Risk-taking Task Research Articles

Concurrent behavioral modeling and multimodal neuroimaging reveals how feedback affects the performance of decision making in internet gaming disorder

Internet gaming disorder (IGD) prompts inquiry into how feedback from prior gaming rounds influences subsequent risk-taking behavior and potential neural mechanisms. Forty-two participants, including 15 with IGD and 27 health controls (HCs), underwent a sequential risk-taking task. Hierarchy Bayesian modeling was adopted to measure risky propensity, behavioral consistence, and affection by emotion ratings from last trial. Concurrent electroencephalogram and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (EEG-fNIRS) recordings were performed to demonstrate when, where and how the previous-round feedback affects the decision making to the next round. We discovered that the IGD illustrated heightened risk-taking propensity as compared to the HCs, indicating by the computational modeling (p = 0.028). EEG results also showed significant time window differences in univariate and multivariate pattern analysis between the IGD and HCs after the loss of the game. Further, reduced brain activation in the prefrontal cortex during the task was detected in IGD as compared to that of the control group. The findings underscore the importance of understanding the aberrant decision-making processes in IGD and suggest potential implications for future interventions and treatments aimed at addressing this behavioral addiction.

Effects of Heat Exposure and Ice Slurry Ingestion on Risk-Taking Behavior in Healthcare Workers.

Healthcare workers (HCWs) wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) experience physiological strain that can impair motor and psychological functions, potentially affecting patient care. We assessed the effects of heat exposure on maximal strength and risk-taking behavior among PPE-wearing HCWs and the efficacy of ice slurry to alleviate adverse effects. Seventeen HCWS completed two experimental trials in a crossover design, consuming 5 g·kg -1 of body mass of ambient drink (AMB) or ice slurry (ICE) before donning PPE and undergoing 2 h of simulated decontamination exercise (wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT): 25.9°C ± 0.8°C, PPE microenvironment WBGT: 29.1°C ± 2.1°C). Body core temperature ( Tc ), heart rate (HR), chest skin temperature ( Tsk ), ratings of perceived exertion (RPE), thermal sensation (RTS), maximal voluntary contraction (MVC), risk-taking behavior (balloon analogue risk-taking task (BART)), and salivary cortisol were assessed. Predrinking to postdrinking ∆ Tc was greater in ICE (-0.2°C ± 0.1°C) than AMB (-0.0°C ± 0.1°C, P = 0.003). Post-drinking RTS was lower in ICE (2.7 ± 1.2) than AMB (4.1 ± 0.4, P < 0.001). ICE and AMB had similar Tc and HR (both P > 0.05), but Tsk was lower in ICE than AMB ( P = 0.049). A lower MVC (30.3 ± 6.7 vs 27.4 ± 4.9 kg, P = 0.001) and higher BART-adjusted total pump count (472 ± 170 vs 615 ± 174 pumps, P = 0.017) was observed pretrial to posttrial in AMB but absent in ICE (both P > 0.05). Salivary cortisol was similar between trials ( P = 0.42). Heat-exposed PPE-wearing HCWs had impaired maximal strength and elevated risk-taking behavior. This may increase the risk of avoidable workplace accidents that can jeopardize HCWs and patient care. Ice slurry ingestion alleviated these heat-related impairments, suggesting its potential as an ergogenic aid.

Dual-process modeling of sequential decision making in the balloon analogue risk task

People are often faced with repeated risky decisions that involve uncertainty. In sequential risk-taking tasks, like the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), the underlying decision process is not yet fully understood. Dual-process theory proposes that human cognition involves two main families of processes, often referred to as System 1 (fast and automatic) and System 2 (slow and conscious). We cross models of the BART with different architectures of the two systems to yield a pool of computational dual-process models that are evaluated on multiple performance measures (e.g., parameter identifiability, model recovery, and predictive accuracy). Results show that the best-performing model configuration assumes the two systems are competitively connected, an evaluation process based on the Scaled Target Learning model of the BART, and an assessment rate that incorporates sensitivity to the trial number, pumping opportunity, and bias to engage in System 1. Findings also shed light on how modeling choices and response times in a dual-process framework can benefit our understanding of sequential risk-taking behavior.

