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Choice Options (choice + option)
Selected AbstractsComputational significance of transient dynamics in cortical networksEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 1 2008Daniel Durstewitz Abstract Neural responses are most often characterized in terms of the sets of environmental or internal conditions or stimuli with which their firing rate are correlated increases or decreases. Their transient (nonstationary) temporal profiles of activity have received comparatively less attention. Similarly, the computational framework of attractor neural networks puts most emphasis on the representational or computational properties of the stable states of a neural system. Here we review a couple of neurophysiological observations and computational ideas that shift the focus to the transient dynamics of neural systems. We argue that there are many situations in which the transient neural behaviour, while hopping between different attractor states or moving along ,attractor ruins', carries most of the computational and/or behavioural significance, rather than the attractor states eventually reached. Such transients may be related to the computation of temporally precise predictions or the probabilistic transitions among choice options, accounting for Weber's law in decision-making tasks. Finally, we conclude with a more general perspective on the role of transient dynamics in the brain, promoting the view that brain activity is characterized by a high-dimensional chaotic ground state from which transient spatiotemporal patterns (metastable states) briefly emerge. Neural computation has to exploit the itinerant dynamics between these states. [source] Patient preferences for managing asthma: results from a discrete choice experimentHEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 7 2007Madeleine T. King Abstract Effective control of asthma requires regular preventive medication. Poor medication adherence suggests that patient preferences for medications may differ from the concerns of the prescribing clinicians. This study investigated patient preferences for preventive medications across symptom control, daily activities, medication side-effects, convenience and costs, using a discrete choice experiment embedded in a randomized clinical trial involving patients with mild,moderate persistent asthma. The present data were collected after patients had received 6 weeks' treatment with one of two drugs. Three choice options were presented, to continue with the current drug, to change to an alternative, hypothetical drug, or to take no preventive medication. Analysis used random parameter multinomial logit. Most respondents chose to continue with their current drug in most choice situations but this tendency differed depending on which medication they had been allocated. Respondents valued their ability to participate in usual daily activities and sport, preferred minimal symptoms, and were less likely to choose drugs with side-effects. Cost was also significant, but other convenience attributes were not. Demographic characteristics did not improve the model fit. This study illustrates how discrete choice experiments may be embedded in a clinical trial to provide insights into patient preferences. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Prescreening of choice options in ,positive' and ,negative' decision-making tasksJOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DECISION MAKING, Issue 4 2001Irwin P. Levin Abstract Research on prescreening processes in decision making was extended by manipulating task valence in a series of three experiments. In Experiments 1 and 2, half the subjects had the ,positive' task of screening and then selecting someone to hire for a job and half had the ,negative' task of screening and then selecting someone to fire, where the choice options (worker descriptions) were the same in each task. In Experiment 1 some subjects were instructed to list options they would include for further consideration and some were instructed to list options they would exclude from further consideration. More options were screened out in the inclusion condition than in the exclusion condition and in the firing task than in the hiring task. Subjects in Experiment 2 were allowed to decide for themselves whether to use inclusion or exclusion in screening options. The main results from Experiment 1 were replicated. Also, subjects in the hiring task were more likely than subjects in the firing task to select inclusion as a strategy for prescreening options. In Experiment 3 the positive task involved adding stocks to a portfolio following an unexpected financial gain and the negative task involved disposing of stocks following a financial setback. Again, more options were screened out by subjects selecting the inclusion strategy than by exclusion subjects, but differences between the positive and negative tasks were not found. Results were explained in terms of a ,status quo' bias for adding or deleting options that transcends task differences and a positivity bias in judging people that distinguishes judgments in different task domains. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] When consumers follow their feelings: The impact of affective or cognitive focus on the basis of consumers' choicePSYCHOLOGY & MARKETING, Issue 12 2006Martin Scarabis The authors assumed that automatic preferences based on lower-order affective processes have a greater impact on choice when people focus on their affective response to choice options (affective focus) than when they try to find reasons for their preferences (cognitive focus). They further supposed that the impact of the focus during decision making is less important when the cognitive resources of consumers are constrained. In an experiment, participants had to choose between two options while the cognitive or affective focus and processing resources were manipulated. Measures of automatic preferences correlated with choice under an affective, but not under a cognitive, focus. In contrast to expectations, this effect of focus was not moderated by the manipulation of processing resources. Interest-ingly, the automatic measures contributed to the prediction of choice under an affective focus independently and apart from self-report measures. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] | ||||||||||