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Seeking Ambiguity: a Review on Neuroimaing Studies on Decision Making under Ambiguity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2015

Fumihiko Taya
Fumihiko Taya*
Affiliation:
Singapore Institute for Neurotechnology (SINAPSE), National University of Singapore
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Summary

Recent developments of neuroimaging technology enable us to investigate the brain network implicated in economical decision making (Glimcher et al. 2004; Camerer 2008). One of the fascinating topic is “ambiguity aversion” where people tend to avoid unknown options as demonstrated by Ellsberg paradox. Although “ambiguity aversion” has been consistently observed in a variety of situations, uncertainty due to incomplete knowledge can be resolved by obtaining missing information, and people explore the ambiguous options as well.

Here, we review a number of neuroimaging studies on “ambiguity aversion” and associated works. It has been shown that the affective OFC and the cognitive prefrontal cortex play a crucial role in decision making under uncertainty. We discuss what kinds of cognitive function are involved in the decision making process by overviewing neuroimaing studies on higher cognitive processes in general including exploratory behavior.

Les développements récents de l'imagerie cérébrale permettent d'envisager le réseau spécifique du cerveau qui est impliqué dans la prise de décision (Glimcher et al. 2004; Camerer 2008). L'un des domaines les plus intéres¬sants est celui de « l'aversion à l'ambiguïté », situation dans laquelle les agents essaient d'éviter les configurations inconnues comme cela apparaît clairement dans le paradoxe d'Ellsberg. Même si l'aversion à l'ambiguïté est un phénomène qui a été abondamment observé, on sait que l'incertitude procédant plutôt d'une incomplétude de l'information se résout après obtention de l'information manquante, et les agents peuvent alors considé¬rer les configurations ambiguës. Ici, nous nous proposons de recenser un grand nombre des études d'imagerie cérébrale consacrées à l'aversion à l'ambiguïté. Il a été démontré que la fonction affective du COF ainsi que la fonction cognitive du cortex préfrontal jouent un rôle déterminant dans la prise de décision sous incertitude. Nous commentons la mise en évidence des fonctions cognitives qui sont impliquées dans la prise de décision en présentant les contributions en imagerie cérébrale consacrées aux processus cognitifs de haut niveau.

Keywords

ambiguity aversionexplorationfMRID87aversion à l'ambiguïtéexplorationfMRID87
Type
II) Behaviorial Economics under the Scanner
Information
Recherches Économiques de Louvain/ Louvain Economic Review , Volume 78 , Issue 3-4 , December 2012 , pp. 85 - 100
Copyright
Copyright © Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de recherches économiques et sociales 2012 

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