Exploring the Impact of Smartphone Addiction on Risk Decision-Making Behavior among College Students Based on fNIRS Technology.

Smartphone Addiction is a social issue caused by excessive smartphone use, affecting decision-making processes. Current research on the risky decision-making abilities of smartphone addicts is limited. This study used the functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) brain imaging technique and a Sequential Risk-Taking Task experimental paradigm to investigate the decision-making behavior and brain activity of smartphone addicts under varying risk levels. Using a mixed experimental design, the research assessed decision-making ability and brain activation levels as dependent variables across two groups (addiction and control), two risk amounts (high and low), and two outcomes (gain and loss). The study included 42 participants, with 25 in the addiction group and 17 in the control group. Results indicated that risk level significantly impacted the decision-making ability of smartphone addicts, with high-risk levels leading to weaker decision-making ability and increased risk-taking. However, at low-risk levels, decision-making abilities between addicts and healthy individuals showed no significant difference. Furthermore, brain imaging results using fNIRS revealed stronger brain activation in the dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (dlPFC) region for smartphone addicts under loss outcome conditions, with no significant differences between the two groups in terms of brain activation at varying risk volumes. These findings are critical in promoting healthy smartphone use, guiding clinical treatment, and advancing brain mechanism research.

Neural symphony of risky decision making in children with ADHD: Insights from transcranial alternating current stimulation and cognitive modeling

BackgroundThe ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) are key brain regions involved in risky decision making, affected in individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This study aims to examine how entrainment of these areas impacts the process and outcome of risky decision making in children with ADHD. MethodsEighteen children with ADHD performed the balloon analogue risk-taking task (BART) during five different sessions of tACS (1.5 mA, 6 Hz), separated by one-week intervals, via (1) two channels with synchronized stimulation over the left dlPFC and right vmPFC, (2) the same electrode placement with anti-phase stimulation, (3) stimulation over the left dlPFC only, (4) stimulation over right vmPFC only, and (5) sham stimulation. Four-parameter and constant-sensitivity models were used to model the data. ResultsThe study showed that synchronized stimulation was associated with a reduction in positive prior belief, risk propensity, and deterministic selection. Desynchronized stimulation was associated with accelerated learning from initial selections. Isolated stimulation of the dlPFC leads to riskier decision enhanced learning updates and risk propensity, whereas isolated stimulation of the vmPFC facilitated faster learning and increased probabilistic selection. ConclusionThe results highlight the important roles of the dlPFC and vmPFC and their communication in decision making, showcasing their impact on various aspects of the decision-making process. The findings provide valuable insights into the complex interplay between cognitive and emotional factors in shaping our choices.

Tools for the Assessment of Risk-Taking Behavior in Older Adults with Mild Dementia: A Cross-Sectional Clinical Study.

Diseases such as Alzheimer's cause an alteration of cognitive functions, which can lead to increased daily risk-taking in older adults living at home. The assessment of decision-making abilities is primarily based on clinicians' global analysis. Usual neuropsychological tests such as the MoCA (Montreal Cognitive Assessment) cover most of the cognitive domains and include mental flexibility tasks. Specific behavioral tasks for risk-taking, such as the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) or the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), have been developed to assess risk-taking behavior, particularly in the field of addictology. Our cross-sectional study aims to determine whether the MoCA global cognitive assessment could be used as a substitute for behavioral tasks in the assessment of risky behavior. In the current study, 24 patients (age: 82.1 ± 5.9) diagnosed with mild dementia completed the cognitive assessment (MoCA and executive function assessment) and two behavioral risk-taking tasks (BART, simplified version of the IGT). Results revealed no relationship between scores obtained in the MoCA and behavioral decision-making tasks. However, the two tasks assessing risk-taking behavior resulted in concordant risk profiles. In addition, patients with a high risk-taking behavior profile on the BART had better Trail Making Test (TMT) scores and thus retained mental flexibility. These findings suggest that MoCA scores are not representative of risk-taking behavioral inclinations. Thus, additional clinical tests should be used to assess risk-taking behavior in geriatric settings. Executive function measures, such as the TMT, and behavioral laboratory measures, such as the BART, are recommended for this purpose.

