Yesterday’s piece on information and how it affects the endowment effect of hope might have been too philosophical for most readers, so today I am trying to give a neuronal substrate for the abstract idea of hope. Hope is defined as: “To wish for something with expectation of its fulfillment.” Hope is a very powerful…
Category: neuroeconomics
information, neuroeconomics
The logical and illogical influence of information on our thinking
by Ward • • 0 Comments
Information (painful or pleasurable) is simply input from our environment (can be in many forms) that plays a role in our decisions (after we have done a bunch of thinking and error prediction). One example of environmental information would be the amount of money in your bank account (your saving – much like how much…
information, neuroeconomics
How information can be painful or pleasurable to the brain
by Ward • • 6 Comments
“Do you want the good news or bad news first” is an age old question. I wonder if which we choose tells something about how we are wired up? The economics of information is a fairly new field of study (1982 Nobel prize winner George Stigler is credited with starting this field in around 1961)…
brain hack, information, neuroeconomics
How to improve the efficiency of your brain
by Ward • • 1 Comment
One great brain hack would be to improve your brain efficiency. Our brains have evolved to use more and more of the total energy that we intake in effort to have higher functioning brains (see previous post). Additionally, as we age our brain becomes less efficient – it not only feels this way but scientific…
information, neuroeconomics
Your brain: it all comes down to energy and information
by Ward • • 1 Comment
The brain has evolved as a very exceptional device that takes in information and tries to optimize prediction of the near, and far, future. Your brain must reduce prediction errors; hence reduce surprise to increase its ability to survive in the world (at least this is one theory of the brain). However, just like any…
brain health, information, neuroeconomics
Knowledege to reduce stress of the financial crisis
by Ward • • 0 Comments
I am sure many people in the world are currently stressed about the current financial crisis. And we all know uncontrolled chronic stress is bad for your brain health. I am linking to last nights 60 minute segment on the financial crisis. I hoping the knowledge will at least give you a bit better understanding…
neuroeconomics
Ideas versus consumerism
by Ward • • 5 Comments
How important are ideas and thought to you compared to things you can buy (leaving out the option of buying ideas from other people)? Now this might seem like a strange question to ask in the current world wide financial crisis – or maybe not. Sure in most cases simple thoughts and ideas do not…
neuroeconomics
Information overload: infobese
by Ward • • 3 Comments
I discussed last week the information revolution and how we have near infinite access (in the developed nations) to information. It is possibly the age of infobesity. I read a great deal on a very wide range of topics each day, then I go scouring around trying to find links between these wide topics. And…
brain fitness, exercise, neuroeconomics
How saving money is different, but also similar, to your exercise investment
by Ward • • 0 Comments
You might be scratching your head over my title but hopefully it will make sense at the end. We all now the importance of exercise for both our body and mental health. You can’t go a week or so without hearing about the latest research that provides evidence for what we all know at a…
exercise, neuroeconomics
Bad news, good news: obesity, less driving
by Ward • • 2 Comments
A new study is predicting that 86 % of Americans could be overweight by 2030, if current trends continue. Among the population 51.1 % are projected to be obese. Health care costs due to the overweight would be 16 – 18 % of the total health care costs (via John Hopkins Bloomberg school of public…