Browsing by Subject "Decision making"

Now showing 1 - 12 of 12

BEHAVIORAL AND NEURAL MECHANISMS UNDERLYING SPATIAL EXPLORATION AND DECISION
(2014-06) Sakellaridi, Sofia
The ability to explore novel environments and make decisions is a fundamental component of human and animal behavior. Even though significant progress has been made in recent years in understanding the mechanisms of exploration and decision-making, little is known on how the brain extracts, encodes and processes information from the environment to make decisions. The primary goal of this thesis is to understand the behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying the processing of spatial information, acquired during exploration of realistic environments to make spatial decisions. We designed a novel task, in which subjects had to explore maps from various U.S. cities to decide where to build a City Hall, while neuromagnetic fluxes were recorded from their heads using a whole-head MEG device. We found that ongoing neuronal activity in a network of cortical regions was associated with particular spatial parameters of the city maps. This network involved predominantly the right frontal and prefrontal areas of the brain, suggesting that these areas have an important role in processing spatial information for making decisions. Additionally, we found other brain areas that were also involved in the processing of spatial information, such as right temporal areas and the cerebellum. These results indicate that processing spatial information for making a decision is a complex process that requires the involvement of more than one regions. Finally, we found that the associations between changes in the ongoing neural activity and spatial parameters were modulated by the street network type. This suggests that, depending on the type of street network, people may use different spatial information to explore the map and make a spatial decision.We also studied how people make spatial decisions in realistic environments when they were forced to select between a limited set of choices. In this experiment, individuals had to explore maps from various U.S. cities, but now to select between two locations to build a hypothetical Post Office. We recorded subjects' eye positions and analyzed the gaze behavior to characterize how people explored maps to select between these options. We found that subjects were continuously exploring the areas around the two options and the center of the map, by looking back and forth between them before making a decision. Unlike economic choices, in which people follow similar strategies by looking repeatedly at the available options, in our experiment individuals were also exploring the area around the center of the map. These findings suggest that the subjects might have mentally placed themselves at the center of the map and evaluated the alternative options with respect to their current location. We also found other similarities with economic choice paradigms, such as people spent more time exploring the area around the option ultimately chosen. Finally, subjects showed a strong bias to select the option they initially explored.
Climate Adaptation and Local Narratives: Using qualitative inquiry to inform adaptive management on the North Shore of Lake Superior Minnesota, USA
(2018-02) Shepard, Jennifer
Adaptive approaches to local climate change impacts primarily focus on finding the best fit between the scale of ecological systems and the scale of existing management systems. This paper argues that a third scale, the scale at which the community perceives the problem of climate change, is essential to constructing best-fit management practices. To understand community perceptions, qualitative interviews of key stakeholders on the North Shore of Lake Superior, Minnesota were collected. Analysis of the interviews was developed into a narrative visualization framework, providing local decision makers with climate narratives in an accessible format. The narrative frameworks detailed convergence around the attribution of changes in forest health and wildlife populations to climate change, but divergence around when to be concerned for local impacts. Findings indicate the need to ground local adaptation in observable changes, and the importance of facilitating stakeholder engagement with the range of narratives present in the community.
COVID-19 Implications on Public Transportation: Understanding Post-Pandemic Transportation Needs, Behaviors, and Experiences
(Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2022-11) Fan, Yingling; Becker, Andrew; Ryan, Galen; Wolfson, Julian
The COVID-19 pandemic and widespread social distancing measures have dramatically reduced public transit ridership, leaving transit agencies with massive revenue shortfalls, and it is still unclear how long it will take for transit to recover and whether transit will emerge fundamentally transformed for better or worse after the pandemic. This research collected first-hand data on people's post-pandemic travel behavior decision-making process in the Twin Cities metropolitan region between March and June 2021. Participants were recruited through various forms of digital marketing tools such as a website, social media, emails, and online videos. Of the 339 participants who were enrolled in the study, 154 (45%) used a smartphone app to capture daily transportation needs, behaviors, and experiences for two consecutive weeks. The data provided insights into how the COVID-19 pandemic has shaped people?s attitudes, perceptions, and decisions toward various transportation services, including public transportation, and how the mobility impacts of COVID-19 differ by individual socio-demographics and trip environments. Results from this research will help transportation planners identify innovative and sensible ways to effectively promote the use of public transportation in the post-pandemic era.
