Cardiac cycle affects risky decision-making

Abstract

This study investigates whether decision-making under uncertainty is influenced by the cardiac cycle. To test this hypothesis, we examined the influence of the cardiac cycle on an individual's decision-making process in a gambling experiment. Participants were asked to choose one option with a sure payout or uncertain option with varying degrees of winning probability, ambiguity, and monetary amounts. The onset of presentation of the options is timed to coincide with either cardiac ventricular systole or diastole. The results show that, for most participants, the risk aversion score was lower in the systole trial than in the diastole trial. Model-based exploratory analysis revealed that the higher propensity to take risks in the systole trial compared with that in the diastole trial could be captured better by the change in the gambling bias against the utility of the risky options, rather than by a change in risk attitude. The results provide evidence that the natural fluctuation of cardiac afferent signals can affect risky decision-making.