Principal Investigator Drazen Prelec
Project Website http://nel.mit.edu/neuroeconomics
Projects apply functional magnetic imaging to the study of decisions, especially decisions with economic or moral consequences.
One project investigates brain mechanisms of implicit trust, specifically in the context of customers trusting financial advisors that physically resemble them. A second looks at self-deception, whether brain imaging can reveal non-conscious awareness of bad financial or medical news. A third examines whether costly honesty is intrinsically rewarding, as shown by brain activation. A fourth studies how satisfaction with a purchase is affected by method of payment.