Action, decision, volition

The course aims at understanding how humans make voluntary decisions and adaptively act in the environment. The course notably addresses the neural bases of central executive functions (judgment & decision-making) in humans. These functions associated with the frontal lobes form the capacity to decide not only in response to external events but also in relation with intentions and choices stemming from motives, preferences and beliefs, which in turn derive from overt behaviour and covert reasoning. The course will address this issue from the viewpoint of cognitive and computational neurosciences and to a lesser extent, from modern philosophy.