Transcranial direct current stimulation alters the process of reward processing in children with ADHD: Evidence from cognitive modeling

BackgroundThe ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) are the neural underpinnings of reward processing, which is impaired in individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In the present study, we aimed to explore the impact of the vmPFC and the dlPFC regulation on reward processing. MethodsTwenty-six children with ADHD performed the balloon analogue risk-taking task (BART) and chocolate delay discounting task (CDDT) during five different sessions of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), separated by a one-week interval: anodal left dlPFC/cathodal right vmPFC, the reversed electrode positioning, anodal left dlPFC stimulation with extracranial return electrode, anodal right vmPFC stimulation with extracranial return electrodes, and sham stimulation. Four-parameter and constant-sensitivity models were used to model the data. ResultsIn the BART, anodal dlPFC/cathodal vmPFC stimulation facilitated conservative decision making, anodal tDCS over dlPFC with extracranial return electrode increased positive beliefs about the explosion of a balloon, and anodal vmPFC/cathodal dlPFC stimulation reduced ongoing learning in the process of decision making. In the CDDT, anodal vmPFC stimulation with extracranial return electrode decreased impatience in the process of the task. ConclusionThese results suggest a role of the left dlPFC and right vmPFC in the outcome of decision making and the process of risky decision making and delay discounting.

Gambling on an empty stomach: Hunger modulates preferences for learned but not described risks.

We assess risks differently when they are explicitly described, compared to when we learn directly from experience, suggesting dissociable decision-making systems. Our needs, such as hunger, could globally affect our risk preferences, but do they affect described and learned risks equally? On one hand, decision-making from descriptions is often considered flexible and context sensitive, and might therefore be modulated by metabolic needs. On the other hand, preferences learned through reinforcement might be more strongly coupled to biological drives. Thirty-two healthy participants (females: 20, mean age: 25.6±6.5years) with a normal weight (Body Mass Index: 22.9±3.2kg/m2 ) were tested in a within-subjects counterbalanced, randomized crossover design for the effects of hunger on two separate risk-taking tasks. We asked participants to choose between two options with different risks to obtain monetary outcomes. In one task, the outcome probabilities were described numerically, whereas in a second task, they were learned. In agreement with previous studies, we found that rewarding contexts induced risk-aversion when risks were explicitly described (F1,31 =55.01, p<.0001, ηp 2 =.64), but risk-seeking when they were learned through experience (F1,31 =10.28, p<.003, ηp 2 =.25). Crucially, hunger attenuated these contextual biases, but only for learned risks (F1,31 =8.38, p<.007, ηp 2 =.21). The results suggest that our metabolic state determines risk-taking biases when we lack explicit descriptions.

