Do incidental positive emotions induce more optimistic expectations of decision outcomes? An empirical study from the perspective of event-related potential

Abstract

Introduction: Previous research has found that incidental emotions of different valences (positive/negative/neutral) influence risky decision-making. However, the mechanism of their influence on psychological expectations of decision outcomes remains unclear. Methods: We explored the effects of different incidental emotions on the behavioral, psychological, and electrophysiological responses of individuals in risky decision-making through a money gambling task using a one-way (emotion type: positive, negative, neutral emotions) between-subjects experimental design. Results: Individuals with positive emotions had significantly greater risk-seeking rates than those with negative emotions during the decision selection phase (p