises SIP selection with RF achieving the highest overall accuracy in predicting optimal SIP actions. The study contributes a novel data-driven approach to CBDA and SIP evaluation in geotechnical decision-making.

Effects of reproductive experience on cost-benefit decision making in female rats.

Many individuals undergo mating and/or other aspects of reproductive experience at some point in their lives, and pregnancy and childbirth in particular are associated with alterations in the prevalence of several psychiatric disorders. Research in rodents shows that maternal experience affects spatial learning and other aspects of hippocampal function. In contrast, there has been little work in animal models concerning how reproductive experience affects cost-benefit decision making, despite the relevance of this aspect of cognition for psychiatric disorders. To begin to address this issue, reproductively experienced (RE) and reproductively naïve (RN) female Long-Evans rats were tested across multiple tasks that assess different forms of cost-benefit decision making. In a risky decision-making task, in which rats chose between a small, safe food reward and a large food reward accompanied by variable probabilities of punishment, RE females chose the large risky reward significantly more frequently than RN females (greater risk taking). In an intertemporal choice task, in which rats chose between a small, immediate food reward and a large food reward delivered after a variable delay period, RE females chose the large reward less frequently than RN females. Together, these results show distinct effects of reproductive experience on different forms of cost-benefit decision making in female rats, and highlight reproductive status as a variable that could influence aspects of cognition relevant for psychiatric disorders.

A common modular design of nervous systems originating in soft-bodied invertebrates.

Nervous systems of vertebrates and invertebrates show a common modular theme in the flow of information for cost-benefit decisions. Sensory inputs are incentivized by integrating stimulus qualities with motivation and memory to affect appetitive state, a system of homeostatic drives, and labelled for directionality. Appetitive state determines action responses from a repertory of possibles and transmits the decision to a premotor system that frames the selected action in motor arousal and appropriate postural and locomotion commands. These commands are then sent to the primary motor pattern generators controlling the motorneurons, with feedback at each stage. In the vertebrates, these stages are mediated by forebrain pallial derivatives for incentive and directionality (olfactory bulb, cerebral cortex, pallial amygdala, etc.) interacting with hypothalamus (homeostasis, motivation, and reward) for action selection in the forebrain basal ganglia, the mid/hindbrain reticular formation as a premotor translator for posture, locomotion, and arousal state, and the spinal cord and cranial nuclei as primary motor pattern generators. Gastropods, like the predatory sea slug Pleurobranchaea californica, show a similar organization but with differences that suggest how complex brains evolved from an ancestral soft-bodied bilaterian along with segmentation, jointed skeletons, and complex exteroceptors. Their premotor feeding network combines functions of hypothalamus and basal ganglia for homeostasis, motivation, presumed reward, and action selection for stimulus approach or avoidance. In Pleurobranchaea, the premotor analogy to the vertebrate reticular formation is the bilateral "A-cluster" of cerebral ganglion neurons that controls posture, locomotion, and serotonergic motor arousal. The A-cluster transmits motor commands to the pedal ganglia analogs of the spinal cord, for primary patterned motor output. Apparent pallial precursors are not immediately evident in Pleurobranchaea's central nervous system, but a notable candidate is a subepithelial nerve net in the peripheral head region that integrates chemotactile stimuli for incentive and directionality. Evolutionary centralization of its computational functions may have led to the olfaction-derived pallial forebrain in the ancestor's vertebrate descendants and their analogs in arthropods and annelids.

Influence of the physical effort of reminder-setting on strategic offloading of delayed intentions.

Intention offloading involves using external reminders such as diaries, to-do lists, and digital alerts to help us remember delayed intentions. Recent studies have provided evidence for various cognitive and metacognitive factors that guide intention offloading, but little research has investigated the physical cost of reminder-setting itself. Here, we present two pre-registered experiments investigating how the cost of physical effort associated with reminder-setting influences strategic intention offloading under different levels of memory load. At all memory loads, reminder-setting was reduced when it was more effortful. The ability to set reminders allowed participants to compensate for the influence of memory load on accuracy in the low-effort condition; this effect was attenuated in the high-effort condition. In addition, there was evidence that participants with less confidence in their memory abilities were more likely to set reminders. Contrary to prediction, physical effort had the greatest effect on reminder-setting at intermediate memory loads. We speculate that the physical costs of reminder-setting might have the greatest impact when participants are uncertain about their strategy choice. These results demonstrate the importance of physical effort as one of the factors relevant to cost-benefit decision-making about cognitive offloading strategies.

