Affective Decision Research Articles

Socioeconomic status differences in children's affective decision-making: The role of awareness in the Children's Gambling Task.

Future-oriented decision-making is an important adaptive behavior. In the present study, we examined whether decision-making varies as a function of socioeconomic status (SES) using the Children's Gambling task (CGT). We administered the CGT to 227 children (49% female, 48% low SES) between the ages of 5 and 7 years. After completing the CGT, we assessed children's knowledge of the reward/loss contingencies. Data analysis was conducted through multilevel modeling. Fluid intelligence, as measured by the Test of Nonverbal Intelligence, was included as a covariate in the analysis. Overall performance differed between SES groups. Children from middle/high-SES backgrounds learned to choose more from the deck with higher future reward. In contrast, children in the low-SES group did not act in a full future-oriented manner. No differences were found in the level of explicit understanding of the task reached by the two SES groups. Whereas middle/high-SES children with higher knowledge of the game performed better on the last blocks of the task in comparison with their same-SES peers with no understanding, low-SES children with higher explicit knowledge did not exhibit an improvement in their decision-making strategy in comparison with their same-SES low-awareness counterparts. Fluid intelligence did not predict CGT performance, suggesting that SES differences were not mediated by reasoning capabilities. The finding that children from low-SES families continued exhibiting an immediate reward-oriented strategy despite being aware of deck contingencies fits with (although speculatively) the evolutionary-developmental framework. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Risky Decision-Making in Schizophrenia: Examination of association between smoking, substance use and performance on the Iowa Gambling test: Pilot Study

IntroductionThere are two common hypotheses to explain such high comorbidity between nicotine dependence and schizophrenia (SZ): self-medication for decreasing psychiatric symptoms or common environmental risk factors can predispose to both nicotine dependence and other risky behaviors in SZObjectivesLittle is known about the influence of cigarette smoking comorbidities such substance use disorder (SUD), criminal history, or risky decision among patients with SZ.MethodsThe Iowa Gambling test (IGT) was administered to thirty-nine patients with SZ of whom 69% reporting cigarette smoking. Both groups were evaluated using a socio-demographic questionnaire and clinical assessment using PANSS and self-report questionnaire the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11). To evaluate decision making was evaluated with the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT).ResultsThe full SZ sample performed worse on the IGT then normal population. Smokers with SZ performed significantly worse than nonsmokers on the IGT primarily because they preferred “disadvantageous” decks to a greater degree. The PANSS and impulsivity tendencies (BIS-11) did not predict overall performance on the IGT. Smokers with SZ had impaired affective decision-making. Behavior suggested preferential attention to the frequency amount of gain and inattention to amount of loss suggesting impairments in risk/reward decision-makingConclusionsThis study is the first to compare IGT in smokers and nonsmokers with SZ with adjustment of SUD, criminal history, and existing tattoo to further examine IGT performance. These results support the hypothesis that comorbidities between nicotine dependence and SZ can be linked to other common factor that is associated with other externalizing behaviors in SZ.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

The role of primary school composition in affective decision-making: a prospective cohort study

PurposeSchool-level characteristics are known to be associated with pupils’ academic and cognitive ability but also their socioemotional development. This study examines, for the first time, whether primary school characteristics are associated with pupils’ affective decision-making too.MethodsThe sample included 3,141 children participating in the Millennium Cohort Study with available data on their school’s characteristics, according to the National Pupil Database, at age 7 years. Decision-making was measured using the Cambridge Gambling Task at age 11 years. We modelled data using a series of sex-stratified linear regression analyses of decision-making (risk‐taking, quality of decision‐making, risk adjustment, deliberation time, and delay aversion) against four indicators of school composition (academic performance and proportions among pupils who are native speakers of English, are eligible for free school meals and have special educational needs).ResultsAfter adjustment for individual and family-level confounding, schools with a higher average academic performance showed more delay aversion among males, and among females, higher deliberation time and lower risk-taking. Schools with proportionally more native English speakers had higher deliberation time among males. Schools with proportionally more pupils eligible for free school meals showed lower scores on quality of decision-making among males. Schools with proportionally more children with special educational needs showed better quality of decision-making among males and lower risk-taking among females.ConclusionThe findings of this study can be used to target support for primary schools. Interventions aiming to support lower-achieving schools and those with less affluent intakes could help to improve boys’ affective decision-making.

