Context-dependency in valuation

•Canonical computations from sensory systems can predict context-dependent valuation.•Valuation signals adjust to the distribution of expected rewards.•Expectations play a central role in valuation of alternatives.•Expectations are influenced by reward value history and economic cues.•Quality expectations change neural signatures of outcome valuation.

In the last few years, work in the nascent field of neuroeconomics has advanced understanding of the brain systems involved in value-based decision making. An important modulator of valuation processes is the specific context a decision maker is facing during choice. Recently, neuroeconomics has made great progress in understanding, on both the brain and behavioral level, how context-dependent perception affects valuation and choice. Here we describe how context-sensitive value coding accounts for choice set effects, differential perceptions of gains and losses, and expectancy effects of external (economic) signals.