Rapid brain responses independently predict gain maximization and loss minimization during economic decision making.
Abstract
Success in many decision-making scenarios depends on the ability to maximize gains
and minimize losses. Even if an agent knows which cues lead to gains and which lead
to losses, that agent could still make choices yielding suboptimal rewards. Here,
by analyzing event-related potentials (ERPs) recorded in humans during a probabilistic
gambling task, we show that individuals' behavioral tendencies to maximize gains and
to minimize losses are associated with their ERP responses to the receipt of those
gains and losses, respectively. We focused our analyses on ERP signals that predict
behavioral adjustment: the frontocentral feedback-related negativity (FRN) and two
P300 (P3) subcomponents, the frontocentral P3a and the parietal P3b. We found that,
across participants, gain maximization was predicted by differences in amplitude of
the P3b for suboptimal versus optimal gains (i.e., P3b amplitude difference between
the least good and the best gains). Conversely, loss minimization was predicted by
differences in the P3b amplitude to suboptimal versus optimal losses (i.e., difference
between the worst and the least bad losses). Finally, we observed that the P3a and
P3b, but not the FRN, predicted behavioral adjustment on subsequent trials, suggesting
a specific adaptive mechanism by which prior experience may alter ensuing behavior.
These findings indicate that individual differences in gain maximization and loss
minimization are linked to individual differences in rapid neural responses to monetary
outcomes.
Type
Journal articleSubject
AdolescentAdult
Brain
Cues
Decision Making
Evoked Potentials
Feedback, Psychological
Female
Gambling
Games, Experimental
Humans
Male
Predictive Value of Tests
Probability
Reward
Statistics as Topic
Young Adult
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/13524Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4242-12.2013Publication Info
San Martín, René; Appelbaum, Lawrence G; Pearson, John M; Huettel, Scott A; & Woldorff,
Marty G (2013). Rapid brain responses independently predict gain maximization and loss minimization
during economic decision making. J Neurosci, 33(16). pp. 7011-7019. 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4242-12.2013. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/13524.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Lawrence Gregory Appelbaum
Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Greg Appelbaum is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and
Behavioral Sciences in the Duke University School of Medicine. Dr. Appelbaum's research
interests primarily concern the brain mechanisms underlying visual cognition, how
these capabilities differ among individuals, and how they can be improved through
behavioral, neurofeedback, and neuromodulation interventions. Within the field of
cognitive neuroscience, his research has addressed visual pe
Scott Huettel
Professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience
Research in my laboratory investigates the brain mechanisms underlying economic and
social decision making; collectively, this research falls into the field of “decision
neuroscience” or "neuroeconomics". My laboratory uses fMRI to probe brain function,
behavioral assays to characterize individual differences, and other physiological
methods (e.g., eye tracking, pharmacological manipulation, genetics) to link brain
and behavior. Concurrent with research on basic processes, my labo
John Pearson
Assistant Professor of Neurobiology
My research focuses on the application of machine learning methods to the analysis
of brain data and behavior. I have a special interest in the neurobiology of reward
and decision-making, particularly issues surrounding foraging, impulsivity, and self-control.
More generally, I am interested in computational principles underlying brain organization
at the mesoscale, and work in my lab studies phenomena that range from complex social
behaviors to coding principles of the retina.
Marty G. Woldorff
Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Dr. Woldorff's main research interest is in the cognitive neuroscience of attention.
At each and every moment of our lives, we are bombarded by a welter of sensory information
coming at us from a myriad of directions and through our various sensory modalities
-- much more than we can fully process. We must continuously select and extract the
most important information from this welter of sensory inputs. How the human brain
accomplishes this is one of the core challenges of modern cognitive neuro
Alphabetical list of authors with Scholars@Duke profiles.

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