Environment and body-brain interplay affect inhibition and decision-making

The fine-tuned interplay of brain and body underlies human ability to cope with changes in the internal and external milieus. Previous research showed that cardiac interoceptive changes (e.g., cardiac phase) affect cognitive functions, notably inhibition that is a key element for adaptive behaviour. Here we investigated the influence on cognition of vestibular signal, which provides the brain with sensory information about body position and movement. We used a centrifuge-based design to disrupt vestibular signal in healthy human volunteers while their inhibition and decision-making functions were assessed with the stop-signal paradigm. Participants performed the standard and a novel, sensorial version of the stop-signal task to determine whether disrupted vestibular signal influences cognition as a function of its relevance to the context. First, we showed that disrupted vestibular signal was associated with a larger variability of longest inhibition latencies, meaning that participants were even slower to inhibit in the trials where they had the most difficulty inhibiting. Second, we revealed that processing of bodily information, as required in the sensorial stop-signal task, also led to a larger variability of longest inhibition latencies, which was all the more important when vestibular signal was disrupted. Lastly, we found that such a degraded response inhibition performance was due in part to the acceleration of decision-making process, meaning that participants made a decision more quickly even when strength of sensory evidence was reduced. Taken together, these novel findings provide direct evidence that vestibular signal affects the cognitive functions of inhibition and decision-making.

Dissociation of behavioral and neural responses to provocation during reactive aggression in healthy adults with high versus low externalization

The externalizing spectrum describes a range of heterogeneous personality traits and behavioral patterns, primarily characterized by antisocial behavior, disinhibition, and substance (mis)use. In psychopathology, abnormalities in neural threat, reward responses and the impulse-control system may be responsible for these externalizing symptoms. Within the non-clinical range, mechanisms remain still unclear. In this fMRI-study, 61 healthy participants (31 men) from the higher versus lower range of the non-clinical variation in externalization (31 participants with high externalization) as assessed by the subscales disinhibition and meanness of the Triarchic-Psychopathy-Measure (TriPM) performed a monetary modified Taylor-Aggression-Paradigm (mTAP). This paradigm consisted of a mock competitive-reaction-time-task played against a fictional opponent with preprogrammed win- and lose-trials. In lose-trials, participants were provoked by subtraction of an amount of money between 0 and 90 cents. As a manipulation check, provocation induced a significant rise in behavioral aggression levels linked with an increased activation in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). High externalization predicted reduced ACC responses to provocation. However, high externalizing participants did not behave more aggressively than the low externalization group. Additionally, the high externalizing group showed a significantly lower positive affect while no group differences emerged for negative affect. In conclusion, high externalization in the non-clinical range was related to neural alterations in regions involved in affective decision-making as well as to changes in affect but did not lead to higher behavioral aggression levels in response to the mTAP. This is in line with previous findings suggesting that aberrations at multiple levels are essential for developing externalizing disorders.

Supplemental Material for Socioeconomic Status Differences in Children’s Affective Decision-Making: The Role of Awareness in the Children’s Gambling Task

Supplemental Material for Socioeconomic Status Differences in Children’s Affective Decision-Making: The Role of Awareness in the Children’s Gambling Task

Exploring condom use decision-making among adolescents: the synergistic role of affective and rational processes

