How prior preferences determine decision-making frames and biases in the human brain

Understanding how option values are compared when making a choice is a key objective for decision neuroscience. In natural situations, agents may have a priori on their preferences that create default policies and shape the neural comparison process. We asked participants to make choices between ite...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:eLife 2016-11, Vol.5
Main Authors: Lopez-Persem, Alizée, Domenech, Philippe, Pessiglione, Mathias
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Alternatives
Bias
Brain
Brain - physiology
Brain Mapping
brain valuation system
Clinical decision making
Decision Making
Decision theory
default bias
Female
fMRI
Functional magnetic resonance imaging
Humans
Hypotheses
Life Sciences
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Nervous system
neuroeconomics
Neurons and Cognition
Neuroscience
Preferences
Prefrontal cortex
ventromedial prefrontal cortex
Young Adult
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Summary:Understanding how option values are compared when making a choice is a key objective for decision neuroscience. In natural situations, agents may have a priori on their preferences that create default policies and shape the neural comparison process. We asked participants to make choices between items belonging to different categories (e.g., jazz vs. rock music). Behavioral data confirmed that the items taken from the preferred category were chosen more often and more rapidly, which qualified them as default options. FMRI data showed that baseline activity in classical brain valuation regions, such as the ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex (vmPFC), reflected the strength of prior preferences. In addition, evoked activity in the same regions scaled with the default option value, irrespective of the eventual choice. We therefore suggest that in the brain valuation system, choices are framed as comparisons between default and alternative options, which might save some resource but induce a decision bias.
ISSN:2050-084X
2050-084X
DOI:10.7554/elife.20317