A review of best practices, standards, and approaches for transportation safety data and driver state prediction

This systematic review documents current best practices, standards, and approaches for transportation safety data analytics. While standards exist for defining measures, there are few available standards or guides for processing driving and driver data. Standards are crucial for ensuring repeatability and appropriate cost-benefit decisions. The review identified 36 relevant studies describing behavioral and physiological measures. Most studies do not comprehensively report data processing steps. Of the studies that did report data processing steps, few analyzed the impact of decisions made during data processing on algorithm performance. Most studies were conducted in a controlled simulator environment and may not generalize to naturalistic settings. The findings show that driver behavior and physiological data show efficacy for detecting fatigue, distraction, stress, and driver errors. The results of these studies may necessitate additional data processing standards and future work should focus on measuring the effects of data decisions on model performance.

Worth the Work? Monkeys Discount Rewards by a Subjective Adapting Effort Cost.

All life must solve how to allocate limited energy resources to maximize benefits from scarce opportunities. Economic theory posits decision makers optimize choice by maximizing the subjective benefit (utility) of reward minus the subjective cost (disutility) of the required effort. While successful in many settings, this model does not fully account for how experience can alter reward-effort trade-offs. Here, we test how well the subtractive model of effort disutility explains the behavior of two male nonhuman primates (Macaca mulatta) in a binary choice task in which reward quantity and physical effort to obtain were varied. Applying random utility modeling to independently estimate reward utility and effort disutility, we show the subtractive effort model better explains out-of-sample choice behavior when compared with parabolic and exponential effort discounting. Furthermore, we demonstrate that effort disutility depends on previous experience of effort: in analogy to work from behavioral labor economics, we develop a model of reference-dependent effort disutility to explain the increased willingness to expend effort following previous experience of effortful options in a session. The result of this analysis suggests that monkeys discount reward by an effort cost that is measured relative to an expected effort learned from previous trials. When this subjective cost of effort, a function of context and experience, is accounted for, trial-by-trial choices can be explained by the subtractive cost model of effort. Therefore, in searching for net utility signals that may underpin effort-based decision-making in the brain, careful measurement of subjective effort costs is an essential first step.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT All decision-makers need to consider how much effort they need to expend when evaluating potential options. Economic theories suggest that the optimal way to choose is by cost-benefit analysis of reward against effort. To be able to do this efficiently over many decision contexts, this needs to be done flexibly, with appropriate adaptation to context and experience. Therefore, in aiming to understand how this might be achieved in the brain, it is important to first carefully measure the subjective cost of effort. Here, we show monkeys make reward-effort cost-benefit decisions, subtracting the subjective cost of effort from the subjective value of rewards. Moreover, the subjective cost of effort is dependent on the monkeys' experience of effort in previous trials.

241. Exploring the Complementary Roles of Dopamine and Norepinephrine in Cost-Benefit Decision-Making

241. Exploring the Complementary Roles of Dopamine and Norepinephrine in Cost-Benefit Decision-Making

Women compared with men work harder for small rewards

In cost–benefit decision-making, women and men often show different trade-offs. However, surprisingly little is known about sex differences in instrumental tasks, where physical effort is exerted to gain rewards. To this end, we tested 81 individuals (47 women) with an effort allocation task, where participants had to repeatedly press a button to collect food and money tokens. We analyzed the motivational phases of invigoration and effort maintenance with varying reward magnitude, difficulty, and reward type. Whereas women and men did not differ in invigoration, we found that women showed higher effort maintenance as well as higher subjective wanting and exertion ratings for small rewards compared with men. Notably, men increased their effort more than women for higher rewards to match women’s levels of performance. Crucially, we found no sex differences depending on reward type or difficulty, indicating that sex differences were specific to the encoding of the magnitude of benefits, not costs. To summarize, women exerted higher physical effort for small rewards, which corresponded with an elevated subjective value in women compared with men. Therefore, sex differences in perceived reward magnitude may contribute to differential behavioral preferences highlighting the potential of cost–benefit decision-making to provide insights about potential mechanisms.

