'To do or not to do'? The neurobiology of decision-making in daily life: I. Getting the basics

Palmini, André; Haase, Victor Geraldi

doi:10.1590/S1980-57642008DN10100003

Abstract

The constant conflict between decisions leading to immediate pleasurable consequences versus behaviors aiming at long-term social advantages is reviewed here in the framework of the evolutionary systems regulating behavior. The inescapable temporal perspective in decision-making in everyday life is highlighted and integrated with the role of the executive functions in the modulation of subcortical systems. In particular, the representations of the 'non-existent' future in the prefrontal cortical regions and how these representations can bridge theory and practice in everyday life are addressed. Relevant discussions regarding the battle between emotions and reasons in the determination of more complex decisions in the realm of neuroeconomics and in moral issues have been reserved for a second essay.

Key words:
decision making; executive functions; impulse control; frontal lobes; reward.

Resumo

O conflito constante entre decisões que levam a conseqüências prazerosas imediatas versus comportamentos direcionados a vantagens sociais no médio e longo prazo é aqui revisado sob o prisma de sistemas neurobiológicos que evoluíram ao longo da escala filogenética para regular o comportamento. O artigo enfatiza a inescapável perspectiva temporal na tomada de decisões na vida cotidiana, integrando-a com o papel das funções executivas na modulação de sistemas subcorticais. Em particular, as representações no cortex préfrontal de um futuro que, em realidade,'não-existe' em termos concretos são conceptualizadas como a ligação entre a teoria e a prática nas questões do dia-a-dia. Discussões relevantes em relação à 'batalha' entre razão e emoção na determinação de decisões mais complexas nos campos da neuroeconomia e das questões morais foram reservadas para um segundo ensaio.

Palavras-chave:
tomada de decisões; funções executivas; controle de impulsos; lobos frontais; recompensa.

Texto completo disponível apenas em PDF.

Full text available only in PDF format.

