A NEURAL APPROACH TO DECISION MAKING UNDER UNCERTAINTY AND RISK

Year 2019, Volume: 4 Issue: 1, 31 - 33, 30.06.2019

Mimoza İrtem

Abstract

The human brain is illustrated as the most complex
object in the universe. From solving mathematics problems to choosing between
coffee or tea at breakfast, the human brain makes thousands of decisions on a
daily basis mostly under uncertainty, ambiguity or risk. Within its complex
structure decision making processes play a significant role while activating
many cortices, including but not limited to the orbital frontal cortex and the
amygdala. On the other hand, decision making is similarly a complicated concept
where uncertainty and risk are differentiated both theoretically in decision
theory and anatomically in the human brain. Decisions are evaluated in the
orbital frontal cortex and the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex with either
value-based thinking or heuristic thinking. By uniting decision theory and the
neural basis of decision making, we have learned how the human brain evaluates
the available options and the possible outcomes and consequently reacts to the
stimuli.

Keywords

decision making, uncertainty, risk, orbital frontal cortex, amygdala

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