Nature Neuroscience presents a special focus on decision-making in the April 2008 issue and available online, highlighting recent achievements in this field. The ability to make appropriate choices is critical for survival. Successful decision making requires the integration of sensory information, motivational states and potential outcomes to select the best action. Recently, there has been great progress in our understanding of the neural mechanisms supporting decision-making in a wide range of contexts, including risky choices and social interactions. This special focus on decision-making contains four reviews that highlight recent achievements in this important field.

An introductory article, by Nature Neuroscience associate editor Hannah Bayer, describes how the research described in the focus has made substantial progress and, in future, should lead to a more developed understanding of this behaviour that makes us unique individuals.