Puberty and risky decision-making in male adolescents

Pubertal development is a potential trigger for increases in risk-taking behaviours during adolescence. Here, we sought to investigate the relationship between puberty and neural activation during risky decision-making in males using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Forty-seven males aged 12.5–14.5 years completed an fMRI risk-taking task (BART) and reported their tendencies for risky decision-making using a self-report questionnaire. Puberty was assessed through self-reported pubertal status and salivary testosterone levels. Testosterone concentration, but not physical pubertal status, was positively correlated with self-reported risk-taking behaviour, while neither was correlated with BART performance. Across the whole sample, participants had greater activation of the bilateral nucleus accumbens and right caudate on trials when they made a successful risky decision compared to trials when they made a safe choice or when their risky decision was unsuccessful. There was a negative correlation between pubertal stage and brain activation during unsuccessful risky decision-making trials compared within unsuccessful control trials. Males at a lower stage of pubertal development showed increased activation in the left insula, right cingulate cortex, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), right putamen and right orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) relative to more pubertally mature males during trials when they chose to take a risk and the balloon popped compared to when they watched the computer make an unsuccessful risky decision. Less pubertally mature males also showed greater activation in brain regions including the dmPFC, right temporal and frontal cortices, right OFC, right hippocampus and occipital cortex in unsuccessful risky trials compared to successful risky trials. These results suggest a puberty-related shift in neural activation within key brain regions when processing outcomes of risky decisions, which may reduce their sensitivity to negative feedback, and in turn contribute to increases in adolescent risk-taking behaviours.

Impulsivity Classification Using EEG Power and Explainable Machine Learning.

Impulsivity is a multidimensional construct often associated with unfavorable outcomes. Previous studies have implicated several electroencephalography (EEG) indices to impulsiveness, but results are heterogeneous and inconsistent. Using a data-driven approach, we identified EEG power features for the prediction of self-reported impulsiveness. To this end, EEG signals of 56 individuals (18 low impulsive, 20 intermediate impulsive, 18 high impulsive) were recorded during a risk-taking task. Extracted EEG power features from 62 electrodes were fed into various machine learning classifiers to identify the most relevant band. Robustness of the classifier was varied by stratified [Formula: see text]-fold cross validation. Alpha and beta band power showed best performance in the classification of impulsiveness (accuracy = 95.18% and 95.11%, respectively) using a random forest classifier. Subsequently, a sequential bidirectional feature selection algorithm was used to estimate the most relevant electrode sites. Results show that as little as 10 electrodes are sufficient to reliably classify impulsiveness using alpha band power ([Formula: see text]-measure = 94.50%). Finally, the Shapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) analysis approach was employed to reveal the individual EEG features that contributed most to the model's output. Results indicate that frontal as well as posterior midline alpha power seems to be of most importance for the classification of impulsiveness.

The modulation of attentional deployment on emotional sensitivity to missed opportunity in depressive individuals: An event-related potential study

BackgroundDepression affects individuals' physical and mental health seriously. It's important to explore the pathological mechanisms underlying depression. However, the emotional sensitivity to missed opportunity in depressive individuals and whether attentional deployment influences it remain unclear. The exploration of these questions could help to find novel approaches for the treatment of depression. MethodsExperiment 1 investigated the emotional sensitivity to missed opportunity in depressive participants during a sequential risk-taking task relative to healthy participants. Experiment 2 added attentional deployment manipulation to the task, i.e., inducing participants to focus on the positive or negative part of decision outcome, and investigated the modulation of attentional deployment on depressive participants' emotional sensitivity to missed opportunity and the neural mechanisms underlying this process by using EEG. ResultsDepressive participants showed stronger emotional sensitivity to missed opportunity and LPP was a biomarker of this sensitivity. Moreover, focusing on the positive part of outcome reduced depressive participants' emotional sensitivity to missed opportunity effectively, and alpha power in the parietal area played a key role in this process. ConclusionsThe current study primarily revealed that depressive individuals were more sensitive to missed opportunity and attentional deployment was an effective way to modulate this sensitivity.

A Bayesian Modeling Approach to Examine the Role of Testosterone Administration on the Endowment Effect and Risk-Taking

