Reminders of past choices bias decisions for reward in humans.

Nat Commun

Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Washington Road, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA.

Published: June 2017

We provide evidence that decisions are made by consulting memories for individual past experiences, and that this process can be biased in favour of past choices using incidental reminders. First, in a standard rewarded choice task, we show that a model that estimates value at decision-time using individual samples of past outcomes fits choices and decision-related neural activity better than a canonical incremental learning model. In a second experiment, we bias this sampling process by incidentally reminding participants of individual past decisions. The next decision after a reminder shows a strong influence of the action taken and value received on the reminded trial. These results provide new empirical support for a decision architecture that relies on samples of individual past choice episodes rather than incrementally averaged rewards in evaluating options and has suggestive implications for the underlying cognitive and neural mechanisms.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5490260PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15958DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

reminders choices
4
choices bias
4
bias decisions
4
decisions reward
4
reward humans
4
humans provide
4
provide evidence
4
evidence decisions
4
decisions consulting
4
consulting memories
4

Similar Publications

Background: HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is highly effective but not widely used by men who have sex with men (MSM; 27%) in China.

Methods: In June 2023, an online cross-sectional survey with a discrete choice experiment (DCE) was distributed to PrEP-eligible MSM in China who were at least 18 years old. The DCE explored attributes of PrEP modality (daily pill, on-demand pill, injections, implants), clinical care model (same-day, 2-visit, telehealth prescription), medication pickup (clinic, community health center, pharmacy, MSM-focused community-based organization, home delivery), enhanced support (self-management, smartphone app, text reminder, anonymous peer support group), and cost.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Self-management is regarded as a crucial factor influencing the effectiveness of home-based cardiac rehabilitation for patients with coronary heart disease. In nursing practice, nurses employ a variety of strategies to enhance self-management of patients. However, there exists a disparity in nurses' perceptions and practical experiences with these strategies.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The SPACe 2: STAR trial is a multicenter trial in children with an autism spectrum disorder, divided over nine centers in the Netherlands. However, it is challenging to include enough participants due to various factors, including the varying status of the disorder and willingness of parents and children.

Aim: To identify and overcome the bottlenecks for practitioners during the trial to prevent major delays.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study evaluated SMS text reminders for colorectal cancer screening in Catalonia, finding that they were less effective than standard postal reminders in increasing participation rates.
  • The trial involved over 24,000 participants aged 50 to 69 and was halted early due to lower than expected participation in the SMS group (17.2% vs. 21.9% for control).
  • Despite initial low participation, a recovery strategy of sending additional postal reminders to nonparticipants in the SMS group improved overall participation rates to 29.3%.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The arrival of bird flu (H5N1) is a poignant reminder of the need for public health leaders to understand Americans' evolving perspectives on pandemic mitigation policies. To guide response efforts, we conducted a nationally representative opinion survey among 1017 U.S.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!