Optimal Temporal Risk Assessment
Time is an essential feature of most decisions. Keeping track of time is adaptive because the reward earned from decisions frequently depends on the temporal statistics of the environment. Accordingly, evolution appears to have favored a mechanism that predicts intervals in the seconds-to-minutes ra...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2011-09-01
|
| Series: | Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnint.2011.00056/full |
| _version_ | 1819298779403124736 |
|---|---|
| author | Fuat eBalcı Fuat eBalcı David eFreestone Patrick eSimen Laura edeSouza Jonathan D Cohen Philip eHolmes |
| author_facet | Fuat eBalcı Fuat eBalcı David eFreestone Patrick eSimen Laura edeSouza Jonathan D Cohen Philip eHolmes |
| author_sort | Fuat eBalcı |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Time is an essential feature of most decisions. Keeping track of time is adaptive because the reward earned from decisions frequently depends on the temporal statistics of the environment. Accordingly, evolution appears to have favored a mechanism that predicts intervals in the seconds-to-minutes range with high accuracy on average, but significant variability from trial to trial. Importantly, the subjective sense of time that results is sufficiently imprecise that maximizing rewards can require substantial behavioral adjustments in response to this temporal uncertainty. Reward-maximization in many daily decisions therefore requires optimal temporal risk assessment. Using tasks that entail different decisions and that impose different time constraints on the reward function, we examine temporal risk assessment ability in terms of the degree to which it approaches optimality. We review recent literature and present human and rodent data that strongly support the hypothesis that these animals take normative account of their endogenous timing uncertainty. By incorporating the psychophysics of interval timing into the study of reward maximization, our approach bridges empirical and theoretical gaps between the interval timing and decision making literatures. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-24T05:35:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-afe4d11c5e81429eb48f24e5063cd226 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-5145 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-24T05:35:19Z |
| publishDate | 2011-09-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-afe4d11c5e81429eb48f24e5063cd2262022-12-21T17:13:02ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience1662-51452011-09-01510.3389/fnint.2011.0005612031Optimal Temporal Risk AssessmentFuat eBalcı0Fuat eBalcı1David eFreestone2Patrick eSimen3Laura edeSouza4Jonathan D Cohen5Philip eHolmes6Princeton UniversityKoç UniversityBrown UniversityPrinceton UniversityPrinceton UniversityPrinceton UniversityPrinceton UniversityTime is an essential feature of most decisions. Keeping track of time is adaptive because the reward earned from decisions frequently depends on the temporal statistics of the environment. Accordingly, evolution appears to have favored a mechanism that predicts intervals in the seconds-to-minutes range with high accuracy on average, but significant variability from trial to trial. Importantly, the subjective sense of time that results is sufficiently imprecise that maximizing rewards can require substantial behavioral adjustments in response to this temporal uncertainty. Reward-maximization in many daily decisions therefore requires optimal temporal risk assessment. Using tasks that entail different decisions and that impose different time constraints on the reward function, we examine temporal risk assessment ability in terms of the degree to which it approaches optimality. We review recent literature and present human and rodent data that strongly support the hypothesis that these animals take normative account of their endogenous timing uncertainty. By incorporating the psychophysics of interval timing into the study of reward maximization, our approach bridges empirical and theoretical gaps between the interval timing and decision making literatures.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnint.2011.00056/fullDecision MakingPsychophysicsRisk Assessmentuncertaintyinterval timingoptimality |
| spellingShingle | Fuat eBalcı Fuat eBalcı David eFreestone Patrick eSimen Laura edeSouza Jonathan D Cohen Philip eHolmes Optimal Temporal Risk Assessment Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience Decision Making Psychophysics Risk Assessment uncertainty interval timing optimality |
| title | Optimal Temporal Risk Assessment |
| title_full | Optimal Temporal Risk Assessment |
| title_fullStr | Optimal Temporal Risk Assessment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Optimal Temporal Risk Assessment |
| title_short | Optimal Temporal Risk Assessment |
| title_sort | optimal temporal risk assessment |
| topic | Decision Making Psychophysics Risk Assessment uncertainty interval timing optimality |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnint.2011.00056/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT fuatebalcı optimaltemporalriskassessment AT fuatebalcı optimaltemporalriskassessment AT davidefreestone optimaltemporalriskassessment AT patrickesimen optimaltemporalriskassessment AT lauraedesouza optimaltemporalriskassessment AT jonathandcohen optimaltemporalriskassessment AT philipeholmes optimaltemporalriskassessment |