Activation-Based Decision-Making
Jasmine Chuey
Department of Psychology
Faculty Supervisor: Gaurav Suri
The aim of the current study is to provide evidence of activation-based decision-making. To do this, I am investigating the phenomenon of action readiness. Action readiness is when there is unconscious neural activation in the brain of an individual and that activation makes it easier for the individual to consciously carry out an action - this can be equated to forming a mini habit. To measure this I will be looking at whether people are more likely to perform a familiar action compared to an unfamiliar action. Participants will be viewing unfavorable images and have a choice to switch to a more favorable image using either a familiar key on the keyboard (‘s’) or an unfamiliar key on the keyboard (forward slash, ‘/’). If they choose not to switch they will keep viewing the unfavorable image. This will highlight action readiness because if more participants press the ‘s’ key compared to the ‘/’ key it can be argued that the action readiness to press the ‘s’ key is due to the likelihood that participants have pressed the ‘s’ key more frequently compared to the ‘/’. This research will encapsulate why we do the things we do (or do not do) at a mechanistic level.