Financial risk-taking and loss aversion are multifaceted phenomena that are the focus of neuroscience, psychology, and economics research. A growing number of studies highlighted the role of hormones (particularly of testosterone) on socio-economic decision-making. However, the effects of testosterone on risk-taking under framing and consumer-based choices and preferences are inconclusive. We investigated the effects of 100 mg testosterone administration on aspects of decision-making within the Prospect Theory framework which is the most used descriptive model of decision-making under risk. We assessed risk-taking under framing and the endowment effect (effect of possession) using Bayesian modeling. Forty men participated in this double-blind placebo-controlled fully-randomized cross-over experiment and performed two tasks. One was a risk-taking task with binary choices under positive and negative framing associated with different probabilities. In the second task participants had to bid money for hedonic and utilitarian items. We observed a significant increase in serum testosterone concentrations after transdermal application. Compared to placebo, testosterone administration increased risk-taking under the positive framing (very large effect size) and decreased under the negative framing (moderate to small). The sensitivity to gain was positive in each framing. Our model showed that decision-making is jointly influenced by testosterone and the trade-off between gains and losses. However, while the endowment effect was more pronounced for hedonic than for utilitarian items, the effect was independent of testosterone. The findings provide novel information on the complex modulatory role of testosterone on risk-taking within the framework of prospect theory and shed light on mechanisms of behavioral economic biases. The proposed models of effects of individual differences in testosterone on risk-taking could be used as predictive models for reference-depended behavior under positive and negative framing with low and high probabilities.

Increased Urination Urgency Exacerbates Sexual Risk-Taking Through Heightened Sexual Arousal.

Increased urination urgency has been shown to facilitate impulse control in cognitive domains, but its effects in other areas are unknown. We examined whether inhibitory spillover effects would replicate and extend to close relationships-specifically, influencing decision making related to sexual risk-taking. Across three studies, we either measured (Studies 1 and 3) or manipulated (Study 2) participants' bladder pressure and assessed sexual self-control using a questionnaire of sexual risk-taking intentions (Study 1) or a simulated semi-behavioral sexual risk-taking (Choose Your Own Sexual Adventure) task (Studies 2 and 3). Study 1 (N = 44 men, 59 women) showed greater urination urgency was associated with greater sexual risk-taking. Study 2 (N = 65 men, 91 women) showed that increasing urination urgency led to greater sexual risk-taking, but only among men. Study 3 (N = 86 men, 183 women) showed elevated urination urgency was associated with an increase in sexual arousal, which accounted for the greater sexual risk-taking.

Risk-taking Behavior Under the Effect of Emotional Stimuli Among Children and Adults.

Risk-taking has an important role in human life, either positive or negative. Finding a method to control or drive this in a particular way can affect the health of individuals and communities by discouraging negative risks, such as reckless driving, or encouraging positive risks. It has been shown that emotion induction can enhance risk-taking behavior. Nonetheless, studies are mainly conducted on adults and a gap to focus on adolescents group as the peak age of risk-taking is required. Therefore, a new risk-taking task is introduced and development of risk-taking behavior in children is compared with a group male adults. In addition, influence of positive and negative emotional images on the risk-taking behavior is also evaluated. A total of 21 children and 20 adults participated in this experiment. Their risk taking behavior is obtained using a new version of the dice game task with emotional stimuli. Subsequently, performances of two groups before and after emotional priming are statistically compared. The results showed that children have a higher tendency to choose riskier options when they are affected by positive emotion, while adults are more risk-averse after being primed by negative emotion. These findings can be helpful for policymakers and tutoring planners to control risk-taking behavior at different ages using the priming effect of positive and negative emotions. Children perform riskier than adults in our new version of the game of dice task.Children are affected by choosing riskier options by positive priming.Adults are affected by choosing less risky options by negative priming.Results were proved by dual-process theory. Every second of our life is consistent with decision-making. When you decide you face conditions that you do not know the result when you choose them. Choosing these options is associated with risks. Choosing these options can have both advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, it will be very useful for communities, if they can find a way to control it. In this study, we aimed to test whether it is possible to control risk-taking by viewing emotional pictures before decision-making or not. Hence, we design gambling-like experiments and test adults and children using this experiment. These two age groups were used to test the existence of any difference or similarity between their behaviors. We used three main emotions to check their effect on people's choices. We wanted to check what happens to people's decisions if they are faced with positive, negative, or neutral images before their choice. Results showed that children were riskier than adults and affected more when facing positive images and selecting riskier options. On the other hand, adults are more affected by negative images and chose safer options after seeing the pictures in this emotion.

