Set 3 - Subjective Value and Choice

Decision making

Selecting an option by assessing possible consequences, probability, costs, and value.

Normative decision theory

Describes what an agent should choose under a specified rational decision rule.

Descriptive decision theory

Describes the choices people actually make, including systematic deviations from normative rules.

Subjective value

The personal desirability of an outcome, combining reward, context, cost, delay, and preferences.

Primary reinforcer

An outcome with direct biological value, such as food.

Secondary reinforcer

A learned reward, such as money or social status.

Payoff magnitude

The size of a potential outcome contributing to its subjective value.

Reward probability

The likelihood of receiving a potential outcome.

Effort cost

Physical or cognitive work required to obtain an outcome, reducing its net value.

Temporal discounting

A future reward is typically valued less than an otherwise identical immediate reward.

Context-dependent valuation

The desirability of an option changes with current needs or circumstances.

OFC/vmPFC value representation

Signals in these networks track the subjective value of options during choice.

OFC lesion discounting study — design

Compare choices between smaller immediate and larger delayed rewards after OFC damage.

OFC lesion discounting study — finding

Lesions were associated with stronger discounting and greater preference for immediate rewards.

Food-preference fMRI study — design

Participants rated foods they liked or disliked while researchers measured OFC responses.

Food-preference fMRI study — finding

OFC activity increased with reported preference, consistent with subjective value coding.

Value updating

Adjusting expected desirability when rewards, bodily state, or feedback change.

OFC lesion behavioral prediction

A person may know outcomes changed but fail to adjust choices appropriately.