Decision-making impairments under ambiguous and risky situations in patients with prefrontal tumor: A neuropsychological study

Abstract

Introduction: The neural mechanism underlying decision-making, which is an important component of executive function, is complex and not fully understood. Few studies have directly investigated the two types of decision-making functions – under ambiguity and under risk – in patients with brain tumors in different brain regions. Methods: Participants were classified into the ventral prefrontal cortex tumor group (VPFC, n = 27), the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex tumor group (DLPFC, n = 29), and matched healthy controls (HCs, n = 32). All participants were given a battery of neuropsychological tests, and they then performed the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and the Game of Dice Task (GDT) to assess their decision-making under ambiguity and under risk, respectively. Results: The two patient groups performed significantly worse on attention, memory, information processing, and executive function. Additionally, patients in the DLPFC group performed significantly worse on the memory and information processing tests compared with the VPFC and HC groups. Conclusion: This study found that the decision-making functions of participants in the VPFC and DLPFC tumor groups were impaired to varying degrees. Among them, there was decision-making impairment under ambiguity and under risk in the VPFC group, and there was decision-making impairment under risk in the DLPFC group.