title: MEASURING BELIEFS AND REWARDS: A NEUROECONOMIC APPROACH.
abstract: The neurotransmitter dopamine is central to the emerging discipline of neuroeconomics; it is hypothesized to encode the difference between expected and realized rewards and thereby to mediate belief formation and choice. We develop the first formal test of this theory of dopaminergic function, based on a recent axiomatization by Caplin and Dean [2008A]. These tests are satisfied by neural activity in the nucleus accumbens, an area rich in dopamine receptors. We find evidence for separate positive and negative reward prediction error signals, suggesting that behavioral asymmetries in response to losses and gains may parallel asymmetries in nucleus accumbens activity.
authors.affiliation: Andrew Caplin, and Paul Glimcher, Department of Economics, New York University, 19 West 4th Street, New York, New York 10012. Paul Glimcher and Robb Rutledge, Center for Neural Science, New York University, 4 Washington Place, Room 809, New York, NY 10003. Mark Dean, Department of Economics, Brown University, Robinson Hall, 64 Waterman Street, Providence, RI 02912.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Caplin
authors.affiliation: Andrew Caplin, and Paul Glimcher, Department of Economics, New York University, 19 West 4th Street, New York, New York 10012. Paul Glimcher and Robb Rutledge, Center for Neural Science, New York University, 4 Washington Place, Room 809, New York, NY 10003. Mark Dean, Department of Economics, Brown University, Robinson Hall, 64 Waterman Street, Providence, RI 02912.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dean
authors.affiliation: Andrew Caplin, and Paul Glimcher, Department of Economics, New York University, 19 West 4th Street, New York, New York 10012. Paul Glimcher and Robb Rutledge, Center for Neural Science, New York University, 4 Washington Place, Room 809, New York, NY 10003. Mark Dean, Department of Economics, Brown University, Robinson Hall, 64 Waterman Street, Providence, RI 02912.
authors.forename: Paul W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Glimcher
authors.affiliation: Andrew Caplin, and Paul Glimcher, Department of Economics, New York University, 19 West 4th Street, New York, New York 10012. Paul Glimcher and Robb Rutledge, Center for Neural Science, New York University, 4 Washington Place, Room 809, New York, NY 10003. Mark Dean, Department of Economics, Brown University, Robinson Hall, 64 Waterman Street, Providence, RI 02912.
authors.forename: Robb B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Rutledge