BackgroundCondom use remains the most effective behavioural method for the prevention of HIV and unplanned pregnancies. However, condom use remains inconsistent among young people. Exploring the condom use decision-making processes that adolescents engage in might provide information that would assist in the prevention of many challenges related to poor sexual and reproductive health outcomes. This study therefore aimed to explore the factors that influenced decision-making about sexual debut and condom use of adolescents from two schools in the Western Cape, South Africa.MethodsA sample of 16 adolescents were selected using purposive sampling. Data were collected using semi-structured, individual interviews. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data generated.ResultsThe link between sexual debut and affective processes was frequently discussed in condom use decision-making. Decisions about sexual debut were influenced by the belief that sex was a perceived symbol of ‘true love’ on the one hand, and respect for perceived parental expectations of age-appropriate sex, on the other. Condom use decision-making was shaped by adolescents’ concerns about their future and lack of stability in their lives. Adolescents’ fears of pregnancy, parenthood and disease shaped their condom use decision-making. It became evident that rational and affective decision-making in condom use choice were not mutually exclusive, but that these processes happened simultaneously.ConclusionsThe study highlighted the role of affective states as part of the process of examining alternatives when deciding to use a condom or not. Interventions to strengthen condom use decision-making should therefore incorporate not only rational but also affective processes to improve adolescent sexual and reproductive outcomes.

Monoamine Oxidase-A and Conduct Problems in Children: The Role of Affective Decision-Making

Monoamine Oxidase-A and Conduct Problems in Children: The Role of Affective Decision-Making

A Study on Entrepreneurial Environment and the Features of Rural Youth Independent Entrepreneurial Behavior

“Start a business or not” and “Which industry to choose” in the entrepreneurial behavior of rural youth present interesting characteristics of “path dependence”. At the same time, the rural natural environment, financial environment, social environment, policy environment, cultural environment and other external environments also have an important impact on the entrepreneurial behavior of rural youth. Through descriptive statistical analysis and quantitative analysis, this paper reveals the growth mechanism of rural youth self-employment, that is, whether there is “entrepreneurial imitation” in rural youth self-employment? Through what transmission path does entrepreneurial imitation affect decision-making of independent undertaking? Summarizing the behavioral characteristics of rural youth self-employment, and construct corresponding countermeasures and suggestions.

Do Hot Executive Functions Relate to BMI and Body Composition in School Age Children?

Deficits of ‘hot’ executive functions (EFs) involving emotional and motivational processes are considered as a risk factor for excessive weight, but few studies have tested the relationship between hot EFs and body composition in children. The aim of the study was to assess the association of the ability to delay gratification and affective decision-making with the body mass index (BMI) and body composition in children with typical neurocognitive development. The sample consisted of 553 Polish children aged between 6–12 y. The delay of gratification task (DGT) was applied to assess the ability to delay gratification. The Hungry Donkey test (HDT) was applied to assess affective decision-making. The indicators of decision-making in the HDT were net score and learning rate. The relationships between hot EFs and BMI, fat mass index (FMI), lean body mass index (LBMI) were tested. The association of the z scores of BMI and FMI, overweight/obesity, and the ability to delay gratification was found insignificant after controlling cofounding factors. Most of the results on affective decision-making and z scores for BMI, FMI and LBMI were insignificant as well. The relationship between the ability to delay gratification, affective decision-making, and adiposity is not pronounced in typically developed children.

Affective decision-making in children prenatally exposed to opioids.

Although opioid maintenance therapy (OMT) is currently recommended for pregnant opioid-dependent women, potential effects on children's long-term development are still largely unknown. The current study assessed the long-term cognitive development of children born to women in OMT. Particularly, children's decision-making performance was assessed with a child-friendly version of the Iowa Gambling Task. Using a prospective longitudinal design, a cohort of children was followed from birth to middle childhood. Data were collected in Norway between 2005 and 2017. Participants included 41 children (aged 9-11years), 20 of whom had histories of prenatal methadone or buprenorphine exposure. Background data were collected from personal interviews and medical records in 2005-2006. Children's affective decision-making was assessed in 2016-2017. Results showed no main effect of group on the net scores in the gambling task, F(1, 39)=1.44, p=0.24, η2 = 0.04, demonstrating no group differences in decision-making performance. A main effect of group was found on sensitivity to punishment, with children in the control group choosing the doors with the infrequent, but high punishment more often compared to children in the OMT group, F(1, 39)=4.90, p=0.03, η2 =0.11. No main effect of group on decision-making speed was found, although results showed a significant interaction effect between group and gain, F(1, 8,194)=4.09, p=0.04, η2 =0.001. Children prenatally exposed to opioids were found to have normal decision-making performance on an affective decision-making task and were able to consider future consequences when making decisions.

