T Kalenscher, Philippe Tobler, Interdisciplinary perspectives on decision making: Introduction, Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience, Vol. 8 (4), 2008. (Journal Article)
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F Blankenburg, Christian Ruff, S Bestmann, O Bjoertomt, N Eshel, O Josephs, N Weiskopf, J Driver, Interhemispheric effect of parietal TMS on somatosensory response confirmed directly with concurrent TMS-fMRI, Journal of Neuroscience, Vol. 28 (49), 2008. (Journal Article)
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been used to document some apparent interhemispheric influences behaviorally, with TMS over the right parietal cortex reported to enhance processing of touch for the ipsilateral right hand (Seyal et al., 1995). However, the neural bases of such apparent interhemispheric influences from TMS remain unknown. Here, we studied this directly by combining TMS with concurrent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We applied bursts of 10 Hz TMS over right parietal cortex, at a high or low intensity, during two sensory contexts: either without any other stimulation, or while participants received median nerve stimulation to the right wrist, which projects to left primary somatosensory cortex (SI). TMS to right parietal cortex affected the blood oxygenation level-dependent signal in left SI, with high- versus low-intensity TMS increasing the left SI signal during right-wrist somatosensory input, but decreasing this in the absence of somatosensory input. This state-dependent modulation of SI by parietal TMS over the other hemisphere was accompanied by a related pattern of TMS-induced influences in the thalamus, as revealed by region-of-interest analyses. A behavioral experiment confirmed that the same right parietal TMS protocol of 10 Hz bursts led to enhanced detection of perithreshold electrical stimulation of the right median nerve, which is initially processed in left SI. Our results confirm directly that TMS over right parietal cortex can affect processing in left SI of the other hemisphere, with rivalrous effects (possibly transcallosal) arising in the absence of somatosensory input, but facilitatory effects (possibly involving thalamic circuitry) in the presence of driving somatosensory input. |
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S Bestmann, Christian Ruff, F Blankenburg, N Weiskopf, J Driver, J C Rothwell, Mapping causal interregional influences with concurrent TMS-fMRI, Experimental Brain Research, Vol. 191 (4), 2008. (Journal Article)
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) produces a direct causal effect on brain activity that can now be studied by new approaches that simultaneously combine TMS with neuroimaging methods, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In this review we highlight recent concurrent TMS-fMRI studies that illustrate how this novel combined technique may provide unique insights into causal interactions among brain regions in humans. We show how fMRI can detect the spatial topography of local and remote TMS effects and how these may vary with psychological factors such as task-state. Concurrent TMS-fMRI may furthermore reveal how the brain adapts to so-called virtual lesions induced by TMS, and the distributed activity changes that may underlie the behavioural consequences often observed during cortical stimulation with TMS. We argue that combining TMS with neuroimaging techniques allows a further step in understanding the physiological underpinnings of TMS, as well as the neural correlated of TMS-evoked consequences on perception and behaviour. This can provide powerful new insights about causal interactions among brain regions in both health and disease that may ultimately lead to developing more efficient protocols for basic research and therapeutic TMS applications. |
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Philippe Tobler, G I Christopoulos, J P O'Doherty, R J Dolan, W Schultz, Neuronal distortions of reward probability without choice, Journal of Neuroscience, Vol. 28 (45), 2008. (Journal Article)
Reward probability crucially determines the value of outcomes. A basic phenomenon, defying explanation by traditional decision theories, is that people often overweigh small and underweigh large probabilities in choices under uncertainty. However, the neuronal basis of such reward probability distortions and their position in the decision process are largely unknown. We assessed individual probability distortions with behavioral pleasantness ratings and brain imaging in the absence of choice. Dorsolateral frontal cortex regions showed experience dependent overweighting of small, and underweighting of large, probabilities whereas ventral frontal regions showed the opposite pattern. These results demonstrate distorted neuronal coding of reward probabilities in the absence of choice, stress the importance of experience with probabilistic outcomes and contrast with linear probability coding in the striatum. Input of the distorted probability estimations to decision-making mechanisms are likely to contribute to well known inconsistencies in preferences formalized in theories of behavioral economics. |
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B Schenkluhn, Christian Ruff, K Heinen, C D Chambers, Parietal stimulation decouples spatial and feature-based attention, Journal of Neuroscience, Vol. 28 (44), 2008. (Journal Article)
