Resolving Uncertainty: Foundational Neuroeconomic Studies of Risk and Ambiguity
Understanding the neural mechanisms of decision-making under risk has been a fundamental topic within neuroeconomics. Early studies adopted paradigms from behavioral economics; many identified key brain regions that distinguished decisions about risky options from those involving certain outcomes, tracked the relative risk associated with different options, and that were modulated by risk preferences. Collectively, this work led to the general conception of a risk matrix that includes control-related regions in prefrontal, parietal, and insular cortices. Other key studies distinguished economic risk from related concepts like ambiguity, temporal discounting, and loss aversion—with concomitant distinctions in the supporting neural substrates. More recent work builds on these foundations by examining extensions to cognate areas of neuroscience, including developmental, social, and clinical domains. Future research on the neuroeconomics of risk should generalize beyond economic perspectives and connect other disciplines in the social sciences, to better represent the diverse forms of risky decisions encountered in everyday life.
