Introduction

Neuroeconomics is concerned with the study of the connections between how the mind/brain works – the internal order of the mind – and behavior in (1) individual decision making, (2) social exchange, and (3) institutions such as markets – in short, the neurocorrelates of decision. The way I would define the working hypothesis of neuroeconomics is that the brain has evolved interdependent, adaptive mechanisms for each of these tasks involving experience, memory, perception, and personal tacit knowledge. This theme has been prominent for many years in evolutionary psychology, but new tools are now available. The tools include brain-imaging technologies, the existence of patients with localized brain lesions associated with specific loss of certain mental functions, and inherited variations in how brains work.

For example, in the spectrum of autism “disorders,” the emergent ability of children around age four to infer what others are thinking from their words and actions is compromised (Baron-Cohen, 1995). The interpretation is that there is a development failure in the child's natural awareness of mental phenomena in other people that severely limits the normal development of their capacity for social exchange. The do's and don'ts in personal exchange behavior have to be learned the way you learn to read a language – by explicit instruction. Otherwise, high-functioning autistics may be unusually accomplished.