Framing decision-making: the role of executive functions, cognitive bias and reward

Decision-making is described as a cognitive and emotional process that allows an individual to select a certain action from a multitude of choices and possibilities. This process is commonly seen as a complicated interaction of high-level processes. It is engaged in a wide range of executive operations, concerning which it is possible to hypothesize how the decision-making is located in the continuum between hot and cool processes, involving a multifaced brain areas network. Besides the contextual influences in which decisions are taken this proposal highlights and investigates the relationship between decision-making and cognitive – attentional and perceptual – bias. Moreover, this article takes into exam the association between cost-benefit decisions underpinning executive performance and reward responsiveness. All these factors are considered highly relevant in explaining human behaviour.

A process model account of the role of dopamine in intertemporal choice.

Theoretical accounts disagree on the role of dopamine in intertemporal choice and assume that dopamine either promotes delay of gratification by increasing the preference for larger rewards or that dopamine reduces patience by enhancing the sensitivity to waiting costs. Here, we reconcile these conflicting accounts by providing empirical support for a novel process model according to which dopamine contributes to two dissociable components of the decision process, evidence accumulation and starting bias. We re-analyzed a previously published data set where intertemporal decisions were made either under the D2 antagonist amisulpride or under placebo by fitting a hierarchical drift diffusion model that distinguishes between dopaminergic effects on the speed of evidence accumulation and the starting point of the accumulation process. Blocking dopaminergic neurotransmission not only strengthened the sensitivity to whether a reward is perceived as worth the delay costs during evidence accumulation (drift rate) but also attenuated the impact of waiting costs on the starting point of the evidence accumulation process (bias). In contrast, re-analyzing data from a D1 agonist study provided no evidence for a causal involvement of D1R activation in intertemporal choices. Taken together, our findings support a novel, process-based account of the role of dopamine for cost-benefit decision making, highlight the potential benefits of process-informed analyses, and advance our understanding of dopaminergic contributions to decision making.

Evaluating the neural substrates of effort-expenditure for reward in adults with major depressive disorder and obesity

Converging evidence has suggested that disturbances in monetary reward processing may subserve the shared biosignature between major depressive disorder (MDD) and obesity. However, there remains a paucity of studies that have evaluated the deficits in specific subcomponents of reward functioning in populations with MDD and obesity comorbidity. We evaluated the association between effort-expenditure for monetary reward and neural activation in regions associated with reward-based decision making (i.e., the caudate nucleus, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and hippocampus) in people with MDD and obesity comorbidity. We acquired structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 12 participants and performed a spherical region-of-interest analysis (ROI) using previously defined peak MNI coordinates. A one-sample t-test was employed to compare ROI-specific blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal change during the task choice selection window (i.e., high-effort vs. low-effort task) of the effort-expenditure for reward task (EEfRT). We observed no change in activation of the caudate nucleus, ACC or hippocampus in participants with increased BMI when contrasting the high effort > low effort reward magnitude condition for the EEfRT. The findings from our exploratory study evaluated the disturbances in fundamental reward processes, including cost-benefit decision making, in people MDD and obesity. Future studies should further investigate this relationship with a larger sample size.

