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MEMORY AS A SOURCE FOR VALUE CONSTRUCTION DURING DECISION MAKING -PEOPLE MAKE HUNDREDS OF DECISIONS EVERY DAY. IN A CHOICE BETWEEN AN APPLE AND A BANANA, BOTH OF WHICH MANY PEOPLE HAVE EATEN MANY TIMES BEFORE, ONE CAN SIMPLY RETRIEVE THE VALUES OF THESE ITEMS?FORMED BY AVERAGING THE ENJOYMENT OF EATING EACH ACROSS PAST EVENTS?AND CHOOSING THE HIGHER-VALUE OPTION. HOWEVER, MANY OF THE DECISIONS PEOPLE FACE ARE NOVEL (E.G., A CHOICE BETWEEN DRAGON FRUIT AND LYCHEE, BOTH EXOTIC FRUITS THE INDIVIDUAL HAS NEVER EATEN BEFORE). FOR THESE NOVEL DECISIONS, THERE IS NO VALUE ASSOCIATED WITH EITHER OPTION AS THERE IS NO DIRECT EXPERIENCE WITH THEM AND INSTEAD ONE MUST INFER THEIR VALUES TO GUIDE ONE?S CHOICE. TO MAKE THIS VALUE INFERENCE, ONE MUST RELY ON ONE?S MEMORY. THERE ARE TWO MAIN MEMORY SYSTEMS THAT COULD GUIDE VALUE INFERENCE DURING NOVEL DECISIONS. THE FIRST IS A RIGID MEMORY SYSTEM THAT LEARNS SLOWLY THROUGH REPETITION AND RELIES ON A BRAIN STRUCTURE CALLED THE STRIATUM. THE SECOND IS A FLEXIBLE MEMORY SYSTEM THAT LEARNS QUICKY?EVEN AFTER A SINGLE EXPOSURE?AND RELIES CRITICALLY ON A BRAIN STRUCTURE CALLED THE HIPPOCAMPUS. THE CURRENT PROJECT AIMS TO UNCOVER WHETHER AND HOW THESE TWO MEMORY SYSTEMS PROVIDE THE BUILDING BLOCKS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF VALUE DURING NOVEL DECISIONS. THE OUTCOMES FROM THIS RESEARCH HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO ADVANCE THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE ROLE DIFFERENT MEMORY SYSTEMS PLAY IN DECISION-MAKING AND THE FUNCTIONAL ROLE OF MEMORY. THE PROJECT ALSO INCLUDES MANY COMMUNITY OUTREACH ACTIVITIES AND MENTORSHIP FOR TRAINEES AT THE UNDERGRADUATE, GRADUATE AND POST-DOCTORAL LEVEL. TO ACHIEVE THE PROJECT GOALS, THE RESEARCH TEAM PLANS TO LEVERAGE A NEW THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK WHICH PLACES DIFFERENT TYPES OF MEMORY AT THE INPUT OF A DECISION PROCESS THAT GUIDES CHOICE IN NOVEL CONTEXTS. THE RESEARCH TEAM INTENDS TO CHARACTERIZE THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH ONE MEMORY SYSTEM OR THE OTHER GUIDES NOVEL DECISIONS USING EYETRACKING. THE TEAM WILL ALSO TEST THE WAY IN WHICH THESE TWO MEMORY SYSTEMS CONTRIBUTE TO CHOICE USING COMPUTATIONAL MODELS, FUNCTIONAL MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING (FMRI), AND PATIENT POPULATIONS WITH SPECIFIC BRAIN DAMAGE TO THE HIPPOCAMPUS. RESEARCHERS ALSO PLAN TO TEST A MANIPULATION THAT MAY BIAS THE WAY VALUE IS CONSTRUCTED DURING NOVEL CHOICES AS A POTENTIAL AVENUE TO ENACT BEHAVIORAL CHANGE. BETTER UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE THAT DIFFERENT MEMORY SYSTEMS PLAY DURING NOVEL DECISIONS HAS PRACTICAL RELEVANCE TO SOCIETY AT LARGE. FOR EXAMPLE, FINDINGS FROM THE PROJECT MAY INFORM EDUCATORS TO DEVELOP NEW APPROACHES THAT TARGET DIFFERENT VALUE-FORMING MECHANISMS TO OPTIMIZE STUDENTS? DECISION-MAKING IN DIFFERENT NOVEL CONTEXTS. FURTHERMORE, RESULTS FROM THE PROPOSED EXPERIMENTS CAN HELP MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS IDENTIFY NEW STRATEGIES TO HELP NUDGE THE CHOICES PEOPLE MAKE TO INCREASE THEIR WELL-BEING. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

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