Speaker: Tobias Kalenscher, Professor

Time: 2018-04-16 13:00 - 15:00

Venue: #1113, Wangkezhen Building

Abstract: Despite the still frequently made assumption that humans are consistent, sophisticated and selfish decision-makers, decades of research in the behavioural sciences suggest that individuals are often much less rational and egoistic as originally assumed. Yet, it is still elusive what causes variations in judgment, choice and social behaviour within and across individuals. One of the factors that may systematically influence decision making is stress. Stress goes along with a particular neuroendocrine response that follows a distinct timeline: immediately after stress, rapid actions by non-genomic cortisol (CORT) and noradrenaline (NA) signaling pathways exert their effects on brain functioning in concert, but later on, delayed corticosteroid actions affect neural processing alone. In my talk, I will review recent findings in my lab suggesting that psychosocial stress as well as psychopharmacological manipulations of the neuroendocrine stress systems alter cognitive reflection, decision making under risk and social preferences. I will highlight that these cognitive functions are differentially modulated by isolated and combined action of cortisol and/or noradrenaline. The results of these findings have important implications for understanding how neurobiological mediators alter economic preferences.