Modulation of value-based decision making by novelty

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Bianca Wittmann
• Subject Area: General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
• Term: from 2014 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 253902124

This project investigates the influence of novelty on subsequent motivational decisions. Reward processing is known to be influenced by contextual and cognitive factors such as novelty. Recent studies have shown that novel stimuli enhance the neural representation of reward and bias decisions in favour of novel compared to familiar stimuli. To date, however, only short-term novelty effects on motivation have been investigated. Evidence from memory experiments and physiological recordings indicates that novelty effects can last for 30-40 min after exposure to a series of novel stimuli. This project aims to assess whether novelty effects on the motivational system and on decision making are also temporally extended and to characterize these effects in previously unstudied decision-making situations. The neural modulation of motivational decisions in novel contexts will be analyzed using functional magnetic resonance imaging. The results will contribute to an understanding of the interplay of contextual factors relevant to everyday life and motivational decisions in humans.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Sweden, United Kingdom
• Participating Persons: Dr. Ulrik Beierholm; Marc Guitart-Masip, Ph.D.