We study embodied choices. These are the choices we make with our brain and body together. For example, as the sensory parts of our brain process external information, our body generates internal physiological states. These internal states directly influence our choices by adding variability to our decisions that is not explained by momentary external stimuli but by long-term effects of many external and internal factors. They help us dynamically adapt to the outside world while remaining the same individual.
Another example is when the way we use our body to interact with the world has evolved to keep us safe while exploring novelties. We might choose to visually explore a novel, potentially dangerous object because there’s little risk in looking. But when something feels familiar, we reach out and take it without hesitation, especially when it’s valuable. The eyes and the hands in this example are not just tools to act out our choices. They may bias us toward either novel or familiar.
To study embodied choices, we record activity from the brain while tracking the body in naturalistic settings. This leaves us with enormous amounts of data, which we make sense of using computational models.
