COURNOT seminar – Sébastien Ballesta (Université de Strasbourg)

Event details :

Towards the Origins of Cognitive biases

The evolutionary roots and neural underpinnings of primates’ cognitive biases are yet to be uncovered. Our research questions whether primates ecological or social adaptations participate to ‘irrationality’ in economic decisions. At an evolutionary level (Aim1), the hypothesised adaptive value of irrationality (cognitive biases from the Prospect Theory) will be challenged by examining economic decisions in seven species of NHP that differ in their social structures, ecology and their evolutionary history. At individuals’ level (Aim2), cognitive biases, general domain and social cognition (e.g., attention, memory, decision-making) will be linked. Subjects are group-housed semi-free ranging NHP having access to autonomous devices allowing cognitive testing without constraints inherent to laboratories. At the neural level (Aim3), the anterior insular cortex (AIC) is thought to integrate cognitive and emotional aspects of behaviours. However, the role of this brain region, disproportionally large in humans, has not yet been fully elucidated. Our research will propose paradigm shifts that will shed light on the origins of primates’ decisional biases.

Information pour le zoom : https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84441093898?pwd=bG5sMHh3N3FHeUk0TkF4S0JWbkdHZz09

Seminar webpage : https://beta-economics.fr/seminaires-cournot-2023-2024/

More about Sébastien BALLESTA’s work : https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=yBqyokgAAAAJ&hl=en