References

¹
Panksepp J. Affective neuroscience. New York: OxfordUniversity Press; 1998.
²
Rolls ET. The brain and emotion. New York: Oxford University Press; 1999.
³
Barkley R. Defining behavioral inhibition, self-control, andexecutive functions. In: Barkley R, editor. ADHD and the nature of self-control. New York: Guilford Press; 1997:47-64.
⁴
Barkley R. A theory of ADHD: Inhibition, executive functions, self control, and time. In: Barkley R, editor. Attentiondeficit hyperactivity disorder: a handbook for diagnosis and treatment. New York: Guilford Press; 1998:225-261.
⁵
Barkley R. Developmental considerations: self-control as aninstinct. In: Barkley R, editor. ADHD and the nature of selfcontrol. New York: Guilford Press; 1997:209-233.
⁶
Fuster JM. Human neuropsychology and the frontal lobes.In: Fuster JM, editor. The prefrontal cortex: anatomy, physiology, and neuropsychology of the frontal lobe. New York: Lippincott-Raven, 1997:150-184.
⁷
Goldberg E. The conductor: a closer look at the frontallobes. In: The executive brain: frontal lobes and the civilized mind. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001:69-85.
⁸
Luria AR. Os lobos frontais e a regulação da atividade mental. In: Luria AR, editor. Fundamentos de neuropsicologia. São Paulo: EDUSP, 1981:161-195.
⁹
Damasio AR. A hipótese dos marcadores somáticos. In: Damasio AR, editor. O erro de Descartes: emoção, razão e o cérebro humano. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 1995:1 65-201.
¹⁰
Fuster JM. Overview of prefrontal functions: The temporalorganization of behavior. In: Fuster JM, editor. The prefrontal cortex: anatomy, physiology, and neuropsychology of the frontal lobe. New York: Lippincott-Raven; 1997:209-252.
¹¹
Rolls ET. The orbitofrontal cortex and reward. Cereb Cortex2000;10:284-294.
¹²
Stuss DT, Picton TW, Alexander MP. Consciousness, selfawareness, and the frontal lobes. In: Salloway SP, Malloy PF, Duffy JD, editors. The frontal lobes and neuropsychiatric illness. London: American Psychiatric Association Press, 2001: 101-109.
¹³
Vallar G, Papagno C, Baddeley AD. Long-term recencyeffects and phonological short-term memory. A neuropsychological case study. Cortex 1991;27:323-326.
¹⁴
Baddeley A. The episodic buffer: a new component of working memory? Trends Cogn Sci 2000;4:417-423.
¹⁵
Adolphs R, Tranel D, Bechara A, Damasio H, Damasio AR.Neuropsychological approaches to reasoning and decisionmaking. In: Damasio AR, Damasio H, Christen Y, editors. The neurobiology of decision-making. New York: SpringerVerlag; 1996:157-179.
¹⁶
Damasio AR, Tranel D, Damasio H. Individuals with sociopathic behavior caused by frontal damage fail to respond autonomically to social stimuli. Behav Brain Res 1990;41:81-94.
¹⁷
Gualtieri CT. The contribution of the frontal lobes to a theory of psychopathology. In: Ratey JJ, editor. Neuropsychiatry of personality disorders. Cambridge: Blackwell; 1998:149-171.
¹⁸
Ingvar DH. The will of the brain: cerebral correlates of willful acts. In: Damasio AR, Damasio H, Christen Y, editors. The neurobiology of decision-making. New York: SpringerVerlag; 1996:115-123.
¹⁹
Raine A, Lencz T, Bihrle S, LaCasse L. Reducced prefrontal graymatter volume and reduced autonomic activity in antisocial personality disorder.Arch Gen Psychiatry 2000;57: 119-127.
²⁰
Salloway SP. Diagnosis and treatment of "frontal lobe" syndromes. In: Salloway SP, Malloy PF, Duffy JD, editors. The frontal lobes and neuropsychiatric illness. London: American Psychiatric Association Press; 2001:101-109.
²¹
Stone VE, Baron-Cohen S, Knight RT. Frontal lobe contributions to theory of mind. J Cog Neurosci 1988;10:640-656.
²²
Bechara A, Damasio H, Damasio AR. Emotion, decisionmaking, and the orbitofrontal cortex. Cereb Cortex 2000; 10:295-307.
²³
Eslinger PJ, Damasio AR. Severe disturbance of higher cognition after bilateral frontal lobe ablation: Patient EVR. Neurology 1985;35:1731-1741.
²⁴
Elliott R, Friston KJ, Dolan RJ. Dissociable neural responsesin human reward systems. J Neurosci 2000;20:6159-6165.
²⁵
Hikosaka K, Watanabe M. Delay activity of orbital and lateral prefrontal neurons of the monkey varying with different rewards. Cereb Cortex 2000;10:263-271.
²⁶
Schultz W, Tremblay L, Hollerman JR. Reward processing inprimate orbitofrontal cortex and basal ganglia. Cereb Cortex 2000;10:272-283.
²⁷
Small DM, Zatorre RJ, Dagher A, Evans AC, Jones-GotmanM. Changes in brain activity related to eating chocolate: From pleasure to aversion. Brain 2001;124:1720-1733.
²⁸
Koob GF, Robledo P, Markou A, SB. C. The mesocorticolimbic circuit in drug dependence and reward-a role for the extended amygdala? In: Kalivas PW, Barnes CD, editors. Limbic Motor Circuits and Neuropsychiatry. Ann Arbor: CRC Press; 1993:289-309.
²⁹
Koob GF, Nestler EJ. The neurobiology of drug addiction. JNeuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 1997;9:482-497.
³⁰
Kalivas PW, Barnes CD, editors. Limbic motor circuits andneuropsychiatry. Boca Raton: CRC Press; 1993.
³¹
Kalivas PW. Neurocircuitry of addiction. In: Davis KL,Charney D, Coyle JT, Nemeroff C, editors. Neuropsychopharmacology: the fifth generation of progress. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins; 2002:1357-1366.
³²
Shippenberg TS, Koob GF. Recent advances in animal models of drug addiction. In: Davis KL, Charney D, Coyle JT, Nemeroff C, editors. Neuropsychopharmacology: the fifth generation of progress. Philadelphia: Lippincott Willians and Wilkins; 2002:1381-1398.
³³
Dagher A, Bleicher C, Aston JAD, Gunn RN, Clarke PSB,Cumming P. Reduced dopamine D1 receptor binding in the ventral striatum of cigarrete smokers. Synapse 2001;42:48-53.
³⁴
Olive MF, Koenig HN, Nannini MA, Hodhe CW. Stimulationof endorphin neurotransmission in the nucleus accumbens by ethanol, cocaine, and amphetamine. J Neurosci 2001;21: RC 184.
³⁵
Schulteis G, Markou A, Cole M, Koob GF. Decreased brainreward produced by ethanol withdrawal. Proc Natl Acad Sci 1995;92:5880-5884.
³⁶
Self DW, Barnhart WJ, Lehman DA, Nestler EJ. Oppositemodulation of cocaine-seeking behavior by D1-and D2-like dopamine receptor agonists. Science 1996;271:1586-1588.
³⁷
Koob GF, Le Moal M. Drug abuse: hedonic homeostaticdysregulation. Science 1997;278:52-57.
³⁸
Leshner AI. Addiction is a brain disease, and it matters. Science 1997;278:45-57.
³⁹
Report. SN. Getting the brain's attention. Science 1997;278:35-37.
⁴⁰
Volkow ND, Fowler JF. Addiction, a disease of compulsionand drive: involvement of the orbitofrontal cortex. Cereb Cortex 2000;10:318-325.
⁴¹
Yung LJ, Wang Z. The neurobiology of pair bonding. NatNeurosci 2004;7:1048-1054.
⁴²
Lara DR. Temperamento forte e bipolaridade: dominandoos altos e baixos do humor. Armazém de Imagens: Porto Alegre; 2004.
⁴³
Damasio AR, Grabowski TJ, Bechara A, et al. Subcorticaland cortical brain activity during the feeling of self-generated emotions. Nat Neurosci 2000;10:1049-1056.
⁴⁴
Damasio A. Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and theFeeling Brain. San Diego: Harcourt; 2003.

