Decision-making between biases and strategies: the contribution of cognitive neuroscience

Decision-making is a fundamental cognitive function that extends beyond controlled laboratory paradigms into complex real-world contexts shaped by uncertainty, social influences, and emotional factors. Traditional models emphasize rational deliberation but often overlook the implicit physiological and neural mechanisms underlying choices. Neuroscientific research shows that decision-making arises from the interplay between executive control, reward sensitivity, affective regulation, and social cognition, supported by distributed neural networks including the prefrontal cortex, limbic system, and social brain regions. This paper highlights the limitations of conventional assessments, which rely mainly on explicit behavioral measures while neglecting physiological effort, autonomic activation, and neurocognitive correlates. Finally, we introduce the Digitalized Assessment Tool for Decision-Making (DAsDec), as example of an integrative approach combining behavioral, psychophysiological, and neurocognitive metrics. By leveraging wearable technologies and realistic tasks, the tool represents a step toward a more comprehensive understanding of decision-making, with implications for applied domains such as healthcare, management, law and policy-making.