Humans actively sample evidence to support prior beliefs.

No one likes to be wrong. Previous research has shown that participants may underweight information incompatible with previous choices, a phenomenon called confirmation bias. In this paper, we argue that a similar bias exists in the way information is actively sought.

Medial Frontal Cortex Activity Predicts Information Sampling in Economic Choice.

Decision-making not only requires agents to decide what to choose but also how much information to sample before committing to a choice. Previously established frameworks for economic choice argue for a deliberative process of evidence accumulation across time. These tacitly acknowledge a role of information sampling in that decisions are only made once sufficient evidence is acquired, yet few experiments have explicitly placed information sampling under the participant's control.

Formalizing planning and information search in naturalistic decision-making.

Decisions made by mammals and birds are often temporally extended. They require planning and sampling of decision-relevant information. Our understanding of such decision-making remains in its infancy compared with simpler, forced-choice paradigms.

Neuroscience: Intracranial Recordings of Value.

The role of orbitofrontal cortex in value-based choice is well-established from animal research, but there are challenges in relating neurophysiological recordings from animals to equivalent data from humans: a new study bridges this gap.