The day after the disaster: Risk-taking following large- and small-scale disasters in a microworld

AbstractUsing data from seven microworld experiments (N = 841), we investigated how participants reacted to simulated disasters with different risk profiles in a microworld. Our central focus was to investigate how the scale of a disaster affected the choices and response times of these reactions. We find that one-off large-scale disasters prompted stronger reactions to move away from the affected region than recurrent small-scale adverse events, despite the overall risk of a disaster remaining constant across both types of events. A subset of participants are persistent risk-takers who repeatedly put themselves in harm’s way, despite having all the experience and information required to avoid a disaster. Furthermore, while near-misses prompted a small degree of precautionary movement to reduce one’s subsequent risk exposure, directly experiencing the costs of the disaster substantially increased the desire to move away from the affected region. Together, the results point to ways in which laboratory risk-taking tasks can be used to inform the kinds of communication and interventions that seek to mitigate people’s exposure to risk.

Does acute alcohol consumption increase risk-taking while gambling? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

To estimate the effect of acute alcohol consumption on risk-taking while gambling, examine blood alcohol concentration as a moderator and explore possible moderators of this effect. A systematic review and meta-analysis was completed. A Boolean search strategy was used to identify studies that included (a) alcohol consumption as an independent variable; (b) a gambling or risk-taking task; (c) a control or placebo comparison; (d) human participants; and (e) English publications. Descriptive information, sample characteristics and experimental data were extracted from each study. Searched databases included: PsycINFO, Web of Science, Medline, Cochrane Library and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. Included as participants were experiments that compared the effects of alcohol and non-alcoholic or placebo beverages on risk-taking while gambling. Comprehensive Meta-Analysis version 3.3.070 was used. Standardized mean differences of risk-taking while gambling between the experimental and control conditions were calculated when studies did not report effect sizes. Random-effects models were used for overall effect and meta-regressions while mixed-effects models were used for subgroup analyses. Twenty articles containing 47 alcohol versus control comparisons met inclusion criteria. The overall Hedges'g for the difference between groups consuming alcohol and groups consuming a placebo or non-alcoholic drink control was 0.03, 95% confidence interval (CI) = -0.07, 0.12, p = 0.60, indicating no significant difference. Larger effect sizes were found for studies using non-alcoholic control drinks (Hedges' g = 0.30, 95% CI = 0.01, 0.58) compared to placebo beverages (Hedges' g = -0.03, 95% CI = -0.13, 0.06), Cochran's Q= 4.67, p = 0.03. Finding that acute alcohol consumption had no reliable effect on risk-taking while gambling was consistent with existing animal research. No support was found for the relation between alcohol dose and risk-taking. The significantly larger effect size for experiments using non-alcoholic versus placebo beverages suggests the potential role of expectancy effects.

The neural mechanisms underlying the modulation of attentional deployment on emotional stability.

Emotional stability, the change of emotion response among situations, was associated with mental illness, such as depression. The current study aimed to explore the modulation of attentional deployment on emotional stability by combining functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a sequential risk-taking task. During the task, participants were asked to open a series of boxes consecutively and decided when to stop. Each box contained a reward, except one containing a devil to zero reward in the trial. When participants stopped, both collected gains and missed chances were revealed. The attentional deployment was manipulated during the outcome feedback, i.e., inducing participants to focus on the good part (GF context) or the bad part (MF context) of the decision outcome. Besides, the Control context was also set, in which the attentional deployment was not manipulated. The behavioral results showed that the emotional stability was stronger in GF context relative to MF and Control contexts. At the neural level, with outcomes getting better, activations of ventral striatum (VS) and superior frontal gyrus (SFG) increased faster in GF context than that in MF and Control contexts. In addition, in GF context, the changing of SFG activation with outcomes getting better was associated with emotional stability. The current study highlighted that focusing on the good part of decision outcomes could enhance emotional stability effectively and SFG played a vital role in this process.

