Camilla Josephson

Why do our brains fail us?

My research in Neuroeconomics focus on where, when and why we make cognitive mistakes that deprave our ability to make rational intertemporal decisions in favor of our own interests

Recent breakthroughs in medical imaging and visualization allow us to study brain activity ‘live’ as subjects deal with real economic issues inside the fmri camera. Exploring neurons activity as the brain process  information in comprehensively designed experiments enable us to recognize how our minds interact with its external environment when making decisions.

By enriching neoclassical decision theory with knowledge from other disciplines, such as Neuroscience, Philosophy, Sociology and Psychology we improve the design of experiments and move ahead in interpreting the results. Interdisciplinary collaborations give rise to a more thoroughly understanding of individuals’ immediate decision process, which allows us to make better predictions of social and economic behavior.

In our daily life we are surrounded by institutions that, in one way or another, aim at guiding us in our role as decision makers. Yet institutions are far from perfect and their inefficiency often lead people further away, rather than closer, to realize their ambitions. Only by recognizing where, when and why our cognitive capacity fails us, we are able to design institutions that better cover up for our inability to make rational decisions that favor both our own and the society's interests.