Value, concepts and the control of goal-directed behaviour
Benedetto de Martino

July 11, 2019, 2:00pm - 3:30pm
Department of Philosophy, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich

Room M210, Munich Centre for Ethics
Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1
München 80539
Germany

Organisers:

Institut Jean Nicod
Ludwig Maximilians Universität, München
Ludwig Maximilians Universität, München

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Abstract:
As we navigate through life, we are constantly faced with choices that require us to assign and compare the values of different courses of actions. Value is usually thought to measure of reward or pleasantness, overlooking the fact that is highly goal‑dependent – to cut a glass a tiny diamond is far more valuable than a large ruby. I will present two new (unpublished) studies that challenge the idea that value is equal to pleasure or reward and I will propose that subjective value is better operationalised in terms of goal‑directed “usefulness”. In a first study I will show how, at the neural level, the change in goals triggers a reorganization of the neural representational geometry supporting flexible behaviour. In a second eye-tracking study I will investigate the interaction between choice and attention in which I will show that visual attention does not boost value per se, but instead modulates the evidence that is accumulated to achieve a given goal. Overall this work challenge the dominant view on how value is computed and used to guide choice highlighting the central role of behavioural control.

Bio:
I am a cognitive neuroscientist who works in the field of decision making and neuroeconomics. I did my PhD at University College of London. Here I began to study human decision making, integrating economics models with the tools of cognitive neuroscience with the aim of developing a more realistic account of economic behaviour. In 2008 I was awarded a Wellcome postdoctoral fellowship with Daniel Kahneman as mentor. I worked two years in the Department of Economics at Caltech with Colin Camerer. I am now a Associate Professor at the University College London, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience where I am the Principal Investigator of the Decision Making Group.

All welcome. The talk will be followed by dinner with the speaker (at your own expense).

The series is jointly organized by the Chair of Philosophy of Mind and the Munich Center for Ethics, LMU.

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