Books
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Neuroeconomics: Decision Making and the Brain Edited by: Paul W. Glimcher, Colin F. Camerer, Ernst Fehr, and Russell A. Poldrack Published by Academic Press (2008) Available at
Amazon.com |
This edited volume has just been released (September 2008) from Academic Press in association with the Society for Neuroeconomics. The book represents the first comprehensive survey of this growing field and should serve as both a permanent reference work and a textbook appropriate for use at the graduate level. The volume begins with a brief history of the field written by the editors and then presents 33 chapters divided into 5 major sections. These five sections are: Neoclassical economic approaches to the brain, Behavioral economics and the brain, Social decision-making neuroeconomics and emotion, Understanding valuation - learning values, and The neural mechanisms of choice. Each section begins with an overview chapter authored by a major scholar and the book concludes with a similarly authored conclusion. The Nobel lauriate Vernon Smith provides the first of these overviews followed by overviews from Douglas Bernheim, Antonio Damasio, Wolfram Schultz and Randy Gallistel with a conclusion by Nobel lauriate Daniel Kahneman. The book provides a historically rich exposition in each of its chapters and places a strong emphasis on describing both the accomplishments and controversies in the field. A clear explanatory style characterizes all chapters which seek to make core issues in economics, psychology and neuroscience accessible scholars from all disciples. This volume will be essential reading for anyone interested in Neuroeconomics in particular or Decision-Making in general. |
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Decisions, Uncertainty, and the Brain: The Science of Neuroeconomics Published by MIT Press/Bradford Press (2003) Available at Amazon.com Available at MIT Press |
In this provocative book, Paul Glimcher argues that economic theory may provide an alternative to the classical Cartesian model of the brain and behavior. René Descartes (1596-1650) believed that all behaviors could be divided into two categories, the simple and the complex. Simple behaviors were those in which a given sensory event gave rise deterministically to an appropriate motor response. Complex behaviors were those in which the relationship between stimulus and response was unpredictable. These behaviors were the product of a process that Descartes called the soul, but that a modern scientist might call cognition or volition. Glimcher argues that Cartesian dualism operates from the false premise that the reflex is able to describe behavior in the real world that animals inhabit. A mathematically rich cognitive theory, he claims, could solve the most difficult problems that any environment could present, eliminating the need for dualism by eliminating the need for a reflex theory. Such a mathematically rigorous description of the neural processes that connect sensation and action, he explains, will have its roots in microeconomic theory. Economic theory allows physiologists to define both the optimal course of action that an animal might select and a mathematical route by which that optimal solution can be derived. Glimcher outlines what an economics-based cognitive model might look like and how one would begin to test it empirically. Along the way, he presents a fascinating history of neuroscience. He also discusses related questions about determinism, free will, and the stochastic nature of complex behavior. -Amazon.com Endorsement: Reviews: |
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