Topic: Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives

Economic decision-making theories typically assume rationality, where choices are driven by the subjective value (utility) of options independently of context. The Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives (IIA) axiom formalizes this premise, stating that decisions between two options should not be influenced by the presence or quality of additional options. While violations of IIA have been documented across species, gaps in our understanding about the cognitive and neural mechanisms of the effects of context on economic decisions still exist. To close these gaps, we developed a new freely-movi