Delay discounting as a measure of impulsivity.
(2012-08) Gu, Lidan
Delay discounting as a behavioral measure of impulsivity has been widely used in neuroeconomy, psychopathology, clinical neuroscience, and drug addiction studies. Previous psychological studies have suggested that: 1) a hyperbolic function best describes the decision behaviors of humans and other animals; 2) drug users tend to have higher delay discounting rates than controls; and 3) the associations between delay discounting rate and personality measures of delay discounting are inconsistent across studies. However, neuroimaging studies have often observed two neural systems involved in delay discounting, and a number of neural models have been proposed to describe delay discounting. The studies reported in this dissertation investigated delay discounting as a behavioral measure of impulsivity when considering the neural models. In Chapter 1, delay discounting and its designs, task procedures, analysis models, reliability, and validity are reviewed. Based on previous studies, the delay discounting rate is influenced by the design of delay discounting tasks such as reward magnitude; the delay discounting rate reliably differentiates drug users from controls; and its reliability is high within a normal population but is relatively lower in clinical populations. In Chapter 2, the current studies are introduced. In Chapter 3, three neural model fitting equations are compared with the standard exponential model and hyperbolic model. The studies suggest the saturating-hyperbolic model fits better than the standard models when the reward magnitude is low ($10). The superiority of the saturating-hyperbolic model is even more robust when clinical populations are involved. However, the saturating-hyperbolic model does not fit the empirical data better than the standard models when the reward magnitude is high ($1000). In Chapter 4, cocaine users are compared with matched controls and with individuals with binge eating disorder on their delay discounting rates; the parameters are analyzed by the saturating-hyperbolic function. The results show that cocaine users do not have significantly higher delay discounting rates; rather, they have significantly higher saturation indices, indicating the observed decision making bias in cocaine users is associated with the decision factor related to reward utility instead of the decision factor related to time utility. Furthermore, the findings suggest the observed decision making bias in cocaine users is not associated with binge eating disorder, indicating the decision preference is likely to be specific to drug users. In Chapter 5, a personality measure based on the construct of time preference (the Time Preference Scale) is introduced. Its psychometric properties and its association with delay discounting and with the Barrat Impulsiveness Scale are investigated. The Time Preference Scale appears to have high reliability and validity. The latent trait of time preference is significantly associated with delay discounting rate. In addition, time preference is better than the overall score on the Barrat Impulsiveness Scale, but not better than the score on the non-planning subscale of the Barrat Impulsiveness Scale, in predicting the delay discounting rate. In Chapter 6, overall conclusions are drawn based on results of the current studies, and practice implications and research recommendations are provided.
Do peers alter decision making processes in adolescence? an examination of peer influence on cool and hot executive function
(2013-08) Cowell, Raquel Antoinette
Adolescents are overwhelmingly represented in outcomes of risk, such as drunk driving and unplanned pregnancy. Yet, teenagers possess many of the same decision making skills as adults and can accurately assess risk outcomes (Best & Miller, 2010; Furby & Beyth-Marom, 1992). Previous research has supported the premise that while general cognitive skills are only marginally impaired in adolescents when compared to adults, peers may exert a greater level of influence during adolescence regarding risky decision making compared to both childhood and adulthood (Furby & Beyth-Marom, 1992; Gardner & Steinberg, 2005). The current study investigated the effect of peer presence on decision-making using two measures of cool Executive Function [the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) test and the Attention Network (ANT) Test] and two measures of hot Executive Function [the Balloon Analogue Risk Test (BART) and the Stoplight (STOP) Test)] in a sample of younger adolescents (12-15 year olds) and older adolescents (18-21 year olds). A within subjects design was used to test performance differences in cool and hot executive function between two experimental contexts: an alone context and a peer context. A significant interaction between experimental context by age group by gender (F(1, 86) = 11.69, p < .001) in the ANT was found. Follow up Student Newman Keul's tests indicate that younger adolescent males improved on the ANT in the context of their peers. These data provide compelling support for the integration of context into the study of risk taking and decision making of adolescents. This contextually informed perspective allows researchers to form links between national survey/statistical data and laboratory-based experimentation.
