A Neuroeconomic Theory of the Decision Process

经济分析的一个基本组成部分是经济主体如何做出决策的理论。主观期望效用理论是这种选择的标准模型。它具有为决策提供统一分析的优点。然而，它被批评为决策的描述性模型，实证测试表明其预测能力有限。已经提出了调和实验和经验证据的替代理论。然而，付出的代价是失去了统一的观点。在这个研究项目中，PI的重点是发展一个决策过程的理论，也就是说，一个操作序列的理论，从一个选项被提出的时刻到一个选项被选择的时刻。这个理论必须满足几个重要的要求。首先，它必须预测选择，但也要预测错误（当同一个人在不同的时间点从同一组中选择不同的选项时，可能会出现错误）。其次，它必须在辅助证据中找到支持，比如选择的时间（响应时间）。最后也是最重要的是，它必须提供可测试的暗示，说明大脑在做出选择时所做的努力，以及在做出选择时所招募的神经网络。总而言之，我们的目标是制定一个算法程序，从可行选项的呈现到选择，该程序足够详细，可以暗示对选择、响应时间、错误率以及大脑激活的假设，并且可以通过实验进行测试。

A fundamental component of economic analysis is the theory of how economic agents make decisions. Subjective Expected Utility Theory is the standard model for such choices. It has the virtue of providing a unified analysis of decision making. It has, however, been criticized as a descriptive model of decision making and empirical tests demonstrate that its predictive power is limited. Alternative theories that reconcile the experimental and empirical evidence have been proposed. However the price paid has been the lost of a unifying view. In this research project, the PI focuses on developing a theory of the decision process, that is, a theory of the sequence of operations that take the individual from the moment in which the options are presented to the moment in which an option is selected. This theory will have to satisfy several important requirements. First, it will have to predict choices but also errors (which may occur when the same individual chooses different options in different points in time from the same set). Second, it will have to find support in auxiliary evidence, like the time to choose (response time). Finally and most importantly, it will have to provide testable implications on the effort the brain makes when making a choice, and of the neural networks recruited in the choice. In sum then, the objective is formulate an algorithmic procedure that leads from the presentation of the feasible options to the choice which detailed enough to imply hypotheses on the choices, response time, error rate as well as brain activation can and be tested experimentally.