Abstract
Selective accessibility mechanisms indicate that anchoring effects are results of selective retrieval of working memory. Neuroimaging studies have revealed that the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is closely related to memory retrieval and performance. However, no research has investigated the effect of changing the cortical excitability in right DLPFC on anchoring effects. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can modulate the excitability of the human cerebral cortex, while anodal and cathodal tDCS are postulated to increase or decrease cortical activity, respectively. In this study, we used tDCS to investigate whether effects of increased or decreased right DLPFC excitability influence anchoring effects in willingness to pay (WTP) experiments. Ninety participants were first randomly assigned to receive either anodal, cathodal, or sham stimulation of 15 min, then they performed a valuation task regarding WTP. The results showed that anchoring effects were negatively related to activities of right DLPFC: the anodal stimulation diminished anchoring effects while the cathodal stimulation increased anchoring effects. These outcomes provide one of the first instances of neural evidence for the role of the right DLPFC in anchoring effects and support psychological explanations of the selective accessibility mechanisms and cognitive sets.
Highlights
Anchoring effect, which is considered one of the most robust cognitive biases in human judgment and decision making (Furnham and Boo, 2011), describes a phenomenon that an individual’s decision tends to bias toward the initial information presented to the individual
This study found that the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) plays an important role in the processing of anchoring effects
We found that the activity of right DLPFC was related to anchoring effects
Summary
Anchoring effect, which is considered one of the most robust cognitive biases in human judgment and decision making (Furnham and Boo, 2011), describes a phenomenon that an individual’s decision tends to bias toward the initial information presented to the individual. Anchoring effect is still observed, even when the anchor is arbitrary and irrelevant to the judgment made by the individual (Epley and Gilovich, 2001; Furnham and Boo, 2011; Ma et al, 2015). The first evidence of anchoring effect was reported by Tversky and Kahneman (1974). In their experiment, participants were first shown a random number (i.e., the anchor) between 0 and 100 determined by spinning a wheel similar to that on Wheel of Fortune. Participants were asked to indicate whether the percentage of African countries in the United Nations was higher or lower than tDCS Affects Anchoring Effects the anchor. Results showed that participants’ answers were strongly affected by the anchor
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