Everyday visual scenes contain a vast quantity of information, only a fraction of which can guide our behavior. Properties such as the location, color and orientation of stimuli help us extract relevant information from complex scenes (Treisman and Gelade, 1980; Livingstone and Hubel, 1987). But how does the brain coordinate the selection of such different stimulus characteristics? Neuroimaging studies have revealed significant regions of overlapping activity in frontoparietal cortex during attention to locations and features, suggesting a global component to visual selection (Vandenberghe et al., 2001; Corbetta and Shulman, 2002; Giesbrecht et al., 2003; Slagter et al., 2007). At the same time, the neural consequences of spatial and feature-based attention differ markedly in early visual areas (Treue and Martinez-Trujillo, 2007), implying that selection may rely on more specific top-down processes. Here we probed the balance between specialized and generalized control by interrupting preparatory attention in the human parietal cortex with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). We found that stimulation of the supramarginal gyrus (SMG) impaired spatial attention only, whereas TMS of the anterior intraparietal sulcus (aIPS) disrupted spatial and feature-based attention. The selection of different stimulus characteristics is thus mediated by distinct top-down mechanisms, which can be decoupled by cortical interference. |
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J Fujiwara, Philippe Tobler, M Taira, T Iijima, K I Tsutsui, Personality-dependent dissociation of absolute and relative loss processing in orbitofrontal cortex, European Journal of Neuroscience, Vol. 27 (6), 2008. (Journal Article)
A negative outcome can have motivational and emotional consequences on its own (absolute loss) or in comparison to alternative, better, outcomes (relative loss). The consequences of incurring a loss are moderated by personality factors such as neuroticism and introversion. However, the neuronal basis of this moderation is unknown. Here we investigated the neuronal basis of loss processing and personality with functional magnetic resonance imaging in a choice task. We separated absolute and relative financial loss by sequentially revealing the chosen and unchosen outcomes. With increasing neuroticism, activity in the left lateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) preferentially reflected relative rather than absolute losses. Conversely, with increasing introversion, activity in the right lateral OFC preferentially reflected absolute rather than relative losses. These results suggest that personality affects loss-related processing through the lateral OFC, and propose a dissociation of personality dimension and loss type on the neuronal level. |
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B Pleger, F Blankenburg, Christian Ruff, J Driver, R J Dolan, Reward facilitates tactile judgments and modulates hemodynamic responses in human primary somatosensory cortex, Journal of Neuroscience, Vol. 28 (33), 2008. (Journal Article)
Reinforcing effects of reward on action are well established, but possible effects on sensory function are less well explored. Here, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we assessed whether reward can influence somatosensory judgments and modulate activity in human somatosensory cortex. Participants discriminated electrical somatosensory stimuli on an index finger with correct performance rewarded financially at trial end, at one of four different anticipated levels. Higher rewards improved tactile performance and led to increased hemodynamic signals from ventral striatum on rewarded trials. Remarkably, primary somatosensory cortex contralateral to the judged hand was reactivated at the point of reward delivery, despite the absence of concurrent somatosensory input at that time point. This side-specific reactivation of primary somatosensory cortex increased monotonically with level of reward. Moreover, the level of reward received on a particular trial influenced somatosensory performance and neural activity on the subsequent trial, with better discrimination and enhanced hemodynamic response in contralateral primary somatosensory cortex for trials that followed higher rewards. These results indicate that rewards can influence not only classical reward-related regions, but also early somatosensory cortex when a decision is required for that modality. |
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B J Casey, Rebecca M Jones, Todd Anthony Hare, The adolescent brain, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 1124, 2008. (Journal Article)
Adolescence is a developmental period characterized by suboptimal decisions and actions that are associated with an increased incidence of unintentional injuries, violence, substance abuse, unintended pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases. Traditional neurobiological and cognitive explanations for adolescent behavior have failed to account for the nonlinear changes in behavior observed during adolescence, relative to both childhood and adulthood. This review provides a biologically plausible model of the neural mechanisms underlying these nonlinear changes in behavior. We provide evidence from recent human brain imaging and animal studies that there is a heightened responsiveness to incentives and socioemotional contexts during this time, when impulse control is still relatively immature. These findings suggest differential development of bottom-up limbic systems, implicated in incentive and emotional processing, to top-down control systems during adolescence as compared to childhood and adulthood. This developmental pattern may be exacerbated in those adolescents prone to emotional reactivity, increasing the likelihood of poor outcomes. |
