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Brainwaves reflect ability to beat built-in bias

By Guest PostJune 13, 2013Scienceactivity, behavior, brain science, brainwaves, brown institute, brown university, cognitive control, eeg scalp monitors, genetic, humans, ian eisenberg, james cavanagh, marc guitart masip, michael frank, neurological roots, obsessive compulsive disorder, pavlovian bias, prefrontal cortex, psychological factors, quentin huys, situational factors, specific brain activity, symbols, university college london, university of zurich, vertebrates

Many animals, including humans, harbor ingrained biases to act when they can obtain rewards and to remain inactive to avoid punishment. Sometimes, however those biases can steer us wrong. A new study finds that theta brainwave activity in the prefrontal cortex predicts how well people can overcome these biases when a better choice are available.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Vertebrates are predisposed to act to gain rewards and to lie low to avoid punishment. Try to teach chickens to back away from food in order to obtain it, and you’ll fail, as researchers did in 1986. But humans are better thinkers than chickens. In the May 8 edition of the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers show that the level of theta brainwave activity in the prefrontal cortex predicts whether people will be able to overcome these ingrained biases when doing so is required to achieve a goal. (more…)

‘Explorers’ Use Uncertainty And Specific Area of Brain

By Guest PostFebruary 11, 2012Scienceambiguity, architecture, bradley doll, brain, brown university, cognitive control, computational power, data, david badre, decision making strategy, explorers, function, functional architecture, mathematical model, michael frank, mri scanner, mystery, nicole long, nonexplorers, rostrolateral prefrontal cortex, status quo, thought process, uncertainty, virtual clock

*As they try to find the best reward among options, some people explore based on how uncertain they are about the outcome of the options. Those who employ that thought process, unlike people who use other strategies, uniquely harness the computational power of the rostrolateral prefrontal cortex, a new study finds.*

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Life shrouds most choices in mystery. Some people inch toward a comfortable enough spot and stick close to that rewarding status quo. Out to dinner, they order the usual. Others consider their options systematically or randomly. But many choose to grapple with the uncertainty head on. “Explorers” order the special because they aren’t sure they’ll like it. It’s a strategy of maximizing rewards by discovering whether as yet unexplored options might yield better returns. In a new study, Brown University researchers show that such explorers use a specific part of their brain to calculate the relative uncertainty of their choices, while non-explorers do not. (more…)

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Brainwaves reflect ability to beat built-in bias

‘Explorers’ Use Uncertainty And Specific Area of Brain