Brain to Society: Decision and Behavior Seminar Series with Dr. Anita Tusche
Regulatory success in dietary choice : insights and predictions from behavioral and neural computa-tional models
Dr. Anita Tusche
Assistant Professor at Queen’s University (Departments of Psychology and Economics)
Crossing the borders of established research disciplines, her research is part of the newly emerging field of neuroeconomics to study decision making (e.g. dietary choice, consumer choice, and cooperation). The overall goal of her research program is to build neurally informed computational models of human decision making that explain differences in observed behaviors across people, context and time. Dr. Tusche has received a Ph.D. in Psychology from Humboldt University (Berlin, Germany) and postdoctoral research fellowships from the California Institute of Technology (USA) and the Max Planck Institute (Leipzig, Germany).
About the presentation
Whether it’s indulging in a gigantic ice cream sundae while trying to lose weight, or walking guiltily past a homeless beggar while striving to be someone who helps those less fortunate, nearly everyone has had the experience of struggling do the ‘right thing’. What determines whether we succeed or fail to stick to our ‘virtuous’ goals? Why do some people seem to struggle more than others? Dr. Tusche will present potential mechanisms and neural underpinnings of individual capacity for self-control, with a focus on dietary choice. Drawing on behavioral computational models (drift diffusion models) and functional and structural brain measures, Dr. Tusche will present evidence suggesting that there may be a single, common brain mechanism that elps people to regulate urges across a variety of choice domains in which we have to balance competing considerations. Ultimately, neurobiological models of regulatory success can help to identify biomarkers to identify at-risk individuals and to develop novel, targeted interventions in domains in which people frequently struggle to align their behaviors with explicitly stated goals.
Panel Discussion: Following the seminar, there will be a panel of disciplinary scientists from neuroscience, management, economics, and computational sciences.