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Philippe Tobler, A Kalis, T Kalenscher, The role of moral utility in decision making: an interdisciplinary framework, Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience, Vol. 8 (4), 2008. (Journal Article)
What decisions should we make? Moral values, rules, and virtues provide standards for morally acceptable decisions, without prescribing how we should reach them. However, moral theories do assume that we are, at least in principle, capable of making the right decisions. Consequently, an empirical investigation of the methods and resources we use for making moral decisions becomes relevant. We consider theoretical parallels of economic decision theory and moral utilitarianism and suggest that moral decision making may tap into mechanisms and processes that have originally evolved for nonmoral decision making. For example, the computation of reward value occurs through the combination of probability and magnitude; similar computation might also be used for determining utilitarian moral value. Both nonmoral and moral decisions may resort to intuitions and heuristics. Learning mechanisms implicated in the assignment of reward value to stimuli, actions, and outcomes may also enable us to determine moral value and assign it to stimuli, actions, and outcomes. In conclusion, we suggest that moral capabilities can employ and benefit from a variety of nonmoral decision-making and learning mechanisms. |
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J W Rieger, N Köchy, F Schalk, Marcus Grüschow, H J Heinze, Speed limits: orientation and semantic context interactions constrain natural scene discrimination dynamics, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, Vol. 34 (1), 2008. (Journal Article)
The visual system rapidly extracts information about objects from the cluttered natural environment. In 5 experiments, the authors quantified the influence of orientation and semantics on the classification speed of objects in natural scenes, particularly with regard to object-context interactions. Natural scene photographs were presented in an object-discrimination task and pattern masked with various scene-to-mask stimulus-onset asynchronies (SOAs). Full psychometric functions and reaction times (RTs) were measured. The authors found that (a) rotating the full scenes increased threshold SOA at intermediate rotation angles but not for inversion; (b) rotating object or context degraded classification performance in a similar manner; (c) semantically congruent contexts had negligible facilitatory effects on object classification compared with meaningless baseline contexts with a matching contrast structure, but incongruent contexts severely degraded performance; (d) any object-context incongruence (orientation or semantic) increased RTs at longer SOAs, indicating dependent processing of object and context; and (e) facilitatory effects of context emerged only when the context shortly preceded the object. The authors conclude that the effects of natural scene context on object classification are primarily inhibitory and discuss possible reasons. |
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Michael Adams, Abuse of dominance and its effects on economic development, In: The Effects of Anti-Competitive Business Practices on Developing Countries and their Development Prospects, United Nations, United Nations, New York, p. 571 - 629, 2008. (Book Chapter)
Rules on abuse of dominance are used to find a balance between three objectives: 1) ensuring enough competition between firms in order to force them to be efficient and to compete on merit, 2) allowing a certain degree of profitability so that companies have incentives to become more efficient, and 3) achieving an equal distribution of wealth and business opportunities among different sectors of society. While the discussion in developed countries focuses on the first two aspects in order to maximize innovation and growth, developing countries may also want to consider the third dimension and include the reduction of inequality and poverty as objectives of abuse of dominance laws. But even the relationship between the first two aspects tends to vary among regions, because investment depends on factors that differ between developing and developed countries. These factors sometimes contradict each other and it is crucial to find a sound balance between them. Firstly, since developing economies often have smaller markets and, therefore, a lower equilibrium number of firms that can exploit economies of scale and operate efficiently, markets in developing countries are more likely to be concentrated. Furthermore, entry barriers tend to be higher and capital markets are often less developed, which causes obstacles for firms trying to compete with a dominant company. Secondly, large firms play a different role regarding their investment activity in developing countries than they do in more developed economies. Established firms can be important for less developed economies