Decision-making after continuous wins or losses in a randomized guessing task: Implications for how the prior selection results affect subsequent decision-making

16Citations
Citations of this article
57Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

This article is free to access.

Abstract

Background: Human decision-making is often affected by prior selections and their outcomes, even in situations where decisions are independent and outcomes are unpredictable.Methods: In this study, we created a task that simulated real-life non-strategic gambling to examine the effect of prior outcomes on subsequent decisions in a group of male college students.Results: Behavioral performance showed that participants needed more time to react after continuous losses (LOSS) than continuous wins (WIN) and discontinuous outcomes (CONTROL). In addition, participants were more likely to repeat their selections in both WIN and LOSS conditions. Functional MRI data revealed that decisions in WINs were associated with increased activation in the mesolimbic pathway, but decreased activation in the inferior frontal gyrus relative to LOSS. Increased prefrontal cortical activation was observed during LOSS relative to WIN and CONTROL conditions.Conclusion: Taken together, the behavioral and neuroimaging findings suggest that participants tended to repeat previous selections during LOSS trials, a pattern resembling the gambler's fallacy. However, during WIN trials, participants tended to follow their previous lucky decisions, like the 'hot hand' fallacy. © 2014 Dong et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Figures

  • Figure 1 The timeline of one trial in present task. First, the backsides of two playing cards were shown and participants were asked to choose either the right or the left card with a button press. After 1.5 s the selected card was turned over and displayed for another 2 s. Depending on the color of the card the participant either won (red playing cards, including the heart and diamond J, Q, K) or lost (black playing cards; including the spade and club J, Q, K) 10 Yuan. After a total presentation time of 2 s, a black screen was presented for 1500 ms.
  • Figure 2 Three types of conditions used in this study. We paid attentio phase. Each phase were observed in three conditions: WIN, decision-makin ing for 3 continuous times; and CONTROL, no repeated wins or losses in th
  • Table 1 Comparisons among different conditions in the decision-making task
  • Table 2 Regional brain activity changes in different comparisons in decision-making and reward phases
  • Figure 3 Brain activations in WIN/LOSS compare to CONTROL in reward phase. Left, comparison between WIN and CONTROL; Right, comparison between LOSS and CONTROL.
  • Figure 4 Brain areas showing stronger activation when comparing WIN to CONTROL. Left: The activation include bilateral ventral striatum and left superior frontal gyrus. Right: The Beta figures of ventral striatums showed that the difference was driven by the WIN.
  • Figure 5 Brain areas showing stronger activation when comparing LOSS to CONTROL. Left: The activation including left ventral striatum, anterior cingulate cortex, the thalamus, and middle temporal gyrus. Right: Beta figures showed the difference was driven by LOSS.
  • Figure 6 Brain areas showing different activations when comparing WIN to LOSS. Left: The increased activation showed in bilateral caudate. Lower activation was found in inferior frontal gyrus and superior frontal gyrus. Right: The Beta figures showed that the difference in IFG was driven by the higher activation in LOSS. However, the difference in caudate was driven by the higher activation in WIN.

References Powered by Scopus

An Inventory for Measuring Depression

30550Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

The Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI). A short diagnostic structured interview: Reliability and validity according to the CIDI

2622Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Decision making, impulse control and loss of willpower to resist drugs: A neurocognitive perspective

1684Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Cited by Powered by Scopus

Cognitive control and reward/loss processing in Internet gaming disorder: Results from a comparison with recreational Internet game-users

88Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Altered brain activities associated with craving and cue reactivity in people with Internet gaming disorder: Evidence from the comparison with recreational Internet game users

52Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Brain response features during forced break could predict subsequent recovery in internet gaming disorder: A longitudinal study

30Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Dong, G., Lin, X., Zhou, H., & Du, X. (2014). Decision-making after continuous wins or losses in a randomized guessing task: Implications for how the prior selection results affect subsequent decision-making. Behavioral and Brain Functions, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/1744-9081-10-11

Readers over time

‘14‘15‘16‘17‘18‘19‘20‘21‘22‘23‘2405101520

Readers' Seniority

Tooltip

PhD / Post grad / Masters / Doc 27

68%

Researcher 8

20%

Professor / Associate Prof. 4

10%

Lecturer / Post doc 1

3%

Readers' Discipline

Tooltip

Psychology 23

66%

Neuroscience 6

17%

Medicine and Dentistry 3

9%

Business, Management and Accounting 3

9%

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free
0