Improving conservation efforts in the Serengeti ecosystem, Tanzania: an examination of knowledge, benefits, costs, and attitudes.
(2010-01) Schmitt, Jennifer Ann
My dissertation addresses the overarching question of how protected area managers can meet the needs/desires of local people and maintain a unique and valuable ecosystem. The Serengeti ecosystem provides the perfect backdrop for addressing this question with very poor people living in the midst of a very rich ecosystem. Other studies have also addressed this question, using primarily theoretical approaches that point out the limitations of conservation activities (Barrett & Arcese 1998; Johannesen & Skonhoft 2004) or by using socioeconomic data from part of the ecosystem to shed light on bushmeat hunting (i.e. the illegal hunting of wildlife for food) or conservation attitudes (Newmark et al. 1993; Loibooki et al. 2002; Kideghesho et al. 2007; Knapp 2007). However, these studies all lack two things, data encompassing the entire ecosystem and the incorporation of data on knowledge of protected areas. My dissertation uses data from areas throughout the ecosystem and includes the analysis of knowledge along with socioeconomics, costs, benefits, and attitudes. In determining how to improve conservation, I critically examine a key assumption of community-based conservation, i.e. that local people are benefitting from conservation. I also focus on how monitoring and evaluating more than just local people's attitudes can provide important insight and suggestions for conservation policies. Although my data is specific to the Serengeti ecosystem, my emphasis on using socioeconomic data for monitoring, evaluating, and improving conservation projects can be applied in other places. My work in the Serengeti ecosystem provides a good template for how conservation practitioners can monitor and evaluate the human dimensions of their work and how this data can improve conservation efforts. In addressing the question of how to improve conservation, I begin my dissertation with a chapter describing the socioeconomics around Serengeti National Park. Chapter one is based on a report solicited by Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) that provides a descriptive overview of the socioeconomic realities facing communities around the ecosystem and speaks to Tanzania's dual commitment to conservation and poverty reduction (Schmitt 2008). I amended the initial report to include data from all 20 of the villages that I studied and added analysis about differences between those villages participating in wildlife management areas and those not participating. Understanding the livelihoods and realities of people in the ecosystem is the first step to understanding how conservation projects are, or are not, affecting local communities. In my second chapter I examine the effectiveness of both community-based and fences-and-fines conservation by evaluating the benefits provided to, and costs imposed on, local people by these conservation strategies. I use empirical data on knowledge of protected areas and the costs and benefits of both conservation and illegal natural resource use to examine how current conservation strategies have affected the decisions of local people. I begin my evaluation by assessing the knowledge of local people about Serengeti National Park and its surrounding protected areas. I then analyze the different costs and benefits local people receive from protected areas and wildlife. Without changing benefits or costs in a significant manner, both community-based and fences-and-fines conservation approaches are unlikely to change behavior of local people, and therefore, unlikely to be effective conservation strategies. My third chapter identifies successes and problems in current conservation strategies by linking socioeconomic data with data on knowledge, benefits, costs and attitudes. I tie the socioeconomic data from chapter one to the knowledge, benefits and costs of chapter two, as well as examine data on local attitudes toward protected areas. I outline the socioeconomic characteristics associated with those who are knowledgeable about protected areas, those reporting benefits, those reporting costs, and those with positive attitudes of protected areas. I then point out what this larger picture of conservation suggests in terms of project success and future policies. Furthermore, I show the benefits of using more than just attitudinal data in evaluating conservation strategies.