to have a sufficiently high level of investment in production. In such countries, the benefits of increased investments may outweigh efficiency losses that can arise from a more lax treatment of dominant firm conduct. Thirdly, distributional aspects may be especially important for developing countries. Smaller firms, which often represent poorer sectors of society, may have to be given better chances to compete against large dominant companies. Competition law can be used for such public interest issues, but it is crucial that the law gives clear guidance on how these objectives should be balanced against other objectives such as efficiency. The comparison of the EU and the US regarding abuse of dominance shows that significant differences exist even among developed countries. One reason for the disparity is differing assumptions about what types of conduct are harmful and how difficult it is to differentiate them from other conduct. The 'access to market principle' of the EU arises from the assumption that restrictions of market access are harmful to the economy and that a harmful conduct can be distinguished from other, not harmful, conduct. On the other hand, the 'non-intervention principle' of the US is based on the assumption that the distinction of such conduct is difficult, that there is great danger of prohibiting behaviour that is efficient and that the unnecessary prohibition of efficient conduct is severe. One conclusion from the comparison is that these assumptions should be analysed and be grounded on the economic reality. How likely and severe errors of competition authorities are can, for example, be assessed in an analysis of past decisions and their effects on the economy. Support of developing countries' competition authorities in analysing their own cases and the impact of their decisions on the economy would therefore be valuable. |
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Jacob Goeree, Charles A Holt, Thomas R Palfrey, Quantal response equilibria, In: The new Palgrave dictionary of economics, Ed. 2, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, p. online, 2008. (Book Chapter)
A quantal response specifies choice probabilities that are smooth, increasing functions of expected payoffs. A quantal response equilibrium has the property that the choice distributions match the belief distributions used to calculate expected payoffs. This stochastic generalization of the Nash equilibrium provides strong empirical restrictions that are generally consistent with data from laboratory experiments with human subjects. We define the concept of regular quantal response equilibrium and discuss several applications from the recent literature. |
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Reto Eberle, Analyse der neuen Vorschriften zur Rechnungslegung oder der Mythos der stillen Reserven als unüberwindbares Hindernis auf dem Weg zu konzeptionell schlüssigen Regelungen, In: Max Boemle: Festschrift zum 80. Geburtstag, Verlag SKV, Zürich, p. 213 - 234, 2008. (Book Chapter)
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Reto Eberle, Angaben über die Durchführung einer Risikobeurteilung: Analyse der Entstehung von Art. 663b Ziff. 12 reOR, Zusammenhang zum Risikomanagement und Empfehlung zur Umsetzung, In: Finanz- und Rechnungswesen: Jahrbuch 2008, WEKA Business Media, Zürich, p. 63 - 91, 2008. (Book Chapter)
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Reto Eberle, Neuregelung der Rechnungslegung: erste Eindrücke, Der Schweizer Treuhänder, Vol. 82 (5), 2008. (Journal Article)
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Hans Moser, Reto Eberle, Berichterstattung an den Verwaltungsrat: Umfassender Bericht nach Art. 728 b Abs. 1 OR, Der Schweizer Treuhänder, Vol. 82 (11), 2008. (Journal Article)
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Teodoro D Cocca, Pablo von Siebenthal, Rudolf Volkart, Aktienbesitz in der Schweiz 2008, Swiss Banking Institute, Universität Zürich, Zürich, 2008. (Book/Research Monograph)
Das Swiss Banking Institute der Universität Zürich präsentiert die Neuauflage der bereits in den Jahren 2000, 2002, 2004 und 2006 durchgeführten Studie "Aktienbesitz in der Schweiz". Die Studie weist den Anteil der direkten und indirekten Aktionäre in der Schweiz nach und zeichnet ein detailliertes Bild des Anlageverhaltens privater Haushalte. |
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Werner Widmer, Konstantin Beck, Leo Boos, Lukas Steinmann, Rolf Zehnder, Eigenverantwortung, Wettbewerb und Solidarität: Analyse und Reform der finanziellen Anreize im Gesundheitswesen, Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Gesundheitspolitik, Zürich, 2008. (Book/Research Monograph)
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Stephan Amstutz, Roland Kappeler, Clemens Loepfe, Marcel Senn, Rainer Winkelmann, Empfehlungen: Wirtschaft und Recht, In: Hochschulreife und Studierfähigkeit: Zürcher Analysen und Empfehlungen zur Schnittstelle, HSGYM Hochschule und Gymnasium, Zürich, p. 186 - 194, 2008. (Book Chapter)
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Richard C van Kleef, Konstantin Beck, Wynand P M M van de Ven, René C J A van Vliet, Risk equalization and voluntary deductibles: a complex interaction, In: Volontary deductibles and risk equalization: A complex interaction, University of Rotterdam, Rotterdam, p. 17 - 41, 2008. (Book Chapter)
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