Smarter than humans: rationality reflected in primate neuronal reward signals
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Peer-reviewed
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Rational choice, in all its definitions by various disciplines, allows agents to maximize utility. Formal axioms and simple choice designs are suitable for assessing rationality in monkeys. Their economic preferences are complete and transitive; the dopamine signal follows transitivity. Dopamine signals also satisfy first-order stochastic dominance that unequivocally defines the better option. Neurons in orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) reflect the unchanged preferences when an irrelevant option is removed from the option set, thus satisfying Arrow’s Weak Axiom of Revealed Preference (WARP) concerning the Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives (IIA). While monkeys, with their reward neurons, may not be more rational than humans, the constraints of controlled experiments seem to allow them to behave rationally within their informational, cognitive and temporal bounds.
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2352-1546
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Wellcome Trust (095495/Z/11/Z)
European Research Council (293549)