Value-Based Decision-Making Under Risk and Uncertainty¶
Scope: Choice among options that differ in subjective value: valuation, value-based decision making, choice commitment, delay discounting, intertemporal choice, probability judgment, risk processing.
Out of scope: Reward learning (Associative Learning and Reinforcement).
Two valuation rows added during 2026-04-15: Valuation, Choice commitment. A duplicate Value-based decision making tail entry introduced by an earlier aborted edit was removed from process_reference.md on 2026-04-17. :::
This category contains 7 processes.
Choice commitment
Process ID: hed_choice_commitment
The act of locking in a selected option once accumulated evidence or value crosses a decision boundary; measured by response-time distributions, drift-diffusion boundary parameters, and motor preparation signatures.
No tasks in the current catalog are linked to this process.
Fundamental references
Ratcliff R (1978) Psychological Review 85:59-108
Link SW & Heath RA (1975) Psychometrika 40:77-105
Recent references
Gold JI & Shadlen MN (2007) Annual Review of Neuroscience 30:535-574
Ratcliff R, Smith PL, Brown SD & McKoon G (2016) Trends in Cognitive Sciences 20:260-281
Delay discounting
Process ID: hed_delay_discounting
Devaluation of a reward as a function of the delay to its receipt, typically hyperbolic.
Tasks
The following tasks engage this process:
Recent references
Peters & Büchel (2011) Trends in Cognitive Sciences 15:227–239
Intertemporal choice
Process ID: hed_intertemporal_choice
Choice among options that differ in timing of outcomes; choice between smaller-sooner and larger-later.
Tasks
The following tasks engage this process:
Fundamental references
Ainslie (1975) Psychological Bulletin 82:463–496
Recent references
Peters & Büchel (2011) Trends in Cognitive Sciences 15:227–239
Probability judgment
Process ID: hed_probability_judgment
Estimation of likelihoods of events, often deviating from normative Bayes.
Tasks
The following tasks engage this process:
Fundamental references
Tversky & Kahneman (1974) Science 185:1124–1131
Risk processing
Process ID: hed_risk_processing
Also known as: Risky decision making — Names the task class rather than the cognitive operation.
Neural and behavioral evaluation of outcome uncertainty.
Tasks
The following tasks engage this process:
Fundamental references
Knutson, Adams, Fong & Hommer (2001) Journal of Neuroscience 21:RC159
Recent references
Mohr, Biele & Heekeren (2010) Journal of Neuroscience 30:6613–6619
Valuation
Process ID: hed_valuation
Assignment of a subjective value to a prospective option, integrating reward magnitude, probability, delay, and effort; indexed by willingness-to-pay, subjective ratings, and value-coded neural signals in vmPFC and striatum.
Tasks
The following tasks engage this process:
Recent references
Bartra O, McGuire JT & Kable JW (2013) NeuroImage 76:412-427
Levy DJ & Glimcher PW (2012) Current Opinion in Neurobiology 22:1027-1038
Value-based decision making
Process ID: hed_value_based_decision_making
Choice among options that differ in subjective value, computed across attributes.
Tasks
The following tasks engage this process:
Fundamental references
Rangel, Camerer & Montague (2008) Nature Reviews Neuroscience 9:545–556
Recent references
Levy DJ & Glimcher PW (2012) Current Opinion in Neurobiology 22:1027–1038
Krajbich, Armel & Rangel (2010) Nature Neuroscience 13:1292–1298