The Neuroeconomics of decision-making

Terrific new study from the Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology Laboratory in the department of psychology:

Although choosing to do something because the perceived benefit outweighs the financial cost is something people do daily, little is known about what happens in the brain when a person makes these kinds of decisions. Studying how these cost-benefit decisions are made when choosing to consume alcohol, University of Georgia associate professor of psychology James MacKillop identified distinct profiles of brain activity that are present when making these decisions.

"We were interested in understanding how the brain makes decisions about drinking alcohol. Particularly, we wanted to clarify how the brain weighs the pros and cons of drinking," said MacKillop, who directs the Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology Laboratory in the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

...

"These findings reveal the distinct neural signatures associated with different kinds of consumption preferences. Now that we have established a way of studying these choices, we can apply this approach to better understanding substance use disorders and improving treatment," he said, adding that comparing fMRI scans from alcoholics with those of people with normal drinking habits could potentially tease out brain patterns that show what is different between healthy and unhealthy drinkers. "In the past, we have found that behavioral indices of alcohol value predict poor treatment prognosis, but this would permit us to understand the neural basis for negative outcomes."

And importantly:

While MacKillop acknowledges the impact this research could have on neuromarketing-or understanding how the brain makes decisions about what to buy-he is more interested in how this research can help people with alcohol addiction.

Interesting research that ventures into several directions at once, which one might guess mirrors the nature of how we make decisions. 

Image: James MacKillop, courtesy of UGA Photo services.