Embodied decision making and its neural substrate
Year: 2014
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Decisions are the result of a deliberative process that evaluates the suitability of specific options. Studies about decision making have been mainly conducted by using restricted tasks in which humans or animals are requested to discriminate between options. However, the influence that factors related to embodiment, such as motor cost, might have on this process has frequently been ignored. In this thesis, we adopt a combined experimental and theoretical approach to examine the effect that such factors have on decision making. Our results confirm an important bias of behavior and neural activity resulting from factors related to embodiment that are external to the goal of the task itself. We use computational models to account for this bias and to shed some light on the neural mechanisms producing it. Our results translate into significant progress in the understanding of embodied decision making, providing new insights into neural mechanisms and theoretical models.
Author: Encarni Marcos Sanmartín
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: European Commission
OpenAlex ID: W2222906514