Decision Neuroscience

Decision Neuroscience addresses a fundamental question about the nature of behavior, how does the brain process reward and make decisions when faced with multiple options? The neural bases of reward and decision-making processes are of critical interest to neuroscientists because of the fundamental role that reward plays in a number of behavioral processes, mainly because of their theoretical and clinical implications for understanding dysfunctions of the dopaminergic system in numerous neurological and psychiatric disorders. Organized into five parts-ranging from basic anatomical and electrophysiological findings on the contribution of specific brain structures to decision-making processes, to brain disorders involving dysfunctions of decision-making and the reward system, to computational approaches combining Bayesian, game-theory, and neuroeconomics models-this updated and expanded edition provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the neuroscience of reward and decision-making processes. Provides comprehensive coverage of approaches to studying reward and decision-making, including primate neurophysiology, brain-imaging studies in healthy humans and in various disorders, genetic and hormonal influences on the reward system, and computational modelsDiscusses clinical implications of process dysfunction, including schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease, eating disorders, drug addiction, and pathological gamblingUses multiple levels of analysis, from molecular mechanisms, to neural-systems dynamics and computational modelsFeatures fully-revised and new chapters from the top international researchers in the field, including new coverage of neuroimaging humans, impulsivity addiction, addiction neuroimaging, and neuroeconomics