Customers' risk perception and dine-out motivation during a pandemic: Insight for the restaurant industry.

The restaurant industry is one of the most affected businesses during the outbreak of COVID-19. The customer choice regarding whether or not to dine in a restaurant have changed due to this unprecedented global pandemic. Integrated with the affective decision-making framework, meta-theoretic model of motivation (3M), and optimistic bias theory, this conceptual paper proposes a theoretical scheme for understanding constructs that affect consumer motivation while considering the significance of consumers' risk perceptions of the novel coronavirus disease. This research aims to delineate the role of loyalty, trust, and transparency on resuming in-restaurant dining during and after the pandemic. By identifying the link between each construct and addressing the unparalleled food-/health related risks, this study suggests that restaurants who accumulated more customer trust by fostering transparency are likely to have more business and quickly recover from the shock.

The Roles of Fluid Intelligence and Emotional Intelligence in Affective Decision-Making During the Transition to Early Adolescence.

The current study mainly explored the influence of fluid intelligence (IQ) and emotional intelligence (EI) on affective decision-making from a developmental perspective, specifically, during the transition from childhood into early adolescence. Meanwhile, their age-related differences in affective decision-making were explored. A total of 198 participants aged 8–12 completed the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), the Cattell’s Culture Fair Intelligence Test and the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Child Form. Based on the net scores of IGT, the development of affective decision-making ability did not increase monotonically with age, and there was a developmental trend of an impaired IGT performance in early adolescence (aged 11–12), especially in the early learning phase (first 40 trials) of the IGT. More importantly, IQ and EI played different roles for children and early adolescents: IQ and EI jointly predicted the IGT performance for 8–10 years old children, whereas only EI contributed to the IGT performance of 11–12 years old early adolescents. The present study extends the evidence how cognitive processing and emotional processing interact in affective decision-making from the developmental perspective. Furthermore, it provides insights of future research and intervention with early adolescents’ poor affective decision-making.

The Determinants of Residents’ Evacuation Behavior in the Torrential Rain in Western Japan in 2018: Examination of Survey Data of Victims in Okayama Prefecture

The torrential rain (named “the July 2018 heavy rain”) from June 28 to July 8 in 2018 resulted in tremendous human and property damage. There were 237 deaths and 7,173 cases of flooding above the floor level. During the torrential rain, the low rate of evacuation behavior of residents in the affected area was also a problem. The Okayama prefecture conducted a mail survey with residents that suffered housing damage caused by the torrential rain (valid sample n = 3,765). The survey measured what residents’ awareness and knowledge were of flooding before the torrential rain, residents’ prediction of flooding and choice and reason of evacuation behavior during the emergency heavy rain warning and the evacuation order (emergency). This study analyzed the determinants of residents’ evacuation behaviors during the torrential rain with the survey data. The results indicated that, although most residents were aware of hazard maps before the torrential rain, few predicted flooding. Most residents were aware of the evacuation shelters and had a prior evacuation plan. However, some residents made no attempt to evacuate, even when their houses were damaged. During the emergency heavy rain warning, feeling a sense of crisis was an important factor to promote evacuation behavior. And, during the evacuation order (emergency), the majority of those who took actual evacuation behaviors was those who were approached by public sectors such as the fire department and the police. Moreover, residents’ judgment based on scientific information such as hazard maps and prediction of flooding before the torrential rain had little effect on evacuation behavior during the emergency heavy rain warning and the evacuation order (emergency). Therefore, the study indicates the importance of approaching residents’ affective decision-making, instead of relying on rational decision-making, to promote evacuation behavior when people are in unusual situations.

Expected Valence Predicts Choice in a Recurrent Decision Task.