Publication Dates

Publication in this collection
Jan-Mar 2007

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License

[1] ¹
Panksepp J. Affective neuroscience. New York: OxfordUniversity Press; 1998.

[2] ²
Rolls ET. The brain and emotion. New York: Oxford University Press; 1999.

[3] ³
Barkley R. Defining behavioral inhibition, self-control, andexecutive functions. In: Barkley R, editor. ADHD and the nature of self-control. New York: Guilford Press; 1997:47-64.

[4] ⁴
Barkley R. A theory of ADHD: Inhibition, executive functions, self control, and time. In: Barkley R, editor. Attentiondeficit hyperactivity disorder: a handbook for diagnosis and treatment. New York: Guilford Press; 1998:225-261.

[5] ⁵
Barkley R. Developmental considerations: self-control as aninstinct. In: Barkley R, editor. ADHD and the nature of selfcontrol. New York: Guilford Press; 1997:209-233.

[6] ⁶
Fuster JM. Human neuropsychology and the frontal lobes.In: Fuster JM, editor. The prefrontal cortex: anatomy, physiology, and neuropsychology of the frontal lobe. New York: Lippincott-Raven, 1997:150-184.

[7] ⁷
Goldberg E. The conductor: a closer look at the frontallobes. In: The executive brain: frontal lobes and the civilized mind. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001:69-85.

[8] ⁸
Luria AR. Os lobos frontais e a regulação da atividade mental. In: Luria AR, editor. Fundamentos de neuropsicologia. São Paulo: EDUSP, 1981:161-195.

[9] ⁹
Damasio AR. A hipótese dos marcadores somáticos. In: Damasio AR, editor. O erro de Descartes: emoção, razão e o cérebro humano. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 1995:1 65-201.

[10] ¹⁰
Fuster JM. Overview of prefrontal functions: The temporalorganization of behavior. In: Fuster JM, editor. The prefrontal cortex: anatomy, physiology, and neuropsychology of the frontal lobe. New York: Lippincott-Raven; 1997:209-252.

[11] ¹¹
Rolls ET. The orbitofrontal cortex and reward. Cereb Cortex2000;10:284-294.

[12] ¹²
Stuss DT, Picton TW, Alexander MP. Consciousness, selfawareness, and the frontal lobes. In: Salloway SP, Malloy PF, Duffy JD, editors. The frontal lobes and neuropsychiatric illness. London: American Psychiatric Association Press, 2001: 101-109.

[13] ¹³
Vallar G, Papagno C, Baddeley AD. Long-term recencyeffects and phonological short-term memory. A neuropsychological case study. Cortex 1991;27:323-326.

[14] ¹⁴
Baddeley A. The episodic buffer: a new component of working memory? Trends Cogn Sci 2000;4:417-423.

[15] ¹⁵
Adolphs R, Tranel D, Bechara A, Damasio H, Damasio AR.Neuropsychological approaches to reasoning and decisionmaking. In: Damasio AR, Damasio H, Christen Y, editors. The neurobiology of decision-making. New York: SpringerVerlag; 1996:157-179.

[16] ¹⁶
Damasio AR, Tranel D, Damasio H. Individuals with sociopathic behavior caused by frontal damage fail to respond autonomically to social stimuli. Behav Brain Res 1990;41:81-94.

[17] ¹⁷
Gualtieri CT. The contribution of the frontal lobes to a theory of psychopathology. In: Ratey JJ, editor. Neuropsychiatry of personality disorders. Cambridge: Blackwell; 1998:149-171.

[18] ¹⁸
Ingvar DH. The will of the brain: cerebral correlates of willful acts. In: Damasio AR, Damasio H, Christen Y, editors. The neurobiology of decision-making. New York: SpringerVerlag; 1996:115-123.

[19] ¹⁹
Raine A, Lencz T, Bihrle S, LaCasse L. Reducced prefrontal graymatter volume and reduced autonomic activity in antisocial personality disorder.Arch Gen Psychiatry 2000;57: 119-127.

