The Neurobiology of Decision: Consensus and Controversy

By Joseph W. Kable, Paul Glimcher. 2009

873 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We review and synthesize recent neurophysiological studies of decision-making in humans and non-human primates. From these studies, the basic outline of the neurobiological mechanism for primate choice is beginning to emerge. The identified mechanism is now known to include a multi-component valuation stage, implemented in ventromedial prefrontal cortex and associated parts of striatum, and a choice stage, implemented in lateral prefrontal and parietal areas. Neurobiological studies of decision-making are beginning to enhance our understanding of economic and social behavior, as well as our understanding of significant health disorders where people’s behavior plays a key role.

Subfields: Cognitive Neuroscience

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Citations in the corpus

Brain Mechanisms of Concept Learning (2019, background): “Integration of reward and concept representations in categorization Although we so far discussed the role of vmPFC in memory integration, schema formation, and the acquisition of conceptual representations, a separate line of research on economic decision making emphasizes the role of vmPFC in rewar”
Consumer Neuroscience: Applications, Challenges, and Possible Solutions (2015, methodology): “In conclusion, a vital next step for consumer neuroscience is the integration and aggregation of previous work applying a multimethod approach for establishing meaningful multilevel brain–behavior relationships (Glimcher 2010; Kable 2011; Kable and Glimcher 2009; Yarkoni et al. 2010).”
Executive control and decision-making in the prefrontal cortex (2015, positive): “Executive control research focuses on the PFC function in learning and switching between behavioral rules or sets that guide action [1,3–10].”
The Neurobiology of Anhedonia and Other Reward-Related Deficits (2011, background): “Furthermore, the parietal cortex encodes reward values relative to other available options (reviewed in [99]).”
The Attentional Drift-Diffusion Model Extends to Simple Purchasing Decisions (2012, background): “ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE published: 13 June 2012 doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00193 The attentional drift-diffusion model extends to simple purchasing decisions”
Impulsivity, compulsivity, and top-down cognitive control. (2011, neutral): “Choice of either monetary reward or juice or water is consistently associated with increased activity of the ventral striatum and the medial PFC (Kable and Glimcher, 2009).”
Reward processing dysfunction in major depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia (2015, background): “Second, the effects of dopamine are mediated in part by their influence on glutamatergic (Glu) signals originating in the medial and vmPFC regions (26), and two recent meta-analyses of studies using magnetic resonance spectroscopy found that individuals with MDD (27) and individuals with BP (28)…”
Distributional reinforcement learning in the brain (2020, background): “Neural activity representing value, the other critical variable in these algorithms, is also found in dopamine-recipient areas [24 – 26].”
Attention, learning and the value of information (2012, background): “One line of research describes target selection in motor decision terms, as the integration of evidence toward, and eventual commitment to a shift of gaze (Gold and Shadlen, 2007; Kable and Glimcher, 2009).”
Modeling the interplay between affect and deliberation. (2015, background): “Of course, there are many important distinctions between different dual-process accounts, and both the functional and neurobiological properties of these different systems are still up for debate (see, e.g., Kable & Glimcher, 2009).”
Psychological Stress in Childhood and Susceptibility to the Chronic Diseases of Aging: Moving Towards a Model of Behavioral and Biological Mechanisms (2011, background): “There is mounting evidence to implicate the brain’s corticostriatal circuitry in the cognitive and behavioral elements of these appetitive tendencies (Kable & Glimcher, 2009; Somerville & Casey, 2010).”