There is empirical evidence that expected yet not current affect predicts decisions. However, common research designs in affective decision-making show consistent methodological problems (e.g., conceptualization of different emotion concepts; measuring only emotional valence, but not arousal). We developed a gambling task that systematically varied learning experience, average feedback balance and feedback consistency. In Experiment 1 we studied whether predecisional current affect or expected affect predict recurrent gambling responses. Furthermore, we exploratively examined how affective information is represented on a neuronal level in Experiment 2. Expected and current valence and arousal ratings as well as Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) responses were analyzed using a within-subject design. We used a generalized mixed effect model to predict gambling responses with the different affect variables. Results suggest a guiding function of expected valence for decisions. In the anticipation period, we found activity in brain areas previously associated with valence-general processing (e.g., anterior cingulate cortex, nucleus accumbens, thalamus) mostly independent of contextual factors. These findings are discussed in the context of the idea of a valence-general affective work-space, a goal-directed account of emotions, and the hypothesis that current affect might be used to form expectations of future outcomes. In conclusion, expected valence seems to be the best predictor of recurrent decisions in gambling tasks.

Responses to severe weather warnings and affective decision-making

Abstract. When public agencies provide information provision to help people make better decisions, they often face the choice between economy and completeness. For weather services warning people of high-impact weather events, this choice is between offering standard warnings (SWs) only of the weather event itself, such as wind-speed, or also describing the likely impacts (so-called impact-based warnings, IBWs). Previous studies have shown IBWs to lead to a greater behavioral response. These studies, however, have relied on surveys describing hypothetical weather events; given that participants did not feel threatened, they may have been more likely to process the warning slowly and analytically, which could bias the results towards finding a greater response to the IBWs. In this study, we conducted a field experiment involving actual and potentially threatening weather events for which there was variance with respect to the time interval between the warning and the forecasted event and for which we randomly assigned participants to receive SWs or IBWs. We observe that shorter time intervals led to a greater behavioral response, suggesting that fear of an imminent threat is an important factor motivating behavior. We observe that IBWs did not lead to greater rates of behavioral change than SWs, suggesting that when fear is a driving factor, the additional information in IBWs may be of little importance. We note that our findings are highly contextualized, but we call into question the prevailing belief that IBWs are necessarily more helpful than SWs.

The Agony of Choice? Preserved Affective Decision Making in Early Multiple Sclerosis.

Background: Cognitive impairment (CI) is an early and frequent symptom of multiple sclerosis (MS). Likewise, affective symptoms (e.g., depression and anxiety) and alterations in the processing of emotional stimuli have been frequently reported. Thus, abilities that integrate affective and cognitive processes such as decision making (DM) based on affective feedback are potentially valuable early diagnostic markers for MS. The available research on this topic, however, is still inconclusive and suffers from methodological issues.Methods: We compared DM ability in a clinically homogeneous cohort of 24 patients with early relapsing–remitting MS (RRMS) and 59 age-matched healthy controls (HCs). A modified version of the Iowa gambling task (IGT) allowed us to control for individual differences in search strategies during the risk exploration phase. Besides standard IGT measures (netscore, obtained play money, and learning index), we also examined reaction times and post-error slowing (PES) patterns as a proxy for abnormalities in the processing of affective feedback.Results: The performance of patients did not significantly deviate from HCs in any standard parameter of the modified IGT. Furthermore, although RRMS patients reacted significantly slower than HCs overall, we found similar patterns of PES in both groups, suggesting similarly efficient processing of affective feedback.Conclusion: We conclude that there is no specific deficit in affective feedback processing in early RRMS. Previous findings of IGT impairments in this patient group may thus not represent a genuine deficit in affective DM but rather be related to sample characteristics, general CI, and/or differences in individual search strategies. Future research should explore the potential influence of lesion volumes and locations on DM ability by employing brain imaging techniques.

Neural correlates of cue-induced changes in decision-making distinguish subjects with gambling disorder from healthy controls.

