The research proposal focuses on studying how objects come to acquire value. In particular, we focus on the fact that humans have an unparalleled capacity come to value objects, including those like money which have no intrinsic value. Specifically, we seek elucidate the set of cognitive processes that have made money-emergence possible, as well as investigate their neural underpinnings. We will do so using a game-theoretic model of money emergence and carry out experiments using complementary methodologies -functional neuroimaging (fMRI) and focal lesion patients studies. Our hypothesis is that the neural circuitry involved in strategic learning in our money emergence environments builds upon those underlying learning about rewards, but engages additional computations related to belief-formation and mentalization. Disturbances in reward processing and decision-making are a hallmark of drug abuse and addiction. As such, a deeper understanding of the neural mechanisms supporting decision-making capacity has the promise to shed new light on questions of relevance to the mission of NIDA.
Disturbances in reward processing and decision-making are a hallmark of drug abuse and addiction. By studying how people come to value objects, we aim to provide a deeper understanding of the behavioral and neural processes that are affected in drug abuse and addiction.
| Lui, Ming; Hsu, Ming (2018) Viewing sexual images is associated with reduced physiological arousal response to gambling loss. PLoS One 13:e0195748 |
| Lieder, Falk; Griffiths, Thomas L; Hsu, Ming (2018) Overrepresentation of extreme events in decision making reflects rational use of cognitive resources. Psychol Rev 125:1-32 |
| Jenkins, Adrianna C; Karashchuk, Pierre; Zhu, Lusha et al. (2018) Predicting human behavior toward members of different social groups. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 115:9696-9701 |
| Seaman, Kendra L; Brooks, Nickolas; Karrer, Teresa M et al. (2018) Subjective value representations during effort, probability and time discounting across adulthood. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 13:449-459 |
| Kobayashi, Kenji; Hsu, Ming (2017) Neural Mechanisms of Updating under Reducible and Irreducible Uncertainty. J Neurosci 37:6972-6982 |
| Jenkins, Adrianna C; Hsu, Ming (2017) Dissociable Contributions of Imagination and Willpower to the Malleability of Human Patience. Psychol Sci 28:894-906 |
