Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 11, 2026

Studying Food Reward and Motivation in Humans
Published on: March 19, 2014
Is the Whole the Sum of its Parts? Neural Computation of Consumer Bundle Valuation in Humans
Logan Cross1, Ryan Webb2, John P O'Doherty3
1Computation and Neural Systems, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125 locross93@gmail.com.
Abstract:
Humans are often tasked with making decisions about bundles of multiple items and very little is known about how the human brain aggregates, computes, and represents value in such cases. We investigated how the brain evaluates consumer items, both individually and in bundles, and how this activity relates to choice behavior. Human participants (N = 14; 7 female, 7 male) completed a deep-functional MRI protocol while we elicited behavioral valuations for single and bundled items. Behaviorally, we find that bundle values are sub-additively discounted compared to the sum of individual item values. Neurally, we find that the same distributed network in prefrontal cortex computes the value of a bundle and its constituent individual items, but the value representation undergoes a normalization that actively rescales across bundle and single item contexts. These findings suggest that generalized value regions contextually adapt within a valuation hierarchy, as opposed to utilizing an absolute value code.
Related Concept Videos
Decision Making: P-value Method
First, a specific claim about the population parameter is proposed. The claim is based on the research question and is stated in a simple form. Further, an opposing statement to the claim is also stated. These statements can act as null and alternative hypotheses: a null hypothesis would be a neutral statement while the alternative hypothesis can...
Decision Making
Automatic decision-making is fast, intuitive, and relies on gut feelings...
Neural Circuits
Neuronal pools are collections of nerve cells with similar functions and interact through chemical and electrical signals. These pools include both interneurons (the central neural circuit nodes that...
The Role of Ion Channels in Neuronal Computation
Sometimes a single EPSP is strong enough to induce an action potential in the postsynaptic neuron. However, multiple presynaptic inputs must often create EPSPs around the same time for the postsynaptic neuron to be sufficiently depolarized to fire an action potential....
Reason and Intuition
Decision Making: Traditional Method
First, a specific claim about the population parameter is decided based on the research question and is stated in a simple form. Further, an opposing statement to this claim is also stated. These statements can act as null and alternative hypotheses, out of which a null hypothesis would be a...

