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Conceptualisation of Uncertainty in Decision Neuroscience Research: Do We Really Know What Types of Uncertainties The Measured Neural Correlates Relate To? Integr Psychol Behav Sci 2023; 57:88-116. [PMID: 35943682 DOI: 10.1007/s12124-022-09719-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/14/2022] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
In the article "What are neural correlates neural correlates of?" published in the journal BioSocieties, Gabriel Abend points out that neuroscientists cannot avoid philosophical questions concerning the conceptualization and operationalization of social-psychological phenomena they deal with at the physiological level. In this article, we build on Abend's thesis and, through a systematic literature review of decision neuroscience studies, test it with the example of the social-psychological phenomenon of uncertainty in decision making. In this paper, we provide an overview of studies that appropriately attempt to conceptualise uncertainty, and then use these studies to analyse papers looking for neural correlates of uncertainty. Based on a systematic review of studies, we investigate what types of uncertainty authors in the field of decision neuroscience address and define, what criteria they use to distinguish between these types, what problems are associated with their conceptualization, and whether the neural correlates of different types of uncertainty can be accurately identified. The paper concludes that, particularly in the economic context, a collaboration between the natural and social sciences works well, and neuroscience studies use economic conceptualizations of uncertainty that are further developed by sophisticated decision tasks. However, the paper also highlights problematic aspects that obscure the understanding of the phenomena under study. These include the lack of criteria for distinguishing between different types of phenomena, the unclear use of the general concept of uncertainty, and the confusion of phenomena or their erroneous synonymous use.
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2
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Attitudes toward ambiguous situations resemble the domain-specificity of attitudes toward risk. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2022.111667] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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3
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The neural basis of acceptance of uncertain situations: Relationship between ambiguity tolerance and the resting-state functional connectivity of the brain. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-02879-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Monosov IE. How Outcome Uncertainty Mediates Attention, Learning, and Decision-Making. Trends Neurosci 2020; 43:795-809. [PMID: 32736849 PMCID: PMC8153236 DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2020.06.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2020] [Revised: 06/16/2020] [Accepted: 06/24/2020] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Animals and humans evolved sophisticated nervous systems that endowed them with the ability to form internal-models or beliefs and make predictions about the future to survive and flourish in a world in which future outcomes are often uncertain. Crucial to this capacity is the ability to adjust behavioral and learning policies in response to the level of uncertainty. Until recently, the neuronal mechanisms that could underlie such uncertainty-guided control have been largely unknown. In this review, I discuss newly discovered neuronal circuits in primates that represent uncertainty about future rewards and propose how they guide information-seeking, attention, decision-making, and learning to help us survive in an uncertain world. Lastly, I discuss the possible relevance of these findings to learning in artificial systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilya E Monosov
- Department of Neuroscience and Neurosurgery, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO, USA; Washington University Pain Center, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO, USA.
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Wu T, Chen C, Spagna A, Wu X, Mackie M, Russell‐Giller S, Xu P, Luo Y, Liu X, Hof PR, Fan J. The functional anatomy of cognitive control: A domain‐general brain network for uncertainty processing. J Comp Neurol 2020; 528:1265-1292. [DOI: 10.1002/cne.24804] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2019] [Revised: 10/12/2019] [Accepted: 10/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Tingting Wu
- Department of Psychology, Queens CollegeThe City University of New York Queens New York
| | - Caiqi Chen
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, School of PsychologySouth China Normal University Guangzhou China
| | - Alfredo Spagna
- Department of PsychologyColumbia University in the City of New York New York New York
| | - Xia Wu
- Faculty of PsychologyTianjin Normal University Tianjin China
| | - Melissa‐Ann Mackie
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral SciencesNorthwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Chicago Illinois
| | - Shira Russell‐Giller
- Department of Psychology, Queens CollegeThe City University of New York Queens New York
| | - Pengfei Xu
- Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Neuroscience, Center for Brain Disorders and Cognitive NeuroscienceShenzhen University Shenzhen China
| | - Yue‐jia Luo
- Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Neuroscience, Center for Brain Disorders and Cognitive NeuroscienceShenzhen University Shenzhen China
