Cienciaes.com: Neurons of economic value.

by time news May 27, 2023

May 27, 2023

2020-12-02 14:41:24

Already in the century XVIII, the economists Daniel Bernoulli, Adam Smith, and Jeremy Bentham postulated that economic decisions depend on the brain’s computation of the subjective values we attribute to things. These values are first acquired through everyday experiences, and are encoded and stored somewhere in the brain. When faced with the same stimuli again, the coding of the values previously attributed to them allows them to be compared and we can decide, for example, if we prefer oranges to apples, or vice versa.

Previous studies indicate that the neurons involved in economic decisions must be located in the region of the brain that sits just above the eyes. In that region there should be particular neurons that encode and store the values we give to specific things, such as the value we give to chocolate or the value we give to orange juice.

To try to find these neurons, a group of French and American researchers have carried out several experiments with a species of macaque monkey (Macaca mulata), since it is not ethically possible to carry them out with human beings. In these experiments, the researchers implanted the animals with very fine electrodes in the region of the brain located above the eyes. The electrodes allowed the activity of particular neurons to be recorded when the monkeys were allowed to make a choice, such as choosing between apple juice or grape juice.

Currents of different intensity were supplied to the electrodes while each animal had to choose between two amounts of two different juices. The electrodes could also stimulate different neurons, each responsible for encoding a value for each type of juice. The researchers found that if both neurons were stimulated symmetrically, decisions were affected to a lesser degree than if they were stimulated asymmetrically, that is, if one neuron was stimulated more strongly than the other.

These experiments have made it possible to accurately identify in the brain of the animals where the neurons involved in decision-making are located. These neurons are also found in our brains, and are responsible for many people with neurological problems making inappropriate decisions that are harmful to them.

Referencia: Ballesta, S., Shi, W., Conen, K.E. et al. Values encoded in orbitofrontal cortex are causally related to economic choices. Nature (2020).

Jorge Laborda November 29, 2020

Works by Jorge Laborda.

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