Abstract
The research into decision making relies on psychology, neurobiology, pathology as well as economics and it encompasses factors that play a leading role in the process of making decisions on the neural level, regardless of the fact if they are made consciously or subconsciously. From the psychological point of view decision making is a process where cognitive, emotional and motivational aspects play a vital role. Studies on the brain magnetic nuclear resonance imaging reveal that decision-making processes begin before an individual is able to realize it. Neurochemistry has identified several neurotransmitters that are differently associated with decision-making processes, the most important ones being dopamine, serotonin, cortisol, oxytocin and prolactin. Due to a complicated nature of neurotransmitters, the mechanisms that implicate their production are to fully understood yet and it is still not quite known how they work. From the neurochemical perspective, the control of decision-making processes is determined by good communication among different parts of the brain that is regulated by the levels of serotonin. Decision making is a complex process which is possible due to processes taking place in many parts of our brain. However, neuroanatomically speaking, it is the prefrontal cortex that plays a pivotal role in coordinating these processes. To some extent decision making is based on an assumption that people are able to predict other people’s behavior and step into their shoes. This capability results from individual preferences and beliefs. Social neuroscience allows us to see neural mechanisms underlying the human ability to represent our intentions. Neurobiology, in turn, strives to explain how relevant moral decisions appear in our brains and how they can modify our emotions. Studies on neurobiological background of our decision-making processes give us better insight into the presumably bounded human rationality as well as into the role of emotions, morality and empathy. Also, these studies contribute to our knowledge about the course of decision-making processes and their adaptive value.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Bayer HM, Lau B, Glimcher PW (2007) Statistics of midbrain dopamine neuron spike trains in the awake primate. J Neurophysiol 98:1428–1439
Bechara A, Damasio AR, Damasio H, Anderson SW (1994) Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex. Cognition 50:7–15
Bechara A, Tranel D, Damasio H (2000) Characterization of the decision-making deficit of patients with ventromedial prefrontal cortex lesions. Brain 123:2189–2202
Bhatt M, Camerer CF (2005) Self-referential thinking and equilibrium as states of mind in games: fMRI evidence. Games Econ Behav 52:424–459
Carter CS, Braver TS, Barch DM et al (1998) Anterior and the online monitoring of performance. Science 280:747–749
Chiang MC, Barysheva M, Shattuck DW et al (2009) Genetics of brain fiber architecture and intellectual performance. J Neurosci 29(7):2212–2224
Coyne JA (2012) Column: why you don’t really have free will, US Today. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/story/2012-01-01/free-will-science-religion/52317624/1. Accessed 1 Jan 2012
Critchley HD, Tang J, Glaser D et al (2005) Anterior cingulate activity during error and autonomic response. NeuroImage 26:885–895
Deisseroth K (2011) Optogenetics. Nat Methods 8:26–29
Demaerel P (1997) In vivo localized single-voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy of intracranial tumors. Int J Neuroradiol 3:94–100
Denk F, Walton ME, Jennings KA, Sharp T et al (2005) Differential involvement of serotonin and dopamine systems in cost-benefit decisions about delay or effort. Psychopharmacology 179:587–596
Eckhoff P, Wong-Lin K-F, Holmes P (2009) Optimality and robustness of a biophysical decision-making model under norepinephrine modulation. J Neurosci 29(13):4301–4311
Elliott R, Friston K, Dolan R (2000) Dissociable neural responses in human reward systems. J Neurosci 20:6159–6165
