7th Annual Marlene Porsche Graduate School of Neuroeconomics Symposium

The 7th Annual Marlene Porsche Graduate School of Neuroeconomics Symposium takes place on 23 May 2025 at the University of Zurich.

We are delighted to announce that Prof. Lesley Fellows (McGill University) will be holding the Marlene Porsche Memorial Lecture, entitled What have patients taught us about frontal lobe contributions to decision-making? Goal-directed behavior is all about choice: How we select one option over another, and what steps we pursue to obtain what we desire. 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. Prof. Fellows 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 Aula RAA-G-01, Rämistrasse 59, 8001 Zurich, and is open to all.

Program