The influence of memory on value-based decision-making

虽然记忆并不总是显而易见的，但它在日常生活中起着至关重要的作用。记忆使我们能够在键盘上打字而不必看键盘，也使我们能够记住服用处方药而无需使用外部辅助设备。此外，记忆使我们能够反思以前做出的，有时是错误的决定及其结果，允许在不确定的环境中对未来的选择做出适应性决策（例如，传统上，与可用选项相关的潜在结果在基于价值的决策研究中是已知的-也被称为描述决策-但最近的研究表明了这些基于预防的前景的缺点，因为它们不能推广到许多现实经验。通常概率分布是未知的，因此在做出选择时不能依赖。相反，一个人必须利用由过去选择的结果形成的过去经验的记忆来有效地指导和改善未来的选择。我们的目标是研究记忆和决策之间的关系，当可用选项的证据随着时间的推移而积累时。进一步扩展这种方法，我们的选择并不总是导致我们预期的结果，在这种情况下，负面结果可能会促使人们思考“本来会是什么”（例如，“如果我投资了另一家公司，我就会获利”）。这种反事实思维已经被证明会影响未来的选择，以避免这些情况在未来再次发生，而不必经历与结果相关的负面影响。反事实信息实际上是一种学习经验，我们依靠我们的记忆试图避免将来出现相同或类似的结果。该项目还将评估反事实信息（例如，经验的遗憾）可能会影响或调解情节记忆，并告知随后的选择作为证据积累随着时间的推移。我们将从记忆、经济学、心理物理学和决策领域的先前研究中汲取经验。除了行为实验之外，神经成像技术--比如脑电图--也将被用来试图深入了解大脑是如何积累证据并将其整合到记忆中以供未来决策的。该项目的贡献是双重的，具有智力和潜在的社会影响。研究结果将扩展目前对经济决策的理解-通过添加相关的新知识，使记忆在基于价值的决策中发挥作用。该项目通过阐述积累的证据如何被整合到记忆中以及它如何影响未来相同性质的基于价值的选择来深化当前的理解。理解记忆和决策过程之间的关系可以导致干预措施，这些干预措施可以最大限度地减少记忆表现对选择的影响（例如，增加对诈骗和广告的敏感性）。

Although it may not always be apparent, memory plays a crucial role in the ability to navigateeveryday life. Memory allows us to type on our keyboard without having to look at the keys andremember to take our prescription medication without the use of external aids. Moreover, memoryenables us to reflect upon previously made, sometimes faulty, decisions, and their outcomes,allowing for adaptive decision-making of future choices in an otherwise uncertain environment(e.g., improving investment strategies based on previously, perhaps poorly, made investments).Traditionally, potential outcomes associated with available options are known in value-baseddecision-making research - also known as decisions from description - but recent research hasillustrated drawbacks of these description-based prospects as they do not generalize to many realworldexperiences. Often probability distributions are not known and thus cannot be relied uponwhen making choices. Rather, one must use memories of previous experiences formed fromoutcomes of past choices to effectively guide and improve future choices. We aim to investigate therelationship between memory and decision making when evidence for available options isaccumulated over time.Extending this approach further, our choices do not always result in the outcomes we expect, and insuch cases, negative outcomes may promote thought of 'what could have been' (e.g., 'if only I hadinvested in a different company, I would have made a profit'). Such counterfactual thinking hasbeen shown to affect future choices as to avoid those situations from occurring again in the futureand not having to experience the negative affect associated with the outcomes. Counterfactualinformation is effectively a learning experience where we rely on our memory in an attempt toavoid the same or similar outcome in the future. The project will additionally assess howcounterfactual information (e.g., experienced regret) may influence or mediate episodic memoryand inform subsequent choices as evidence accumulates over time. We will draw from previousstudies from the fields of memory, economics, psychophysics, and decision-making. In addition tobehavioral experiments, neuroimaging techniques-such as electroencephalography-will be usedin an attempt to gain insight into how the brain accumulates evidence and integrates it into memoryfor future decision-making.The contributions from the project are two-fold, with intellectual and potential societal implications.The findings will expand upon the current understanding of economic decision-making by addingrelevant novel knowledge as to the role memory plays in value-based decision-making. The projectwill deepen current understanding by elaborating how pieces of accumulated evidence areintegrated into memory and how it influences future value-based choices of the same nature.Understanding the relationship between memory and decision-making processes can lead tointerventions which minimize harmful consequences as a function of changes in memoryperformance on choices (e.g., increased susceptibility to scams and advertising) in olderpopulations.