An investigation of the internal corporate factors of organizational learning and innovation
(2013-08) Jayanti, Elizabeth Bechtel
This study answers the question, "What are the dimensions of the organizational learning experience?" from the perspective of 35 members of four leading companies, representing the first such empirical effort. A review of over 1,368 articles revealed that current organizational learning models are based in theory rather than practice, frequently reduce organizational learning to the individual level , and focus on external factors to the neglect of internal factors. While research on organizational learning dates back to work by Cyert and March (1963), fifty years later, empirical answers to the following questions were still lacking: What happens to information as it is processed through the organization? What predictable screening biases are there in an organization? * What is the relation between decisions made by the responsible representatives and the final decision implemented by the organization? *In what systematic ways are decisions elaborated and changed by the organization? (Cyert & March, 1963, p. 21-22). Fifty dominant organizational learning survey instruments were closely reviewed. It was discovered that each instrument was based on theoretical models, rather than real-world organizational data. This meant that it was unknown whether any dimensions of organizational learning had been missed, or if the assumed dimensions were correct. Questions for the interview were drawn from questions that appeared in multiple previous instruments and focused on the organizational rather than individual level. Data was recorded and transcribed verbatim. Scrubbed transcripts were analyzed in Nvivo using a grounded theory approach. This study found no evidence for several assumed dimensions such as decision types , decision proactivity , role clarity , knowledge turnover , and market share . It was determined that the long-standing idea of controlling for industry is not practical. Finally, this study discovered that organizational learning is significantly influenced by company culture , which constitutes a way of being. This culture shapes what actions a company takes in areas of knowledge management , client focus , focus for growth , and engagement . What a company does ultimately influences what a company becomes, through organizational learning .
The measure of affective decision making: Modulatory circuitry as interface between emotion and decision
(2019-12) Therior, Windy
Decision making is influenced by modulatory processes that enable coordinated responses to environmental and emotional contexts. The measurement of modulatory processes is typically performed via biophysical metrics which carry only partial information on the unobserved processes. We provide an alternative, data-driven, methodology for the targeted measurement of the impact of modulatory processes on decisions. We apply directed dimensionality reduction to a large set of biometric measures including galvanic skin response, heart rate, pupilometry, facial emotion, and electroencephalography, to extract information predictive of human behavior in a standard two-alternative forced-choice decision making paradigm. Using a pre-existing model of decisions in this domain (i.e., the drift diffusion model) affords the ability to specify how the inferred modulatory process informs interpretable decision parameters. We validate this method with model comparisons together with cross validation. This method can be adapted to arbitrary decision domains to investigate how emotional state interacts with decision processes. We find an unexpected correlation between decision parameters, drift rate and decision threshold, when using this latent state extraction procedure not otherwise found when investigating behavioral responses alone. We interpret the correlation in parameters as evidence of their being both influenced by a common upstream modulatory process. We then systematically relax the constraints of the drift diffusion model and performed logistic regression to extract within trial weights on external information. We found that confidence acts as an internal representation of information reliability and adapts integration time to offset conditions of low information gain. Taken together, these findings support the interpretation that emotional state modulates decision making processes.
Opportunity re-evaluation: how risk dimensions influence post-investment venture capital decisions.
(2010-01) Pavone, Carla
Why do managers embrace some risks while they reject others that appear to be equally risky? This dissertation examines how risk dimensions influence the decision to hold, reinvest in, or terminate investment in companies within a venture capital portfolio. I draw on prototype theory to argue that reinvestment is more likely in portfolio companies that "look like" successful VC-backed firms, while investment termination is more likely for firms that "look like" losing portfolio companies. Financial risk is an equivocal signal because it can indicate a problem or recur by design in the VC-backed portfolio company. Different levels of market, technology and management risk are all central characteristics of portfolio winners or losers. I predict that increasing financial risk will increase the likelihood of both reinvestment and termination compared to holding the investment. However, market, technology and management risk will negatively influence reinvestment. Regarding investment termination, I argue that less controllable risks will be rejected, while firms with more controllable risk will be retained. Therefore, I predict that market risk and technology risk will positively influence termination, while management risk will have no significant effect. The sample is composed of 542 quarterly observations of 57 companies in an early-stage VC firm's portfolio. The independent variables are the VC's financial, market, technology and management risk assessments. Control variables address fund differences, portfolio company characteristics, cognitive biases, and economic context. The analysis uses multinomial time series logit to compare the likelihood of follow-on investment, investment termination, or profitable sale vs. holding the investment. With the exception of technology risk, the hypotheses are supported. I contribute to the management and entrepreneurship literatures by examining the under-researched area of risk-based decisions subsequent to an initial commitment. I also use a novel combination of prototype theory and behavioral decision theory to show how risk can be decomposed into multiple dimensions with differing effects on decision-making. Furthermore, my analysis goes beyond binary decisions to incorporate several discrete choices. Finally, this study breaks new ground by analyzing nonpublic, contemporaneous records of actual VC post-investment risk assessments and decisions.
