Project

How Environmental Cues Influence Decision-making: Neural mechanisms underlying the Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer Effect.

Code
BOF/STA/202309/012
Duration
19 October 2023 → 18 October 2027
Funding
Regional and community funding: Special Research Fund
Promotor
Research disciplines
  • Social sciences
    • Learning and behaviour
    • Motivation and emotion
    • Motor processes and action
Keywords
social cognition motor system decision-making
 
Project description

Environmental cues continuously influence our decisions. This influence can be negative when the elicited course of action is either not appropriate or difficult to control, such as in addiction. How do environmental cues influence our decisions? Cue-triggered decision making not only involves brain areas related to reward and motivation, but also involves motor-planning and action execution. In this project, we will test the hypothesis that the motor system is not downstream to the decision but rather plays an important role in biasing it: environmental cues itself can directly affect neural activity within our motor system. Going a step forward, we will test whether the neural mechanisms of cue-triggered decision making is influenced by the social context.