| | - Xun Liu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of PsychologyUniversity of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
| | - Patrick R. Hof
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience and Friedman Brain InstituteIcahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai New York New York
| | - Jin Fan
- Department of Psychology, Queens CollegeThe City University of New York Queens New York
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Shou Y, Smithson M. Causal Reasoning Under Ambiguity: An Illustration of Modeling Mixture Strategies. JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DECISION MAKING 2018. [DOI: 10.1002/bdm.1948] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Yiyun Shou
- Research School of Psychology; The Australian National University; Canberra Australia
| | - Michael Smithson
- Research School of Psychology; The Australian National University; Canberra Australia
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Pushkarskaya H, Smithson M, Joseph JE, Corbly C, Levy I. Neural Correlates of Decision-Making Under Ambiguity and Conflict. Front Behav Neurosci 2015; 9:325. [PMID: 26640434 PMCID: PMC4661279 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00325] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2015] [Accepted: 11/12/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
HIGHLIGHTS We use a simple gambles design in an fMRI study to compare two conditions: ambiguity and conflict.Participants were more conflict averse than ambiguity averse.Ambiguity aversion did not correlate with conflict aversion.Activation in the medial prefrontal cortex correlated with ambiguity level and ambiguity aversion.Activation in the ventral striatum correlated with conflict level and conflict aversion. Studies of decision making under uncertainty generally focus on imprecise information about outcome probabilities ("ambiguity"). It is not clear, however, whether conflicting information about outcome probabilities affects decision making in the same manner as ambiguity does. Here we combine functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a simple gamble design to study this question. In this design the levels of ambiguity and conflict are parametrically varied, and ambiguity and conflict gambles are matched on expected value. Behaviorally, participants avoided conflict more than ambiguity, and attitudes toward ambiguity and conflict did not correlate across participants. Neurally, regional brain activation was differentially modulated by ambiguity level and aversion to ambiguity and by conflict level and aversion to conflict. Activation in the medial prefrontal cortex was correlated with the level of ambiguity and with ambiguity aversion, whereas activation in the ventral striatum was correlated with the level of conflict and with conflict aversion. These novel results indicate that decision makers process imprecise and conflicting information differently, a finding that has important implications for basic and clinical research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Helen Pushkarskaya
- Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Kentucky Lexington, KY, USA ; Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Yale School of Medicine New Haven, CT, USA ; Section of Comparative Medicine, Yale School of Medicine New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Michael Smithson
- Research School of Psychology, The Australian National University Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Jane E Joseph
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Kentucky Lexington, KY, USA
| | - Christine Corbly
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Kentucky Lexington, KY, USA
| | - Ifat Levy
- Section of Comparative Medicine, Yale School of Medicine New Haven, CT, USA ; Department of Neurobiology, Yale School of Medicine New Haven, CT, USA
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Adapting to an Uncertain World: Cognitive Capacity and Causal Reasoning with Ambiguous Observations. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0140608. [PMID: 26468653 PMCID: PMC4607167 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0140608] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2015] [Accepted: 09/27/2015] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Ambiguous causal evidence in which the covariance of the cause and effect is partially known is pervasive in real life situations. Little is known about how people reason about causal associations with ambiguous information and the underlying cognitive mechanisms. This paper presents three experiments exploring the cognitive mechanisms of causal reasoning with ambiguous observations. Results revealed that the influence of ambiguous observations manifested by missing information on causal reasoning depended on the availability of cognitive resources, suggesting that processing ambiguous information may involve deliberative cognitive processes. Experiment 1 demonstrated that subjects did not ignore the ambiguous observations in causal reasoning. They also had a general tendency to treat the ambiguous observations as negative evidence against the causal association. Experiment 2 and Experiment 3 included a causal learning task requiring a high cognitive demand in which paired stimuli were presented to subjects sequentially. Both experiments revealed that processing ambiguous or missing observations can depend on the availability of cognitive resources. Experiment 2 suggested that the contribution of working memory capacity to the comprehensiveness of evidence retention was reduced when there were ambiguous or missing observations. Experiment 3 demonstrated that an increase in cognitive demand due to a change in the task format reduced subjects’ tendency to treat ambiguous-missing observations as negative cues.