The participation of young adults with mild intellectual disabilities and cerebral palsy in the decision to receive botox treatment for muscle spasticity.
(2010-05) Belew, John Leland
Background: While a large proportion of youth with intellectual disabilities (ID) live with chronic health conditions, it is unlikely that these individuals will be prepared to participate in health-related decisions. Purpose: This study examined the phenomenon of health-related decision-making among young adults with cerebral palsy and mild or borderline ID. The specific clinical context for the study was the decision to receive intramuscular injections of botulinum toxin type A (Botox) for skeletal muscle spasticity. Methods: A multicase methodology was used, based on a narrative approach. Data were gathered during semi-structured interviews with young adults and their parent guardians. Participants described their experiences related to the decision-making process. Results: Preliminary findings included a conceptual framework of the decision-making process based on case reports and case narratives. The four main concepts of the conceptual framework were goals, information, relationships, and deliberation. Thematic analysis was conducted using cross-case comparisons; data from field notes were also integrated. The main themes were agency; communication and cognition; information gathered independently; and relationships. The themes were further developed by synthesizing information from current literature. Conclusions: Participants described varying degrees of explicit participation of the young adult making the decision. Communication patterns were a significant factor in making decisions. Youth were supported in various ways with communication and deliberation. Participants considered peers as an important source of information about Botox. The young adults, their parents and their physicians weren’t the only people involved in the decision-making process.
The Process Used by Family Surrogate Decision Makers to Withdraw Life-Sustaining Treatments in the Blood and Marrow Transplant Population
(2015-08) Gerdin, Bethany
Background: There is limited information about the experience of family surrogate decision makers who make the decision to withdraw life-sustaining treatments (LST) from an individual, and nothing is published about this experience in the blood and marrow transplant (BMT) population. Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe the experience of surrogates who have participated in the decision making process of withdrawing LST from a BMT patient. Method: This study used a phenomenological perspective, using van Manen's (1990) approach to guide the data analysis. In depth, unstructured interviews were conducted with 10 family surrogate decision makers, two to 12 months after the patient's death. van Manen's selective approach was used to identify units of meaning, clusters, themes, and categories that emerged from the data. Findings: The essential themes were: knowing the patient as a person; working through the information, receiving support through trusting relationships; recognizing reality; making the decision; and living with the decision. Conclusion: The results of this study will inform nurses and other health care team members about the experience of surrogates who have chosen to withdraw LST from a BMT patient. Future studies will use this understanding to develop and test interventions for health care providers aimed to decrease the burden of surrogate decision makers. This will promote a peaceful experience for these families and patients, and decrease professional burden of the health care team, who currently does not have evidence based guidelines for these patient/family situations.
Which way do I go? Strategic representations in rat prefrontal cortex on spatial decision tasks
(2014-10) Powell, Nathaniel
The role of the Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) in animal behavior is both complex and subtle. This dissertation concerns the role of rat PFC on spatial decision- making tasks, particularly how it represents strategies or rules necessary to solve these tasks. First I review the current state of knowledge about the role of the rat PFC in regard to behavior and decision-making (Chapter 1). Then I describe the spatial decision-making tasks and electrophysiological recording techniques I used to explore the role of PFC in rats (Chapter 2). Using one of these tasks, I found overlapping populations of PFC neurons that simultaneously encoded mul- tiple relevant task parameters, including some cases in which mulitple parameters were encoded by single neurons (Chapter 3). I also describe the spatial firing properties of PFC neurons on these tasks and conclude that although these cells do not seem to directly represent space per se, there are important differences in both single-cell and population representations that corresponded to the ani- mal's location on spatial tasks (Chapter 4). Finally, using a population decoding approach that takes advantage of the spatially coded information in the cells, I identify transitions between different strategic representations in the PFC of an- imals performing these tasks. In general the transition between states occurred after animals received information that caused them to change their strategy but before the actual change in their behavior. Additionally, these transitions cannot be accounted for solely on the basis of changes to either sensory information or mo- tor output, which proves that these transitions between strategic representational states are cognitive processes (Chapter 5).

University Digital Conservancy

Browse by Subject

Browsing by Subject "Decision making"