Accumbal adenosine A2A receptor inactivation biases for large and costly rewards in the effort- but not delay-based decision making

The cost-benefit decision-making (CBDM) is critical to normal human activity and a diminished willingness to expend effort to obtain rewards is a prevalent/noted characteristic of neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease. Numerous studies have identified nucleus accumbens (NAc) as an important locus for CBDM control but their neuromodulatory and behavioral mechanisms remain largely under-explored. Adenosine A2A receptors (A2ARs), which are highly concentrated in the striatopallidal neurons, can integrate glutamate and dopamine signals for controlling effort-related choice behaviors. While the involvement of A2ARs in effort-based decision making is well documented, the role of other decision variables (reward discrimination) in effort-based decision making and the role of A2AR in delay-based decision making are less clear. In this study, we have developed a well-controlled CBDM behavioral paradigm to manipulate effort/cost and reward independently or in combination, allowing a dissection of four behavioral elements: effort-based CBDM (E-CBDM), delay-based CBDM (D-CBDM), reward discrimination (RD), effort discrimination (ED), and determined the effect of genetic knockdown (KD) of NAc A2AR on the four behavioral elements. We found that A2AR KD in NAc increased the choice for larger, more costly reward in the E-CBDM, but not D-CBDM. Furthermore, this high-effort/high-reward bias was attributable to the increased willingness to engage in effort but not the effect of discrimination of reward magnitude. Our findings substantiate an important role of the NAc A2AR in control of E-CBDM and support that pharmacologically targeting NAc A2ARs would be a useful strategy for treating the aberrant effort-based decision making in neuropsychiatric disorders.

Incorporating Sulfur and CO2 Emission Reduction Options into the Container Fleet Capacity Renewal Alternatives for a Shipping Operator in the Post-COVID-19 Era

In this article, a cost-benefit decision framework is proposed to analyze the three alternative options of the container fleet capacity renewal for a ship operator. In this decision framework, the ship operator can trade off the following factors: MGO fuel or LNG option vessels, carbon neutrality, and other investment factors. The following variables are considered: the distance of the round trip, the prices of LNG and MGO, the freight rates of each option, and the initial investment ratios of new vessels. It was found that (1) the retrofitted vessels were more stable and suitable in an uncertain shipping market and have better investment potential. (2) The MGO option was the best option before the epidemic of COVID-19. In the postepidemic era, under the double carbon (carbon neutral and carbon peaking) policy, the advantage of low fuel consumption for the LNG ships disappeared due to the increase in LNG prices, and the NPV advantage of MGO ships becomes significant.

Disordered Decision Making: A Cognitive Framework for Apathy and Impulsivity in Huntington's Disease.

A caregiver's all‐too‐familiar narrative ‐ “He doesn't think through what he does, but mostly he does nothing.” Apathy and impulsivity, debilitating and poorly understood, commonly co‐occur in Huntington's disease (HD). HD is a neurodegenerative disease with manifestations bridging clinical neurology and psychiatry. In addition to movement and cognitive symptoms, neurobehavioral disturbances, particularly apathy and impulsivity, are prevalent features of HD, occurring early in the disease course, often worsening with disease progression, and substantially reducing quality of life. Treatments remain limited, in part because of limited mechanistic understanding of these behavioral disturbances. However, emerging work within the field of decision‐making neuroscience and beyond points to common neurobiological mechanisms underpinning these seemingly disparate problems. These insights bridge the gap between underlying disease pathology and clinical phenotype, offering new treatment strategies, novel behavioral and physiological biomarkers of HD, and deeper understanding of human behavior. In this review, we apply the neurobiological framework of cost‐benefit decision making to the problems of apathy and impulsivity in HD. Through this decision‐making lens, we develop a mechanistic model that elucidates the occurrence of these behavioral disturbances and points to potential treatment strategies and crucial research priorities. © 2022 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson Movement Disorder Society.

Behind the criminal economy: using UK tax fraud investigations to understand money laundering myths and models

To launder money is, by definition, to obfuscate and to hide, which makes it a notoriously difficult topic to study. Data access is another challenge contributing to the underdeveloped base. This paper presents an in-depth exploratory analysis of previously untapped data from the UK’s tax enforcement agency. We examine a sample of money laundering investigations (n = 31) over a three-year period, together involving 52 suspects. Against these cases, we test the applicability of the most widely used international model of money laundering: the three-stage model of placement, layering and integration (FATF, 2019). We also examine who was responsible for the offences and which laundering methods they used. A focus group with professionals helped us explore possible interpretations and implications of our findings. Overall, the results undermine the utility and validity of the ubiquitous three-stage model: it applied in under a third of cases. Cash couriers featured heavily and thus merit further attention, as do the cost-benefit decisions behind choosing between different money laundering methods. This study has relevance for academics, law enforcement, policy-makers and industry professionals alike.