[20] ²⁰
Salloway SP. Diagnosis and treatment of "frontal lobe" syndromes. In: Salloway SP, Malloy PF, Duffy JD, editors. The frontal lobes and neuropsychiatric illness. London: American Psychiatric Association Press; 2001:101-109.

[21] ²¹
Stone VE, Baron-Cohen S, Knight RT. Frontal lobe contributions to theory of mind. J Cog Neurosci 1988;10:640-656.

[22] ²²
Bechara A, Damasio H, Damasio AR. Emotion, decisionmaking, and the orbitofrontal cortex. Cereb Cortex 2000; 10:295-307.

[23] ²³
Eslinger PJ, Damasio AR. Severe disturbance of higher cognition after bilateral frontal lobe ablation: Patient EVR. Neurology 1985;35:1731-1741.

[24] ²⁴
Elliott R, Friston KJ, Dolan RJ. Dissociable neural responsesin human reward systems. J Neurosci 2000;20:6159-6165.

[25] ²⁵
Hikosaka K, Watanabe M. Delay activity of orbital and lateral prefrontal neurons of the monkey varying with different rewards. Cereb Cortex 2000;10:263-271.

[26] ²⁶
Schultz W, Tremblay L, Hollerman JR. Reward processing inprimate orbitofrontal cortex and basal ganglia. Cereb Cortex 2000;10:272-283.

[27] ²⁷
Small DM, Zatorre RJ, Dagher A, Evans AC, Jones-GotmanM. Changes in brain activity related to eating chocolate: From pleasure to aversion. Brain 2001;124:1720-1733.

[28] ²⁸
Koob GF, Robledo P, Markou A, SB. C. The mesocorticolimbic circuit in drug dependence and reward-a role for the extended amygdala? In: Kalivas PW, Barnes CD, editors. Limbic Motor Circuits and Neuropsychiatry. Ann Arbor: CRC Press; 1993:289-309.

[29] ²⁹
Koob GF, Nestler EJ. The neurobiology of drug addiction. JNeuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 1997;9:482-497.

[30] ³⁰
Kalivas PW, Barnes CD, editors. Limbic motor circuits andneuropsychiatry. Boca Raton: CRC Press; 1993.

[31] ³¹
Kalivas PW. Neurocircuitry of addiction. In: Davis KL,Charney D, Coyle JT, Nemeroff C, editors. Neuropsychopharmacology: the fifth generation of progress. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins; 2002:1357-1366.

[32] ³²
Shippenberg TS, Koob GF. Recent advances in animal models of drug addiction. In: Davis KL, Charney D, Coyle JT, Nemeroff C, editors. Neuropsychopharmacology: the fifth generation of progress. Philadelphia: Lippincott Willians and Wilkins; 2002:1381-1398.

[33] ³³
Dagher A, Bleicher C, Aston JAD, Gunn RN, Clarke PSB,Cumming P. Reduced dopamine D1 receptor binding in the ventral striatum of cigarrete smokers. Synapse 2001;42:48-53.

[34] ³⁴
Olive MF, Koenig HN, Nannini MA, Hodhe CW. Stimulationof endorphin neurotransmission in the nucleus accumbens by ethanol, cocaine, and amphetamine. J Neurosci 2001;21: RC 184.

[35] ³⁵
Schulteis G, Markou A, Cole M, Koob GF. Decreased brainreward produced by ethanol withdrawal. Proc Natl Acad Sci 1995;92:5880-5884.

[36] ³⁶
Self DW, Barnhart WJ, Lehman DA, Nestler EJ. Oppositemodulation of cocaine-seeking behavior by D1-and D2-like dopamine receptor agonists. Science 1996;271:1586-1588.

[37] ³⁷
Koob GF, Le Moal M. Drug abuse: hedonic homeostaticdysregulation. Science 1997;278:52-57.

[38] ³⁸
Leshner AI. Addiction is a brain disease, and it matters. Science 1997;278:45-57.

[39] ³⁹
Report. SN. Getting the brain's attention. Science 1997;278:35-37.

[40] ⁴⁰
Volkow ND, Fowler JF. Addiction, a disease of compulsionand drive: involvement of the orbitofrontal cortex. Cereb Cortex 2000;10:318-325.

[41] ⁴¹
Yung LJ, Wang Z. The neurobiology of pair bonding. NatNeurosci 2004;7:1048-1054.

[42] ⁴²
Lara DR. Temperamento forte e bipolaridade: dominandoos altos e baixos do humor. Armazém de Imagens: Porto Alegre; 2004.

[43] ⁴³
Damasio AR, Grabowski TJ, Bechara A, et al. Subcorticaland cortical brain activity during the feeling of self-generated emotions. Nat Neurosci 2000;10:1049-1056.

[44] ⁴⁴
Damasio A. Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and theFeeling Brain. San Diego: Harcourt; 2003.

Brasil