Eslinger PJ, Damasio AR (1985) Severe disturbance of higher cognition after bilateral frontal lobe ablation: patient EVR. Neurology 35:1731–1741
Fehr E, Gächter S (2000) Cooperation and punishment in public good experiments. Am Econ Rev 90(4):980–994
Frith U, Frith CD (2003) Development and neurophysiology of mentalizing. Philos Trans R Soc Biol Sci 358:459–473
Galewicz W (2001) Tomasz z Akwinu o zabijaniu. Znak 7(554):81–97
Gigerenzer G (2007) Gut feelings. The intelligence of the unconscious. Allen Lane, London
Glimcher P (2003) The neurobiology of visual-saccadic decision making. Annu Rev Neurosci 26:133–179
Goldman-Rakic PS (1996) Regional and cellular fractionation of working memory. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 93:13473–13480
Grabenhorst F, Rolls ET (2009) Different representations of relative and absolute subjective value in the human brain. NeuroImage 48:258–268
Green L, Myerson J (2004) A discounting framework for choice with delayed and probabilistic rewards. Psychol Bull 130:769–792
Haidt J (2006) The happiness hypothesis: finding modern truth in ancient wisdom. Basic Books, New York
Hare TA, Camerer CF, Rangel A (2009) Self-control in decision-making involves modulation of the vmPFC valuation system. Science 324:646–648
Hauser MD (2007) Moral minds: how nature designed our universal sense of right and wrong. HarperCollins, New York
Haynes JD, Sakai K, Rees G et al (2007) Reading hidden intentions in the human brain. Curr Biol 17:323–328
Hsu M, Bhatt M, Adolphs R et al (2005) Neural systems responding to degrees of uncertainty in human decision-making. Science 310:1680–1683
Johansen-Berg H, Behrens TE (2006) Just pretty pictures? What diffusion tractography can add in clinical neuroscience. Curr Opin Neurol 19(4):379–385
Kable JW, Glimcher PW (2007) The neural correlates of subjective value during intertemporal choice. Nat Neurosci 10(12):1625–1633
Kawasaki H, Adolphs R, Kaufman R et al (2007) Single-neuron responses to emotional visual stimuli recorded in human ventral prefrontal cortex. Nat Neurosci 4:15–16
Kobayashi S, Kawagoe R, Takikawa Y et al (2007) Functional differences between macaque prefrontal cortex and caudate nucleus during eye movements with and without reward. Exp Brain Res 176:341–355
Koenigs M, Young L, Adolphs R et al (2007) Damage to the prefrontal cortex increases utilitarian moral judgements. Nature 446(7138):908–911
Krawczyk D (2002) Contributions of the prefrontal cortex to the neural basis of human decision making. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 26:631–664
Kuhnen CM, Chiao JY (2009) Genetic determinants of financial risk taking. PLoS One 4:e4362
Lee D, Rushworth MF, Walton ME et al (2007) Functional specialization of the primate frontal cortex during decision making. J Neurosci 27:8170–8173
Lee D, Seo H (2007) Mechanisms of reinforcement learning and decision making in the primate dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1104:108–122
Libet B (1985) Unconscious cerebral initiative and the role of conscious will in voluntary action. Behav Brain Sci 8:529–566
McClure SM, Laibson DI, Loewenstein G, Cohen JD (2004) Separate neural systems value immediate and delayed monetary rewards. Science 306:503–507
Mohr P, Li S-C, Heekeren HR (2010) Neuroeconomics and aging: neuromodulation of economic decision making in old age. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 34:678–688
Murphy SE, Longhitano C, Ayres RE et al (2008) The role of serotonin in nonnormative risky choice: the effects of tryptophan supplements on loss-aversion in healthy adult volunteers. J Cogn Neurosci 21:1709–1719
O’Doherty J, Kringelbach ML, Rolls ET et al (2001) Abstract reward and punishment representations in the human orbitofrontal cortex. Nat Neurosci 4:95–102
Pan X, Sawa K, Tsuda I et al (2008) Reward prediction based on stimulus categorization in primate lateral prefrontal cortex. Nat Neurosci 11:703–712