In addiction, there are few human studies on the neural basis of cue-induced changes in value-based decision making (Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer, PIT). It is especially unclear whether neural alterations related to PIT are due to the physiological effects of substance abuse or rather related to learning processes and/or other etiological factors related to addiction. We have thus investigated whether neural activation patterns during a PIT task help to distinguish subjects with gambling disorder (GD), a nonsubstance-based addiction, from healthy controls (HCs). Thirty GD and 30 HC subjects completed an affective decision-making task in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner. Gambling-associated and other emotional cues were shown in the background during the task. Data collection and feature modeling focused on a network of nucleus accumbens (NAcc), amygdala, and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) (derived from PIT and substance use disorder [SUD] studies). We built and tested a linear classifier based on these multivariate neural PIT signatures. GD subjects showed stronger PIT than HC subjects. Classification based on neural PIT signatures yielded a significant area under the receiver operating curve (AUC-ROC) (0.70, p = 0.013). GD subjects showed stronger PIT-related functional connectivity between NAcc and amygdala elicited by gambling cues, as well as between amygdala and OFC elicited by negative and positive cues. HC and GD subjects were thus distinguishable by PIT-related neural signatures including amygdala-NAcc-OFC functional connectivity. Neural PIT alterations in addictive disorders might not depend on the physiological effect of a substance of abuse but on related learning processes or even innate neural traits.

Executive function, motivation, and emotion recognition in high-functioning autism spectrum disorder

BackgroundSeveral neurocognitive theories have been put forward to explain autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, the specificity of executive cognitive, motivational (i.e., reward-related), and emotion-recognition impairments in ASD, and the role of early language delay in these impairments remain largely unclear. AimThis study aimed to examine executive cognitive, motivational, and emotion-recognition functions while considering the potential effect of language delay in ASD. MethodsTwenty-two adolescents with high-functioning ASD (20 males) and 22 typically developing (TD) adolescents (16 males) aged 11–18 years were recruited. Each completed seven computerized tasks measuring executive cognitive (i.e., set-shifting, inhibition, updating, and access/generativity), motivational (i.e., flexible reinforcement learning and affective decision-making), and emotion-recognition functions (i.e., facial emotion recognition). ResultsWe found that ASD participants with early language delay (n = 10) had poorer executive cognitive, motivational, and emotion-recognition functioning than TD controls, and had poorer executive cognitive and motivational functioning than ASD participants without language delay (n = 12). ASD participants without language delay only had poorer emotion recognition than TD controls. Conclusion and implicationsThese preliminary findings suggest impairments in executive cognitive and motivational functions as well as emotion recognition in ASD with language delay, and impairment only in emotion recognition in ASD without language delay. They implicate a potential partial distinction in mental abilities between ASD with and without early language delay, highlighting the importance of considering language delay when evaluating executive cognitive and motivational functions in ASD.

Alcohol, empathy, and morality: acute effects of alcohol consumption on affective empathy and moral decision-making

RationaleHypothetical moral dilemmas, pitting characteristically utilitarian and non-utilitarian outcomes against each other, have played a central role in investigations of moral decision-making. Preferences for utilitarian over non-utilitarian responses have been explained by two contrasting hypotheses; one implicating increased deliberative reasoning, and the other implicating diminished harm aversion. In recent field experiments, these hypotheses have been investigated using alcohol intoxication to impair both social and cognitive functioning. These studies have found increased utilitarian responding, arguably as a result of alcohol impairing affective empathy.ObjectivesThe present research expands existing investigations by examining the acute effects of alcohol on affective empathy and subsequent moral judgments in traditional vignettes and moral actions in virtual reality, as well as physiological responses in moral dilemmas.MethodsParticipants (N = 48) were administered either a placebo or alcohol in one of two dosages; low or moderate. Both pre- and post intervention, participants completed a moral action and moral judgment task alongside behavioural measures of affective empathy.ResultsHigher dosages of alcohol consumption resulted in inappropriate empathic responses to facial displays of emotion, mirroring responses of individuals high in trait psychopathy, but empathy for pain was unaffected. Whilst affective empathy was influenced by alcohol consumption in a facial responding task, both moral judgments and moral actions were unaffected.ConclusionsThese results suggest that facets, beyond or in addition to deficits in affective empathy, might influence the relationship between alcohol consumption and utilitarian endorsements.