POSTPONED: 6th Annual Marlene Porsche Graduate School of Neuroeconomics Symposium

Unfortunately, we are forced to postpone the symposium due to a number of illness-related cancellations. We regret the last-minute change and hope to be able to announce the new date here soon.

We are delighted to announce that Prof. Leslie Fellows (McGill Univ.) will be holding the Marlene Porsche Memorial Lecture, entitled What have patients taught us about frontal lobe contributions to decision-making? In her lecture, Prof. Fellows addresses the variety of decisional processes. How do we select one option over another and what steps do we pursue to obtain what we desire? Goal-directed behavior is all about choice. Such decision-making is not a unitary process. We may make decisions based on rules of thumb, on entrenched habits, on a whim, and sometimes on a careful, “rational” analysis of pros and cons. This variety of decisional processes relies on at least partly distinct brain substrates. Studies of patients with damage to the frontal lobes have helped to reveal the multitude of decisional mechanisms. This talk will review what aspects of decision-making go wrong after frontal damage, and also what remains intact. She will discuss how knowledge of this multiplicity of decision mechanisms may help all of us make better decisions. Understanding the neural substrates of decision-making also offers ways to support decisional capacity in those with brain dysfunction due to neurological or psychiatric illness.

The Annual Symposium takes place at the Department of Economics, room SOF-G21, Schönberggasse 1, 8001 Zurich, and is open to all.

Program