The Art Behind Decision Making

         Every day we make decisions, what we are going to eat, when should we leave for work, what road leads fastest home? These tasks all stem from the prefrontal cortex. The PFC plays an important role in cognitive control function, influencing attention, impulse, memory, and goal setting. It is located at the It is located at the very front of the brain. Research done by Thorsten Kahnt breaks down the importance the PFC in creating decisions. ---

In the article Neural Circuits for Inference-based Decision-making by Fang Wang and Thorsten Kahnt, research was focused on the two questions: how using knowledge about a subject the individual is unfamiliar with can they create an inference about it and determining current value of options when process has been changed from original intention. Through trials of individuals in MRI’s given option to associate signals with odors (after 4-6hours of no eating), researchers found that the stronger pleasant, scented odor was preferred over the less intense pleasant, scented odor. Through statistical analyzation, there was a main effect between effect of odor intensity, but no main effect in differing odors, and no interaction. An individual can learn through association with odors and signals what to predict on level of pleasantness. In terms of predicted without experience, experiments using transcranial magnetic stimulation to target the changes in lateral pre-frontal cortex region. Lateral PFC was found to store data after experience, but in terms of predicting a result without experience it had little to do with it.

Edmund T. Rolls and Fabian Grabenhorst researched The Orbitofrontal cortex and beyond: From affect to decision making, aligns with the research above. Breaking down the correlation that taste, olfaction, oral texture, and temperature have on rewarding stimuli. It was found that these are all processed individually, allowing us to learn about each sense independently, discovering what is most rewarding. Further steps were taken to assess the emotional side of decision making, it was found that affective value and intensity of feeling are also processed separately. Both sets of experiments can affect “goal-directed, emotional and motivational behavior”, and don’t correlate with other types of learning.

Understanding decision-making can further help us remove distractions so that individuals can make the best choice to make things happen. Future studies on the prefrontal cortex can expand our relationship with goal orienting which can fall under lifestyle choices, memory storage which can include PTSD, dementia, and other fascinating findings.

 

Bibliography

Fang Wang, Thorsten Kahnt,, Neural circuits for inference-based decision-making, Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, Volume 41, 2021, Pages 10-14, ISSN 2352-1546, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.02.004.

Edmund T. Rolls, Fabian Grabenhorst, The orbitofrontal cortex and beyond: From affect to decision-making, Progress in Neurobiology, Volume 86, Issue 3, 2008, Pages 216-244, ISSN 0301-0082, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pneurobio.2008.09.001. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301008208000981)