Objectives

This course is intended for students who wish to acquire the principles of constraint management and decision-making from a perspective inspired by the latest discoveries in neuroscience, cognitive science and biology.

The goal is to provide practical reference points for the various actors in the economics about the functioning of the brain according to a neuroeconomic approach.

Contents

Contemporary society, as each individual, is set to change in a world with limited resources. The choices and decisions we are taking must necessarily consider the constraints imposed on producers and consumers through access to resources and their management. These same principles are found in brain function and behavior by one of its most characteristic behavior: decision-making with respect to whether investment, purchasing, risk taking, consumption are affordable. Where begins and ends the freedom of choice we make?

This course analyzes the information processing by the brain and in particular the structures and brain mechanisms that are the basis of the cognitive, motor and emotional factors of behavior. A large part of the course is devoted to the illustration of concrete examples and neuroscience experiments and the description of the methodological approach, in particular neuropharmacological. Several chapters deal with the organization and characteristics of the main modulatory pathways of brain activity and their influence in neuroeconomics.

A work of synthesis and bibliographical research will be assigned to the students in small groups who will have to submit a written report which will be the subject of an evaluation counting for the exam mark, as well as by an oral presentation in class of this same research which will also count for the exam score.

IMPORTANT: the priority is given to those students who take this course as mandatory. In order to provide an adequate support during the course, the number of students choosing this course as optional is limited. The group work is based on a maximum number of 12 groups, that is approximately 36-40 students maximum.

The reference list is indicative and goes well beyond the strict content of the course but serves to deepen the subject matter.

References

1. Sacha Gironde - La neuroéconomie : Comment le cerveau gère mes intérêts – Plon Editeur, 2008.

2. Mickaël Mangot - Psychologie de l'investisseur et des marchés financiers – Dunod, 2008

3. Jason Zweig - Your Money and Your Brain: Become a Smarter, More Successful Investor, the Neuroscience Way - Souvenir Press Ltd, 2007,2008. Egalement traduit en français

4. Daniel Richard, Didier Orsal – Neurophysiologie: Organisation et fonctionnement du système nerveux – 3e édition, Dunod collection Science Sup., 2007.

5. Bruce Alberts, Dennis Bray, Karen Hopkin, Alexander Johnson, Julian Lewis, Martin Raff, Keith Roberts, Peter Walter – Essential Cell Biology - 2nd Edition, London, GB / Garland Science, 2004.

6. D.H. Meadows, Jorgen Randers, Dennis L. Meadows - The Limits to Growth: The 30-year Update – White River Jct., VT / Chelsea Green Pub Co, 2004.

7. Gordon M. Shepherd - The Synaptic Organization of the Brain – 5th edition, Oxford University Press, USA, 2003.

8. P.W. Glimcher - Decisions, Uncertainty, and the Brain: the Science of Neuroeconomics – Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2003.

9. Lester, R. Brown – Eco-économie : Une autre croissance est possible, écologique et durable – Paris / Ed. Seuil, 2003.

10. Stan Weinstein – Secrets pour gagner en bourse à la hausse et à la baisse – Hendaye / Editions Valor, 1998.

11. P. Bak – How nature works – New York, NY. / Springer Verlag, 1996.

12. Joël de Rosnay – L'homme symbiotique – Collection Points (P357), Paris/Editions du Seuil, 1995.

13. Armand Petitjean, Dennis L Meadows, Club de Rome, Georg Richt – Quelles limites? – Paris / Ed. Seuil, 1974.

14. D.L. Meadows, W.W. Behrens, D.H. Meadows, R.F. Naill, J. Randers, E.K.O. Zahn - Dynamics of Growth in a Finite World – Cambridge, MA / Wright-Allen, 1974.

15. M.A. Paradiso, M.F. Bear, B.W. Connors - Neuroscience: exploring the brain – Hagerstwon, MD:/ Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2015, 4th edition

16. M. Gazzaniga, R. Ivry, G, Mangun, G. - Cognitive Neuroscience, The Biology of the Mind - W.W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2015, 4th edition.

Pre-requisites

None

Evaluation

First attempt

Exam:

Without exam (cf. terms)  

Evaluation:

The course includes a non-compulsory intermediate check in the form of a bonus. This means that a score between 5.25 and 6 will entitle you to a 'B' bonus of 1.0 point which is added to the final score, a score between 4.25 and 5.24 will entitle you to a 'B' bonus of 0.5 point.

The exam consists of a work by group of students on a subject proposed by the teacher. The work will be graded in 2 assessments of equal importance, one for the oral presentation and the other for the written dissertation. The terms of presentation depend on the number of students and will be presented in class.

The sum of the 2 evaluations of the group work is a score between 0 and 5. In summary:

Final mark = 1.0 (point of attendance) + ((mark-presentation-oral) + (mark-memory-writing) ) + B (bonus mark equal to 0, 0.5 or 1.0)

Retake

Exam:

Oral 1h00 minutes

Documentation:

Allowed with restrictions

Calculator:

Not allowed

Evaluation:

Retake exam accounts for 100% of the final grade. It is a new research work, this time individual, on the same model of the group work prepared during the semester. The work will be graded in 2 assessments of equal importance, one for the oral presentation and the other for the written dissertation. If a bonus mark was acquired it will be included in the retake exam.