Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience (Mar 2014)

Linking brain electrical signals elicited by current outcomes with future risk decision-making

  • Dandan eZhang,
  • Ruolei eGu,
  • Lucas S Broster,
  • Yang eJiang,
  • Wenbo eLuo,
  • Jian eZhang,
  • Yuejia eLuo

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00084
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8

Abstract

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The experience of current outcomes influences future decisions in various ways. The neural mechanism of this phenomenon may help to clarify the determinants of decision-making. In this study, thirty-nine young adults finished a risky gambling task by choosing between a high- and a low-risk option in each trial during electroencephalographic data collection. We found that risk-taking strategies significantly modulated mean amplitudes of the event-related potential (ERP) component P3, particularly at the central scalp. The event-related spectral perturbation and the inter-trial coherence measurements of the independent component analysis (ICA) data indicated that the stay vs. switch electrophysiological difference associated with subsequent decision-making was mainly due to fronto-central theta and left/right mu independent components. Event-related cross-coherence results suggested that the neural information of action monitoring and updating emerged in the fronto-central cortex and propagated to sensorimotor area for further behavior adjustment. Based on these findings of ERP and event-related oscillation (ERO) measures, we proposed a neural model of the influence of current outcomes on future decisions.

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