Decisions in the Brain (Paperback)

We make many decisions every day. Some of them are smart, but others are less clever and actually result in undesirable consequences. Everyone trying to live a better lifestyle with more physical exercise and healthier nutrition knows how lacking self-control and succumbing to the temptation of that yummy piece of chocolate cake can lead to decisions that are not consistent with the overall plan of a better health. Why do we make such decisions? The newly emerging field of neuroeconomics is an interdisciplinary domain in which scientists from many different backgrounds work in concert to unravel the neurobiological processes underlying decision making. This book presents an overview about the psychology, economics and neurobiology of making choices. It focuses on two particular aspects - intertemporal decisions (choices between outcomes that are realised at different times in the future) and action control (regulating one's own behaviour to exercise, for example, self-control) - and their representation in the brain of an animal model: the pigeon. The book is written in a simple and easy-to-understand way and will be appealing to neuroscientists and interested lay people alike.