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VIRTUALISATION Preferences, past choices predict future decisions
VIRTUALISATION Preferences, past choices predict future decisions | Preferences, past choices predict future decisions |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Tuesday, 31 March 2009 | |
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The article “How Choice Reveals and Shapes Expected Hedonic Outcome” [29(12): 3760-3765; DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4972-08.2009] is published in the March 25, 2009 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. Its authors are cognitive neuroscientists Tali Sharot and Raymond J. Dolan (Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, U.K.) and Benedetto De Martino (Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, U.S., but also from the University College London). The researchers state in their paper’s abstract, “Humans tend to modify their attitudes to align with past action. For example, after choosing between similarly valued alternatives, people rate the selected option as better than they originally did, and the rejected option as worse.” They add, “However, it is unknown whether these modifications in evaluation reflect an underlying change in the physiological representation of a stimulus' expected hedonic value and our emotional response to it.” People use past experiences and preferences to modify future attitudes, decisions, and choices. In past studies, scientists found peoples’ preferences were already there when they first make their choice so their future choices are not modified. However, these scientists wanted to find out if choices could indeed be modified in future decisions. They used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans to study thirteen participants. The researchers asked questions on well-known vacation spots around the world. Page two continues. |
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