Brain Function and Economic Decision Making

这个项目使用功能磁共振成像来研究产生经济行为的生物学上看似合理的大脑机制。传统上，经济学的实验要么在现场进行，在那里可以观察到治疗变量被操纵前后的个人行为，要么在行为实验室中进行，另外，在行为实验室中，对激励、信息和游戏规则有更大的控制。这种实验的目的是为了更好地理解产生特定类型行为的行为机制，例如投资者在牛市中过度自信，以及由此导致的市场行为，如价格泡沫。虽然在理解市场行为方面已经取得了很大的进展，但在理解个人行为方面却进展甚微。脑功能成像技术的最新进展使经济学家和神经学家有可能合作研究大脑活动与经济决策之间的联系。这个项目研究人类大脑是如何通过基因设计和环境影响来解决互利合作的问题的。通过将观察到的经济行为与产生这种行为的生物机制联系起来，这项研究可能会对经济思想和制度设计产生重大影响。

This project uses functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging to investigate biologically plausible brain mechanisms that produce economic behavior. Traditionally experiments in economics have taken place either in the field, where individual behavior can be observed before and after a treatment variable has been manipulated, or in behavioral laboratories where, in addition, there is greater control over incentives, information, and the rules of the game. The purpose of such experimentation is to better understand both the behavioral mechanisms that produce particular types of behavior, such as investor overconfidence in 'bull' markets, and the resulting behavior of markets, such as price bubbles. While a great deal of progress has been made in understanding market behavior very little progress has been made in understanding individual behavior. Recent advances in functional brain imaging now makes it possible for economists and neuroscientists to collaborate to study how brain activity is linked to economic decision making. This project studies how the human brain is genetically designed, and environmentally influenced, to solve the problem of mutually advantageous cooperation. This research is likely to have a significant impact on economic thought, and institutional design, by linking observed economic behavior to the biological mechanisms that produce this behavior.