Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
Neural Systems Responding to Degrees of Uncertainty in Human Decision-Making
Ming Hsu,1Meghana Bhatt,1Ralph Adolphs,1,2Daniel Tranel,2Colin F. Camerer1*
Much is known about how people make decisions under varyinglevels of probability (risk). Less is known about the neuralbasis of decision-making when probabilities are uncertain becauseof missing information (ambiguity). In decision theory, ambiguityabout probabilities should not affect choices. Using functionalbrain imaging, we show that the level of ambiguity in choicescorrelates positively with activation in the amygdala and orbitofrontalcortex, and negatively with a striatal system. Moreover, striatalactivity correlates positively with expected reward. Neurologicalsubjects with orbitofrontal lesions were insensitive to thelevel of ambiguity and risk in behavioral choices. These datasuggest a general neural circuit responding to degrees of uncertainty,contrary to decision theory.
1 Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, 228-77, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. 2 University of Iowa Medical School, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: camerer{at}hss.caltech.edu
Immediate Reward Bias in Humans: Fronto-Parietal Networks and a Role for the Catechol-O-Methyltransferase 158Val/Val Genotype.
C. A. Boettiger, J. M. Mitchell, V. C. Tavares, M. Robertson, G. Joslyn, M. D'Esposito, and H. L. Fields (2007)
J. Neurosci.
27, 14383-14391
|Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
The Role of Orbitofrontal Cortex in Decision Making: A Component Process Account.
Hemispheric Specialization in Human Prefrontal Cortex for Resolving Certain and Uncertain Inferences.
V. Goel, M. Tierney, L. Sheesley, A. Bartolo, O. Vartanian, and J. Grafman (2007)
Cereb Cortex
17, 2245-2250
|Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
Processing of Temporal Unpredictability in Human and Animal Amygdala.
C. Herry, D. R. Bach, F. Esposito, F. Di Salle, W. J. Perrig, K. Scheffler, A. Luthi, and E. Seifritz (2007)
J. Neurosci.
27, 5958-5966
|Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
Receptor Theory and Biological Constraints on Value.
G. S. BERNS, C. M. CAPRA, and C. NOUSSAIR (2007)
Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci.
1104, 301-309
|Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
Advances in understanding ventromedial prefrontal function: The accountant joins the executive.