Cultural Neuroeconomics of Intertemporal Choice

在这篇essay代写范文中,我们提出,这种现象可能会采取不同的形式跨越文化,因为文化偏见的原因。我们假设人们从事西方文化，相比不久的将来。

Abstract   
According to theories of cultural neuroscience, Westerners and Easterners may have distinct styles of cognition (e.g., different allocation of attention). Previous research has shown that Westerners and Easterners tend to utilize analytical and holistic cognitive styles, respectively. On the other hand, little is known regarding the cultural differences in neuroeconomic behavior. For instance, economic decisions may be affected by cultural differences in neurocomputational processing underlying attention; however, this area of neuroeconomics has been largely understudied. In the present paper, we attempt to bridge this gap by considering the links between the theory of cultural neuroscience and neuroeconomic theory of the role of attention in intertemporal choice. We predict that (i) Westerners are more impulsive and inconsistent in intertemporal choice in comparison to Easterners, and (ii) Westerners more steeply discount delayed monetary losses than Easterners. We examine these predictions by utilizing a novel temporal discounting model based on Tsallis’ statistics (i.e. a q-exponential model). Our preliminary analysis of temporal discounting of gains and losses by Americans and Japanese confirmed the predictions from the cultural neuroeconomic theory. Future study directions, employing computational modeling via neural networks, are briefly outlined and discussed. 
Keywords: Cultural neuroscience, neuroeconomics, intertemporal choice, attention allocation, Tsallis’ statistics, neural networks.

Introduction 
People discount future events both by preferring to obtain an immediate gain (even if it is smaller than the one that may be obtained in the future), and by trying to avoid an immediate loss, even if it is smaller than the one that may incur in the future (Frederick, Loewenstein, & O’ Donoghue, 2002). In this paper we propose that this phenomenon is likely to take different forms across cultures because of cultural biases in attention allocation. Consistent with recent work on cultural psychology (Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Masuda & Nisbett, 2001), we assume that people engaging in Western cultures (Westerners) tend to focus their attention on the magnitude of a reward in lieu of its context, including both a delay until receipt and a distant object. Accordingly, these individuals may be much more strongly affected by a proximal object than by the distant one with respect to the near future. Moreover, they may be relatively impervious to the exact length of the time interval between the two objects, because they may tend to focus on each temporal fragment (a divided portion of the time interval between more delayed rewards) separately, rather than focusing on the undivided time-interval between rewards. In contrast, individuals engaging in Eastern cultures (Easterners) tend to allocate their attention more holistically to both an immediate and a distant object, as well as to the time interval between them. 

When compared to Westerners, Easterners may then be expected to discount the future less, and moreover, even when they do it, they may do so as a steady function of the length of the time interval. In the present paper, we first formulate these conceptual predictions in terms of a mathematical model of future discounting based on Tsallis’ statistics, and we report a cross-cultural experiment designed to test the specific derivations of the model. Finally, we propose future directions in cultural neuroeconomics employing neurocomputational models based on Tsallis’ statistics.

Cultural neuroscience of attention and thought 
In recent years, cultural psychologists have begun to show that there are systematic cultural variations in human (neuro)psychological processes (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). These researchers assume that neuropsychological processes are by nature socially driven. According to their theories, the neuropsychological processes are shaped through their interaction with cultural, social and environmental factors. Based on this assumption, it has often been examined how particular cognitive processes (e.g., attention allocation) could be manifested in particular cultural contexts and how different cultural environments in turn lead to the development of different patterns of ability. These studies reported that East Asians’ patterns of attention were in general ”context dependent”, whereas Westerners’ patterns of attention were ”context independent”. Accordingly, Westerners are more likely to focus on some salient objects or contents (”analytic” attention), whereas East Asians are more likely to attend to the global context (”holistic” attention) of an object, and its broad spectrum of perceptual and conceptual fields, in addition to its local characteristics. 

This approach employs both biological (e.g., neurophysiological, neurogenetic, and neuroendocrinological methods) and cultural psychological experiments, in a manner similar to neuroeconomics unifying biopsychology and economics (Glimcher & Rustichini, 2004; Lee, 2005; Loewenstein et al., 2008; Sanfey et al., 2006; Zak, 2004). Furthermore, a recent neuroimaging study (Hedden et al., 2008) identified neural correlates of cultural differences in attention control in simple visual attention tasks. Therefore, it is highly important for further neuroeconomic investigations to incorporate neurocomputational processes mediating attention in order to establish neuroeconomically plausible models of decision-making.

Discussions and future directions 
This study is the first one to (i) propose a cultural neuroeconomic theory of intertemporal choice based on cultural neuroscience theory of attention and neuroeconomics, and (ii) it demonstrates that Westerners tend to discount delayed outcomes more rapidly and inconsistently than Easterners. Our present findings are in line with (i) the reported role of attention allocation in neurocomputational processes involved in intertemporal choice and with (ii) the effects of attention allocation strategies (i.e., ”analytic” versus ”holistic”) on temporal discounting. Although a previous study examined cross-cultural differences in discounting behavior by American, Chinese, and Japanese students in the United States, the study did not analyze time-consistency and impulsivity separately (Wanjiang, Green, & Myerson, 2002). Incorporating cultural differences in neuroeconomic decision processes may be important for establishing more efficient economic policies, because the world has become a highly multicultural place these days. Within the context of the ongoing expansion of the European Union, future studies should focus on measurements and models of temporal and probability discounting in Western, Central, and Southeast European countries. One could thereby monitor the differences in impulsivity and inconsistency in inter-temporal choice behavior between the individuals coming from the old EU member states, from the recently included countries, and those who still have the status of a candidate member. 

The estimated values of kq and q parameters would then provide the relevant information about the cross-cultural differences in impulsivity and inconsistency in choice behavior in Europe. This information could further be used when extending other computational models, such as neural networks, so as to enable process-based, continuous modeling of cultural aspects of economic decision making in Europe, and moreover, to provide more details on how these aspects affect the European economy at a more global level. Some generalizations of neural network models `a la Tsallis were already previously reported (Cannas, Stariolo, & Tamarit, 1996; Hadzibeganovic & Cannas, 2007; submitted). These generalizations are based on analogies between the properties of neural network models and those found in statistical physics and thermodynamics. As discussed by Hopfield (1982) and then applied to attractor networks by Amit and colleagues (1985), neural network models have direct analogies in statistical physics, where the investigated system consists of a large number of units each contributing individually to the overall, global dynamic behavior of the system. The characteristics of individual units represent the microscopic quantities that are usually not directly accessible to the observer. 

The model may also help in studying other problems in cognitive (neuro)science such as neurological impairments. Moreover, the model could serve as an example of how to generalize and improve other neural networks that have regularly been used in several different areas of economics. By means of estimating the index q in the presented q-exponential discount model, the inconsistency in choice behavior may be expressed in a continuous manner (where a whole spectrum of q indices may be obtained corresponding to different inconsistencies in choice; with smaller q values indicating more inconsistent choices). Future studies should also examine and model the behavior of alcohol or drug addicted patients, people with orbitofrontal lesion, pathological gamblers, and other individuals who were previously shown to have impaired decision-making behavior in inter-temporal choice. By utilizing the q-exponential discount function, one could diagnose the degree of inconsistency in choice in these patients with greater sensitivity and accuracy than with many currently available methods. Finally, we note that no neuroeconomic theory of temporal discounting is going to be complete until it can fully incorporate the cultural aspects of impulsivity and inconsistency in decision making, the underlying cognitive and neurocomputational processes, emotionally driven choice aspects, and other (neuro)biological properties in humans that may drive the dynamics of economic behavior.

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