Abstract
Response inhibition is an important component of executive function and plays an indispensable role in decision-making and other advanced cognitive processes. At the same time, we need an effective way to improve decision-making in the face of complex and limited information. This study mainly explored the influence of response inhibition training on college students’ risky decision-making. The recruited students were randomly divided into the training group (n = 28) and the control group (n = 28). The training group engaged in Go/NoGo and stop-signal tasks for 2 weeks, while the control group was given the task of reading and summarizing popular science articles related to self-control. The Stroop task and Balloon Analog Risk Task were used to evaluate the pretest and posttest performance in inhibitory control and risky decision-making tasks, respectively, for all subjects. The results showed that response inhibition training can be effectively transferred to interference control task performance. The results showed that both the reward acquired and adjusted Balloon Analog Risk Task score (adj BART) significantly improved compared to the pretest in the training group, while the control group showed no significant differences in the reward acquired and the adj BART between the pretest and the posttest. Although response inhibition training increased risky behaviors in the Balloon Analog Risk Task, it substantially reduced overly conservative behaviors and participants gained more money.
Highlights
There are all kinds of risky decisions that we make in life
The results showed that both the reward acquired and adjusted Balloon Analog Risk Task score significantly improved compared to the pretest in the training group, while the control group showed no significant differences in the reward acquired and the adj BART between the pretest and the posttest
There was a downward trend in the Go/NoGo task, especially across the first four training sessions
Summary
There are all kinds of risky decisions that we make in life. From daily shopping to financial investments, people always need to make choices with limited time and information resources. Many studies have shown that people’s decision-making is influenced by gender, individual characteristics, emotional states, cognitive abilities, irrelevant information, and so on (Sun et al, 2015; Stanovich, 2018; Talukdar et al, 2018; Weller et al, 2018). Little is known about whether a simple and an operational training method can effectively affect decision-making. In the dual-process theories of decision-making, System 1 processes are often automatic, fast, and affected by emotion, while System 2 processes are relatively slow and rational process, in which the most important function of System 2 is the successful override of System 1 (Stanovich and West, 2008; Evans and Stanovich, 2013; Stanovich, 2018). The selection of alternative responses in the decision-making process depends
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