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Giang PH. Decision making under uncertainty comprising complete ignorance and probability. Int J Approx Reason 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ijar.2015.05.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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Zheng Y, Li Q, Wang K, Wu H, Liu X. Contextual valence modulates the neural dynamics of risk processing. Psychophysiology 2015; 52:895-904. [DOI: 10.1111/psyp.12415] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2014] [Accepted: 01/08/2015] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ya Zheng
- Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Beijing China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences; Beijing China
- Department of Psychology; Dalian Medical University; Dalian China
| | - Qi Li
- Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Beijing China
| | - Kai Wang
- Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Beijing China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences; Beijing China
| | - Haiyan Wu
- Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Beijing China
| | - Xun Liu
- Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Beijing China
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Reliable classification: Learning classifiers that distinguish aleatoric and epistemic uncertainty. Inf Sci (N Y) 2014. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ins.2013.07.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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Megías A, Cándido A, Catena A, Molinero S, Maldonado A. The Passenger Effect: Risky Driving is a Function of the Driver-Passenger Emotional Relationship. APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2013. [DOI: 10.1002/acp.2989] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Alberto Megías
- Learning, Emotion and Decision Group, Department of Experimental Psychology; University of Granada; Granada Spain
- Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center; University of Granada; Granada Spain
| | - Antonio Cándido
- Learning, Emotion and Decision Group, Department of Experimental Psychology; University of Granada; Granada Spain
- Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center; University of Granada; Granada Spain
| | - Andrés Catena
- Learning, Emotion and Decision Group, Department of Experimental Psychology; University of Granada; Granada Spain
- Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center; University of Granada; Granada Spain
| | - Silvia Molinero
- Learning, Emotion and Decision Group, Department of Experimental Psychology; University of Granada; Granada Spain
- Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center; University of Granada; Granada Spain
| | - Antonio Maldonado
- Learning, Emotion and Decision Group, Department of Experimental Psychology; University of Granada; Granada Spain
- Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center; University of Granada; Granada Spain
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Picard F. State of belief, subjective certainty and bliss as a product of cortical dysfunction. Cortex 2013; 49:2494-500. [PMID: 23415878 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2013.01.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2012] [Revised: 12/18/2012] [Accepted: 01/01/2013] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Ecstatic seizures are focal epileptic seizures which are fascinating from a phenotypical point of view as they include intense positive affect, feelings of heightened self-awareness and enhanced well-being. They have been previously suggested to arise in the anterior insular cortex, although strong arguments are still lacking. METHODS We describe the cases of two new patients with ecstatic seizures. Their evaluation included a careful history, encouraging the patient to provide significant details about their ictal symptoms in order to better understand the origin of the sense of bliss and support the hypothesis of an insular involvement according to the current stage of knowledge. Ictal electroencephalographic and blood flow studies complemented these data in one patient. RESULTS The comprehensive description of the ictal ecstatic symptoms by the two patients has brought out an unfamiliar sense of absence of doubt which was at the basis of a feeling of meaningfulness and certainty. The ictal single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) showed an increased blood flow maximal at the junction of the right dorsal mid-insula and the central operculum. CONCLUSIONS The unveiling of an ictal sense of certainty during ecstatic seizures might imply, in the light of current knowledge, a defect in the system processing prediction errors within the framework of generalized predictive coding mechanisms of the brain. Accumulative evidence has recently highlighted a crucial role of the anterior insular cortex in this system, particularly in the detection of mismatch/conflict between prediction state and outcome. Abnormal activity related to epileptic seizure in a structure prevents its normal activity: in the anterior insula, it could prevent the detection of prediction errors, and thereby prevent the feeling of ambiguity (and the associated negative emotional component), leading to a blissful state which could be close to the deeper states of meditation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabienne Picard
- Department of Neurology, University Hospital and Medical School of Geneva, Switzerland.
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Goldberg E, Roediger D, Kucukboyaci NE, Carlson C, Devinsky O, Kuzniecky R, Halgren E, Thesen T. Hemispheric asymmetries of cortical volume in the human brain. Cortex 2011; 49:200-10. [PMID: 22176871 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2011.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2011] [Revised: 09/27/2011] [Accepted: 10/28/2011] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Hemispheric asymmetry represents a cardinal feature of cerebral organization, but the nature of structural and functional differences between the hemispheres is far from fully understood. Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging morphometry, we identified several volumetric differences between the two hemispheres of the human brain. Heteromodal inferoparietal and lateral prefrontal cortices are more extensive in the right than left hemisphere, as is visual cortex. Heteromodal mesial and orbital prefrontal and cingulate cortices are more extensive in the left than right hemisphere, as are somatosensory, parts of motor, and auditory cortices. Thus, heteromodal association cortices are more extensively represented on the lateral aspect of the right than in the left hemisphere, and modality-specific cortices are more extensively represented on the lateral aspect of the left than in the right hemisphere. On the mesial aspect heteromodal association cortices are more extensively represented in the left than right hemisphere.
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