Neuronal and behavioral correlates of the influence of contextual cues on value-based decision making = Die neuronalen und behavioralen Korrelate des Einflusses von kontextuellen Reizen auf das wertebasierte Entscheidungsverhalten

Abstract

Value-based decisions are almost omnipresent in life. However, they are not very well understood. Previous research has shown that the decision-making process is dynamic, and can be influenced, for instance, by increasing the saliency of a certain attribute. Therefore, one could hypothesize that it is possible to make decision-makers aware of certain long-term attributes in order to improve decisions. <br /> In four main studies published during my doctoral work, I investigated the role of contextual attributes on value-based decision making and how they influence dietary choices. The text presented here puts the published studies into a broader context and reviews various topics, such as the influence of attention on decision making, neuroscientific evidence as well as computational models in decision-making research.