The Corporate University in the Age of the Coronavirus

dramatically less government revenue. In many ways, they became public in name only. To make up for lost revenue, the corporate university sought more business sponsorships or joint ventures, expanded high profit and demand professional programs such as MBAs, and dramatically increased tuition. Higher education came to be seen as a private good and student loans as an investment in the future. It became a cost-benefit decision in one's future career. The corporate business model survived until the Great Recession of 2008-09. Enrollment in professional programs decreased in many cases, and students, already tapped out with more than $1 trillion in debt, were unable to continue to finance their education. Post 2009, higher education muddled along, enjoying the population boom from a large Millennial cohort and able to attract foreign students to the US to make up for lost revenue. But the muddling along does not mean thriving, and the corporate university's business has been...

Exposure to Nicotine Vapor Produced by an Electronic Nicotine Delivery System Causes Short-Term Increases in Impulsive Choice in Adult Male Rats.

Traditional cigarette use influences cost-benefit decision making by promoting impulsive choice. However, the impact of nicotine exposure via electronic nicotine delivery systems on impulsivity remains unclear. Hence, the present study examined the short- and long-term effects of nicotine vapor on impulsive choice. Twenty-four adult male rats were trained in the delay discounting task to choose between small immediate food rewards and large delayed food rewards. After 24 days of training in the task rats were exposed to vapor containing either 0, 12, or 24 mg/mL of nicotine for 10 days. To validate inhalation of nicotine vapor serum cotinine levels were analyzed on exposure days 1, 5, and 10 using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Following vapor exposure, rats were retrained in the discounting task until rats displayed stable responding and the effects of nicotine vapor on choice preference were assessed. Rats exposed to 12 and 24 mg/mL nicotine vapor displayed higher serum cotinine levels than control rats exposed to 0 mg/mL vapor. There were no differences in impulsive choice between any vapor exposure groups when tested 15 days after exposure, across 6 days of stable responding, suggesting that nicotine vapor does not have long lasting effects on impulsive choice. Interestingly, a subsequent nicotine vapor challenge revealed short-term increases in impulsive choice immediately following a single exposure to 24 mg/mL nicotine vapor, relative to choice preference immediately following exposure to 0 mg/mL vapor. These results suggest that exposure to nicotine vapor causes immediate, short-term increases in impulsive choice. E-cigarette use is increasing at an alarming rate, particularly among adolescents and young adults. This is concerning given the lack of research into the effects of nicotine vapor exposure on the brain and behavior. The present study describes a viable rodent model of human e-cigarette use and suggests that exposure to nicotine vapor produces short-term increases in impulsive choice.

Do privacy concerns determine online information disclosure? The case of internet addiction

PurposeIt is a widely held belief that users make a rational cost-benefit decision when choosing whether to disclose information online. Yet, in the privacy context, the evidence is far from conclusive suggesting that strong and as-yet unmeasured influences on behaviour may exist. This paper aims to demonstrate one such link – the effect of internet addiction on information disclosure.Design/methodology/approachData from 216 Web users was collected regarding their perceptions on privacy and information disclosure intentions as well as avoidance behaviour, an element of internet addiction. Using a research model based on the Privacy Calculus theory, structural equation modelling was applied to quantify the determinants of online disclosure under various conditions.FindingsThe authors show that not all aspects of privacy (a multi-dimensional construct) influence information disclosure. While concerns about data collection influence self-disclosure behaviour, the level of awareness about privacy does not. They next examine the impact of internet addiction on these relationships, finding that internet addiction weakens the influence of privacy concerns to the point of non-significance.Originality/valueThe authors highlight some of the influences of self-disclosure behaviour, showing that some but not all aspects of privacy are influential. They also demonstrate that there are powerful influences on user behaviour that have not been accounted for in prior work; internet addiction is one of these factors. This provides some of the first evidence of the potentially deleterious effect of internet addiction on the privacy calculus.