Plassmann H, O’Doherty J, Rangel A (2007) Orbitofrontal cortex encodes willingness to pay in everyday economic transactions. J Neurosci 27:9984–9988
Preston SD, de Waal FB (2002) Empathy: its ultimate and proximate bases. Behav Brain Sci 25(1):1–20
Rilling J, Gutman D, Zeh T, Pagnoni G, Berns G, Kilts C (2002) A neural basis for social cooperation. Neuron 35:395–405
Rizzolatti G, Fadiga L, Gallese V, Fogassi L (1996) Premotor cortex and the recognition of motor actions. Cogn Brain Res 3:131–141
Rogers RD, Tunbridge EM, Bhagwagar Z et al (2003) Tryptophan depletion alters the decision-making of healthy volunteers through altered processing of reward cues. Neuropsychopharmacology 28:153–162
Rogers RD (2011) The roles of dopamine and serotonin in decision making: evidence from pharmacological experiments in humans. Neuropsychopharmacology 36(1):114–132
Rolls ET (2004) The functions of the orbitofrontal cortex. Brain Cogn 55:11–29
Rushworth MF, Behrens TE (2008) Choice, uncertainty and value in prefrontal and cingulate cortex. Nat Neurosci 11:389–397
Rushworth MF, Behrens TE, Rudebeck PH, Walton ME (2007) Contrasting roles for cingulate and orbitofrontal cortex in decisions and social behavior. Trends Cogn Sci 11:168–176
Sakagami M, Niki H (1994) Spatial selectivity of go/no-go neurons in monkey prefrontal cortex. Exp Brain Res 100:165–169
Sakagami M, Watanabe M (2007) Integration of cognitive and motivational information in the primate lateral prefrontal cortex. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1104:89–107
Schultz W, Dayan P, Montague PR (1997) A neural substrate of prediction and reward. Science 275:1593–1599
Schultz W (2006) Behavioral theories and the neurophysiology of reward. Annu Rev Psychol 57:87–115
Schweighofer N, Bertin M, Shishida K et al (2008) Low-serotonin levels increase delayed reward discounting in humans. J Neurosci 28:4528–4532
Singer T, Seymour B, O’Doherty J et al (2004) Empathy for pain involves the affective but not sensory components of pain. Science 303(5661):1157–1162
Talbot PS, Watson DR, Barrett SL, Cooper SJ (2006) Rapid tryptophan depletion improves decision-making cognition in healthy humans without affecting reversal learning or set shifting. Neuropsychopharmacology 31:1519–1525
Thomson JJ (1978) Killing, letting die, and the trolley problem. Monist 59:204–217
Thijs VN, Adami A, Neumann-Haefelin T et al (2001) Relationship between severity of MR perfusion deficit and DWI lesion evolution. Neurology 57:1205–1211
Volz KG, von Cramon DY (2009) How the orbitofrontal cortex contributes to decision making—a view from neuroscience. Prog Brain Res 174:61–71
Wallis JD, Anderson KC, Miller EK (2001) Single neurons in prefrontal cortex encode abstract rules. Nature 411:953–956
Wallis JD, Miller EK (2003) Neuronal activity in primate dorsolateral and orbital prefrontal cortex during performance of a reward preference task. Eur J Neurosci 18:2069–2081
Walton ME, Bannerman DM, Rushworth MF (2002) The role of rat medial frontal cortex in effort-based decision making. J Neurosci 22:10996–11003
Walton ME, Rudebeck PH, Bannerman DM, Rushworth MF (2007) Calculating the cost of acting in frontal cortex. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1104:340–356
Williams C (2013) Brain imaging spots our abstract choices before we do. New Sci 218(2913):16
Yoshida W, Ishii S (2006) Resolution of uncertainty in prefrontal cortex. Neuron 50:781–789
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Potemkowski, A. (2017). Neurobiology of Decision Making: Methodology in Decision-Making Research. Neuroanatomical and Neurobiochemical Fundamentals. In: Nermend, K., Łatuszyńska, M. (eds) Neuroeconomic and Behavioral Aspects of Decision Making. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62938-4_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62938-4_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-62937-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-62938-4
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)