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  4. The Neural Underpinnings of Projection Bias

The Neural Underpinnings of Projection Bias

File(s)
Setton_cornell_0058O_10156.pdf (3.16 MB)
Permanent Link(s)
https://doi.org/10.7298/X47D2S9W
https://hdl.handle.net/1813/56904
Collections
Cornell Theses and Dissertations
Author
Setton, Roni A.
Abstract

Projection bias, the tendency to inaccurately predict the value of goods to be acquired in the future, is a widely studied phenomenon in behavioral economics but its cognitive and neural mechanisms remain poorly understood. In the present study, we aimed to explore how value changes from prediction of a future episode to the realization of that episode both behaviorally and in the brain. Twenty-five young adults (15 females, 10 males) from Cornell University placed bids on a variety of snack foods while undergoing fMRI scanning across two sessions: one while they were hungry and one while they were satiated. While hungry, participants placed bids according to how much they would want snack items in a future hungry state or in a future satiated state. While satiated, participants placed bids according to how much they would want the items immediately after the end of the experiment. We hypothesized that participants would demonstrate a behavioral projection bias in their bidding behavior that would emerge as a result of state-dependent value judgments. Activity in the ventral striatum was positively correlated while activity in the medial dorsal thalamus and mid/posterior insula was negatively correlated with projection bias. More engagement of regions related to reward processing therefore enhance projection bias while more engagement of regions related to physiological awareness and control attenuate projection bias, suggesting that both reward and control systems in the brain influence prospection about the value of future action.

Date Issued
2017-08-30
Keywords
Developmental psychology
•
empathy gap
•
projection bias
•
Cognitive psychology
•
Neurosciences
Committee Chair
Spreng, Robert Nathan
Committee Member
Anderson, Adam K.
Fisher, Geoffrey W.
Degree Discipline
Human Development
Degree Name
M.A., Human Development
Degree Level
Master of Arts
Type
dissertation or thesis

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