Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T21:24:50.697Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

NEUROECONOMICS, NEUROPHYSIOLOGY AND THE COMMON CURRENCY HYPOTHESIS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 2008

Anthony Landreth  and
John Bickle
Anthony Landreth
Affiliation:
University of California Los Angeles
John Bickle
Affiliation:
University of Cincinnati
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We briefly describe ways in which neuroeconomics has made contributions to its contributing disciplines, especially neuroscience, and a specific way in which it could make future contributions to both. The contributions of a scientific research programme can be categorized in terms of (1) description and classification of phenomena, (2) the discovery of causal relationships among those phenomena, and (3) the development of tools to facilitate (1) and (2). We consider ways in which neuroeconomics has advanced neuroscience and economics along each line. Then, focusing on electrophysiological methods, we consider a puzzle within neuroeconomics whose solution we believe could facilitate contributions to both neuroscience and economics, in line with category (2). This puzzle concerns how the brain assigns reward values to otherwise incomparable stimuli. According to the common currency hypothesis, dopamine release is a component of a neural mechanism that solves comparability problems. We review two versions of the common currency hypothesis, one proposed by Read Montague and colleagues, the other by William Newsome and colleagues, and fit these hypotheses into considerations of rational choice.

Type
Essay
Information
Economics & Philosophy , Volume 24 , Issue 3: Neuroeconomics , November 2008 , pp. 419 - 429
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Harrison, G. W. 2008. Neuroeconomics: a critical reconsideration. Economics and Philosophy 24.Google Scholar
Hazy, T. E., Frank, M. J. and O'Reilly, R. C.. 2006. Banishing the homunculus: Making working memory work. Neuroscience 139: 105–18.Google Scholar
Holstege, G., Georgiadis, J. R., Paans, A. M., Meiners, L. C., Van Der Graaf, F. H. and Reinders, A. A.. 2003. Brain activation during human male ejaculation. Journal of Neuroscience 23: 9185–93.Google Scholar
Landreth, A. W. forthcoming. The emerging theory of motivation. In The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Neuroscience, ed. Bickle, J.. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Landreth, A. W. 2007. Far beyond drive: On the neural mechanisms of motivation. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Cincinnati.Google Scholar
McCabe, K. A. 2008. Neuroeconomics and the economic sciences. Economics and Philosophy 24.Google Scholar
Montague, P. R. 2006. Why choose this book? How we make decisions. New York: Dutton.Google Scholar
Montague, P. R. and Berns, G. S. 2002. Neural economics and the biological substrate of valuation. Neuron 36: 265–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Montague, P. R. and King-Cassas, B.. 2007. Efficient statistics, common currencies and the problem of reward-harvesting. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 11: 514–19.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Musallam, S., Corneil, B. D., Greger, B., Scherberger, H. and Andersen, R. A.. 2004. Cognitive control signals for neural prosthetics. Science 305: 258–62.Google Scholar
Rolls, E. T. 2005. Emotion explained. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Schroeder, T. 2004. Three faces of desire. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Silva, A. J. 2008. The science of research: The principles underlying the discovery of cognitive and other biological mechanisms. Journal of Physiology (Paris) 101: 203–13.Google Scholar
Silva, A. J. and Bickle, J.. forthcoming. The science of research and the search for molecular mechanisms of cognitive functions. In Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Neuroscience, ed. Bickle, J.. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sugrue, L. P., Corrado, G. S. and Newsome, W. T.. 2005. Choosing the greater of two goods: Neural currencies for valuation and decision making. Nature Neuroscience Reviews 6: 363–75.Google Scholar
Zald, D. H. and Rauch, S. L., eds. 2006. The orbitofrontal cortex. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar