1. The influence of reward value on memory and decision making
- Author
-
Madan, Christopher R.
- Subjects
- Memory, Reward value, Decision-making
- Abstract
Abstract: In our everyday lives we often make decisions based on our prior experiences, whether it be choosing to park without putting money in the meter or deciding what to buy as a gift for a loved one. Inevitably, our decisions in the present are informed by our memories of experiences past. In this dissertation I report the results from a series of studies examining how reward value influences memory, and how these reward-memory effects can in turn bias decision making such that people are generally more risk seeking for relative gains than relative losses. Specifically, these studies examined how previously learned reward values can subsequently influence memory for items, how more extreme reward outcomes influence decisions from experience, and how memory biases can drive risk preference in decision making. Together these convergent lines of research represent a theoretical advance in our understanding of memory and decision making.
- Published
- 2014