Some psychologists hypothesize that lying causes a reduction in the reward assoc

Question

Some psychologists hypothesize that lying causes a reduction in the reward associated with taking an action. People who are more “lie averse” face larger reductions in reward than those who are less lie averse. Suppose that you have access to a population of patients who have lesions in areas of the brain thought to be associated with the decision to lie (and a control group). You have an economic tax evasion task where, in each trial of the experiment people earn money. They are then are asked to report their earnings. Any reported earnings are taxed (see the incentive to lie?)

What is the advantage to collecting neural data in addition to behavioral data (or is there one)?

If there is an advantage of neural data, which measurement technique would you use. What area of the brain would you select as a region of interest (ROI). Explain. (Hint: neural data is often expensive to collect. Researchers don’t do it “just to see what happens.”)

Suppose that you want to study learning in 10 year olds playing a three-deck version of the Iowa Gambling Task. The experimental task itself will take about an hour. Behavioral pre-tests show that 10 year olds can understand the task. The two technologies you have available are fMRI and EEG. Briefly discuss the procedure for collecting data using each method and the advantages of limitations of each technology for the specific question of interest. Which would you choose for this subject population? Explain.

Explanation / Answer

The advantage of collecting neural data is that it allows researchers to ascertain the regions in the brain that become active whenever a behaviour is performed, thereby offering some explanation for it from a biological point of view. Also, based on existing information researchers may have about a brain area, they can also determine if other functions associated with that area are related to the behaviour currently under observation.

The best measurement technique to be used would be fMRI as that it is safe and non-invasive with no risks. Also, fMRI is easy to use, and the images it produces are very detailed.

Also, since the pre­fron­tal cor­tex is the brain area associated with decision-making and high-order thinking, this would be the area I would choose to examine.

(Please post the other question separately.)

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