Scientific Reports (Nov 2022)

Noninvasive stimulation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex modulates rationality of human decision-making

  • Thomas Kroker,
  • Miroslaw Wyczesany,
  • Maimu Alissa Rehbein,
  • Kati Roesmann,
  • Ida Wessing,
  • Markus Junghöfer

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-24526-6
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 14

Abstract

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Abstract The framing-effect is a bias that affects decision-making depending on whether the available options are presented with positive or negative connotations. Even when the outcome of two choices is equivalent, people have a strong tendency to avoid the negatively framed option. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is crucial for rational decision-making, and dysfunctions in this region have been linked to cognitive biases, impulsive behavior and gambling addiction. Using a financial decision-making task in combination with magnetoencephalographic neuroimaging, we show that excitatory compared to inhibitory non-invasive transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the vmPFC reduces framing-effects while improving the assessment of loss-probabilities, ultimately leading to increased overall gains. Behavioral and neural data consistently suggest that this improvement in rational decision-making is predominately due to an attenuation of biases towards negative affect (loss-aversion and risk-aversion). These findings recommend further research towards clinical applications of vmPFC-tDCS as in addictive disorders.