Decision-Making Under Risk and Uncertainty by Substance Abusers and Healthy Controls.

Cognitive impairment characterized by high impulsivity and risk-taking has been correlated with substance-related disorders. However, it is unclear if the decision-making process is well known upon consideration of factors such as uncertainty environments, risk, and time manipulation in different decision-making procedures. The main objective of this study was to identify behavioral differences between substance abusers and healthy control participants in a behavioral test battery, including (1) two uncertainty decision-making tasks, the Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART) and the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT, trial 1–40); (2) three risk-taking tasks, the Columbia Card Task Hot version (CCT-hot), Columbia Card Task Cold version (CCT-cold), and the IGT (trial 41–100); and (3) an impulsivity task, the Delay Discounting task (DD). The second objective looked at how the six behavioral tests correlate. We worked with a sample of 54 adult participants (Substance abusers: n = 28; Healthy controls: n = 26). An anonymous survey website was created to execute all the cognitive tasks. The results showed no statistically significant differences between the groups in any of the tasks. However, the results showed an upward trend of impulsive (i.e., steeply discounting curve) and risk-taking behaviors (i.e., a low learning curve in IGT) in substance abuse participants. The factor analysis results showed four different main factors: (1) risk-taking task in the IGT (trial 40–100), (2) uncertainty task in BART, (3) impulsivity in DD, IGT (trial 1–40), and (4) deliberate process in the Columbia card task (cold and hot). We conclude that factors such as the uncertainty tasks in the BART and the first block of IGT trials, the risk cues in the CCT tasks (i.e., number of loss, number of gains, and loss cards), and the time to delivery in the DD task, can affect the complex decision-making process in both clinical and healthy groups.

Dissociating value-based neurocomputation from subsequent selection-related activations in human decision-making.

Human decision-making requires the brain to fulfill neural computation of benefit and risk and therewith a selection between options. It remains unclear how value-based neural computation and subsequent brain activity evolve to achieve a final decision and which process is modulated by irrational factors. We adopted a sequential risk-taking task that asked participants to successively decide whether to open a box with potential reward/punishment in an eight-box trial, or not to open. With time-resolved multivariate pattern analyses, we decoded electroencephalography and magnetoencephalography responses to two successive low- and high-risk boxes before open-box action. Referencing the specificity of decoding-accuracy peak to a first-stage processing completion, we set it as the demarcation and dissociated the neural time course of decision-making into valuation and selection stages. The behavioral hierarchical drift diffusion modeling confirmed different information processing in two stages, that is, the valuation stage was related to the drift rate of evidence accumulation, while the selection stage was related to the nondecision time spent in response-producing. We further observed that medial orbitofrontal cortex participated in the valuation stage, while superior frontal gyrus engaged in the selection stage of irrational open-box decisions. Afterward, we revealed that irrational factors influenced decision-making through the selection stage rather than the valuation stage.

The Effectiveness of Mating Induction on Men's Financial Risk-Taking: Relationship Experience Matters.

Substantial evidence from experimental studies has shown that mating motivation increases men’s financial risk-taking behaviors. The present study proposed a new moderator, men’s past relationship experience, for this well-accepted link between mating motivation and financial risk-taking tendency. Heterosexual young men were randomly assigned to the mating condition and control condition, and they completed a set of financial risk-taking tasks and reported their past relationship experience. A significant main effect of mating motivation and a significant interaction effect between experimental conditions (mating group and control group) and relationship experience emerged, suggesting that mating motivation increased financial risk-taking tendency only among men who have never been committed in a romantic relationship, rather than those who have had such experience. This moderating effect was replicated in two experiments. The present study contributed to the understanding of individual differences in the relationship between mating motivation and male financial risk-taking. The present findings also have important implications for financial industry and gambling companies to better target clients and advertise their high-risk products.