The study of emotion in neuroeconomics

The distinction between emotion and cognition (or reason) has been prominent since early philosophical writings and this simple dichotomy continues to influence folk psychological theories and scientific thought, including economic and neuroeconomic research on decision-making. In neuroeconomics, this dual systems approach has gained prominence in studies attempting to characterize the impact of emotion on decision- making. However, as research on the structure of cognition over last fifty years has demonstrated, cognition can best be construed as class of functions, including memory, language, attention, and reasoning, that may be interconnected, but also represent discrete processes that are independent. For economic and neuroeconomic researchers to understand the impact of emotion on decision-making, it may be important to further clarify the relation between the concepts of value and emotion. To the extent that emotion can be considered a relevant detector that lets the organism know what is important, the overlap with the economist's view of value may be quite extensive.