Extending the study of decision values to cases where options are presented using different sensory modalities

Abstract

Shall I go see a movie tonight, or rather buy some Chinese food? Obviously, such choices between different classes of goods ("reward types") are conceptually complex and methodologically challenging to investigate. Yet, they occur frequently in everyday life. How, then, does the brain solve such problems? The view that diverse behavioral acts and sensory stimuli may be compared via a value signal that is computed on a common scale, much like an internal currency (Montague and Berns, 2002), is gaining traction in decision neuroscience and neuroeconomics. According to this notion, a decision value is computed for each option. These are then compared,andthe optionwith thehighest decision value is most likely chosen. Such comparisons require that decision values areonthe same scale-which is what the notion of a common currency captures. © 2012 the authors.