Response dynamics in decision making

决策研究的最新进展旨在确定导致人们选择一个选项而不是另一个选项的认知和大脑过程。这是值得注意的，因为它使我们不仅能够理解和预测人们做出的决定，而且能够理解和预测他们为什么做出这些决定。这项更有意义的工作的一个重要限制是缺乏能够揭示个人在选项中选择时思维的内部运作的经验方法。目前的工作弥补了这一缺陷，通过检查一个新的选择行为的措施-一个人的手，手臂，或其他效应器的运动，而他们试图选择一个选项在其他任务中要求他们做出选择。 人类的运动，在这种情况下通常被称为反应动力学，已经成为一个令人兴奋的新指标，许多认知过程被认为是隐藏在大脑的“黑匣子”内。 目前研究计划的创新是使用计算建模，神经电脑成像和其他生理措施（例如，眼动追踪），以进一步揭示反应动力学如何为科学家提供有关人们如何做出选择的信息。这项研究有许多机会产生更广泛的影响，超越眼前的范围和研究问题。首先，系统和全面的调查的局限性，资格和概括性的反应动力学范式可以影响其他领域，它已被采用，包括：分类，言语感知，刻板印象，欺骗性的意图，学习和记忆，以及文化，种族和性别的看法。其次，所解决的理论问题可以对特定的内容领域和现实世界的问题做出重大贡献。任何情况下，社会可能受益于更好地了解个人决策实际上是如何发生的-如公共政策制定，教育改革，医疗保健选择等-站在受益于我们的理论进步。例如，我们将有新的潜力，有针对性的干预措施，以改善次优或偏差的决策，和/或结构的决策情况，以考虑到人们的自然倾向。

Recent advances in decision research seek to identify the cognitive and brain processes that cause people to choose one option over another. This is notable because it allows us to understand and predict not just what decisions people make, but why they make them. One significant limitation of this more meaningful work is the lack of empirical methods that are capable of revealing the inner workings of an individual's thinking while they choose among options. The current work remedies this shortcoming by examining a new measure of choice behavior -- the movement of a person's hand, arm, or other effector, while they are trying to pick one option over others in tasks requiring them to make choices. Human movement, often referred to as response dynamics in this context, has become an exciting new metric for a number of cognitive processes thought to be hidden from view inside the "black box" of the mind. The innovation of the current research program is to validate and extend this methodology using computational modeling, neuro-electric brain imagery, and additional physiological measures (e.g., eye-tracking) to further reveal how response dynamics can inform scientists about how people make choices.There are many opportunities for broader impact of this research beyond the immediate scope and research questions. First, the systematic and comprehensive investigation of the limitations, qualifications, and generalizability of the response dynamics paradigm can influence other domains where it has been employed, including: categorization, speech perception, stereotyping, deceptive intentions, learning and memory, and perception of culture, race and gender. Second, the theoretical questions addressed can make significant contributions to specific content areas and real-world issues. Any situation where society might benefit from better understanding of how individual decision-making actually occurs -- such as public policy making, educational reform, medical care choices, etc. -- stands to gain from our theoretical advances. For example, we would have new potential to target interventions to improve suboptimal or deviant decision making, and/or to structure decision situations to account for people's natural tendencies.