Amitai Shenhav

A Novel Approach-Avoidance Task to Study Decision Making Under Outcome Uncertainty

This paper introduces a novel task to study decision-making under outcome uncertainty and uses computational models to analyze how people balance approach and avoidance behaviors.

Neurocomputational mechanisms underlying the distinct motivational influences of reward and punishment on cognitive control

This study identifies distinct neural regions associated with reward and punishment influences on cognitive control using fMRI and a multi-incentive task, revealing how these incentives shape control strategies and mental effort.

Slower transitions between control states lead to reductions in cognitive flexibility over the lifespan

This study shows that slower transitions between cognitive control states in older adults reduce cognitive flexibility, despite preserved ability to reach target states when given sufficient time.

Control adjustment costs limit goal flexibility: Empirical evidence and a computational account

The paper demonstrates control adjustment costs when people change goals and validates a dynamical systems model explaining these costs through four experiments.

Mutual inclusivity improves decision-making by smoothing out choice's competitive edge

This study shows that allowing inclusive choices reduces decision-making costs by decreasing competition between options and participant conflict.

Orthogonal neural encoding of targets and distractors supports multivariate cognitive control

The paper uses fMRI and a novel multivariate analysis to show orthogonal neural representations of target and distractor processing in cognitive control tasks.

Make or break: The influence of expected challenges and rewards on the motivation and experience associated with cognitive effort exertion

This study examines how challenge level and reward size affect mental effort, stress, and affect during a cognitive task, finding that higher challenge and rewards increase effort but also stress, while rewards alone boost positive affect.

Effort Foraging Task reveals positive correlation between individual differences in the cost of cognitive and physical effort in humans

The paper develops an Effort Foraging Task to measure cognitive and physical effort costs in humans and finds they are positively correlated.

Motivational context determines the impact of aversive outcomes on mental effort allocation

The paper shows that aversive outcomes influence mental effort allocation based on motivational context, with participants adjusting caution or efficiency depending on whether the outcome is punishment or reinforcement.

Humans reconfigure target and distractor processing to address distinct task demands

The paper investigates how cognitive control adjusts target and distractor processing under different task demands, finding distinct mechanisms for enhancing targets and suppressing distractors.

Common neural choice signals can emerge artifactually amidst multiple distinct value signals

The paper shows that neural signals resembling evidence accumulation in decision-making can emerge artifactually from overlapping value signals, not from actual evidence accumulation processes.

Rat anterior cingulate cortex continuously signals decision variables in a patchforaging task

This study shows that rat anterior cingulate cortex activity reflects dynamic encoding of decision variables in a patch foraging task, but these signals are not directly involved in decision-making.

Learning when effort matters: Neural dynamics underlying updating and adaptation to changes in performance efficacy

This study investigates how people update their beliefs about performance efficacy and adjust cognitive control based on these beliefs using computational modeling and EEG.

Dissociable influences of reward and punishment on adaptive cognitive control

This paper investigates how reward and punishment differentially influence cognitive control strategies, showing that they affect effort allocation in distinct ways.

When effort matters: Expectations of reward and efficacy guide cognitive control allocation

The paper shows that people adjust their mental effort based on expected reward and the efficacy of effort, supported by EEG data.

Temporal discounting correlates with directed exploration but not with random exploration

This study finds that temporal discounting correlates with directed exploration but not with random exploration in decision-making tasks.

Goal congruency dominates reward value in accounting for behavioral and neural correlates of value-based decision-making

The paper investigates how goal congruency and reward value influence decision-making and neural activity, finding that goal congruency uniquely explains decision speed and brain activity patterns.

Motivation and Cognitive Control in Depression

This paper proposes a framework connecting motivational and cognitive impairments in depression using computational models of cognitive control.

Spatiotemporally distinct neural mechanisms underlie our reactions to and comparison between value-based options

The paper investigates whether value appraisal and choice processes are temporally dissociable using EEG, finding distinct neural activity patterns for each.

Dissociable components of the reward circuit are involved in appraisal versus choice

The paper investigates how different sub-components of the reward circuit are involved in appraisal versus choice, finding dissociable neural networks for these processes.

Dissociable neural mechanisms track evidence accumulation for selection of attention versus action

This paper investigates how the brain integrates evidence for different perceptual attributes and responses during decision-making, finding distinct roles for ventromedial prefrontal cortex and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex.

A control theoretic model of adaptive behavior in dynamic environments

The paper tests whether a PID controller can model human adaptive behavior in dynamic environments, finding it better describes decision-making than traditional models.