Elsevier

Neural Networks

Volume 19, Issue 8, October 2006, Pages 1266-1276
Neural Networks

2006 Special Issue
Neuropsychological correlates of decision-making in ambiguous and risky situations

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neunet.2006.03.001Get rights and content

Abstract

Decision-making situations in real life differ regarding their explicitness of positive and negative consequences as well as regarding the directness of probabilities for reward and punishment. In neuropsychological research, decisions under ambiguity and decisions under risk are differentiated. To assess decisions under ambiguity the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is one of the most frequently used tasks. Decisions under risk can be measured by a task that offers explicit rules for gains and losses and stable winning probabilities, as the Game of Dice Task (GDT) does. In this contribution we firstly summarize studies that investigated decision-making in various groups of patients using the IGT or the GDT. We also propose a new model of decision-making in risky situations and describe differences between decisions under ambiguity and decisions under risk from a theoretical and clinical perspective.

Introduction

To make decisions is a key function in everyday life. Disturbances in the ability to make decisions or to anticipate the possible consequences of decisions can result in massive social, sanitary and financial problems. In the last decade, there was an increasing interest to investigate neural correlates of decision-making abilities and disturbances both in healthy subjects and in patients with brain damage or dysfunction using neuropsychological and neuroimaging techniques. However, some important questions still remain unsolved. For instance, the specific neural mechanisms of decision-making processes have not been revealed in detail. Although various patient groups are deficient in decision-making, the sensitivity and specificity of such deficits are not clear. And, most importantly, there is still a debate about different types of decisions or decision-making situations. In this contribution, we will first briefly review studies that examined decision-making in ambiguous situations in different groups of patients with brain abnormalities. Thereafter, we will summarize results of studies that investigated decision-making in explicit or risky situations. Finally, we will combine the aforementioned findings and propose that decisions under ambiguity and decisions under risk share some important basic components but differ regarding the involvement of executive functions. We also assume that in a decision situation with explicit rules individuals can decide advantageously without using unconscious biasing signals (somatic markers).

Section snippets

Research with the Iowa Gambling Task: Decisions under ambiguity?

One of the most frequently used neuropsychological tasks to assess decision-making in ambiguous situations is the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) developed by Bechara, Damasio, Damasio, and Anderson (1994) (a computerized version is described in Bechara, Tranel, and Damasio (2000)). The IGT requires individuals to choose between four different alternatives (card decks). The choices are either advantageous or disadvantageous but each choice is full of ambiguity regarding the outcome. Although not

Research with the Cambridge Gamble Task and with the Game of Dice Task: Decisions under risk?

In everyday life, situations in which decisions have to be made frequently offer explicit information about the potential consequences and the probabilities for reinforcement and punishment. For instance, when driving a car on a street with a speed limit, one knows that the punishment is higher the faster one drives when speeding is monitored. In some cases one also knows the probability of speed monitoring (i.e., dependent on specific streets or highways and specific times, e.g., weekend or

Synthesis

The studies on decision-making mentioned above indicate that there are potentially at least two types of decisions: decisions under ambiguity, as most likely measured with the first trials of the IGT, and decisions under risk, as measured by the CGT and the GDT. The decision-making processes assessed by these tasks most likely share several basic components but also differ regarding specific neuropsychological and neural correlates. In both decision types, the prefrontal cortex and other

Acknowledgements

Parts of the work on this article have been supported by the German Research Foundation (BR 2894/1-1). We thank Eva Böcker for her very helpful assistance with the graphs.

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