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Intertemporal decision-making refers to the process whereby an individual evaluates and selects among competing alternatives based on the cost and benefit over time. While most previous studies on temporal discounting focused their attention on the gain context, only a few explored the loss context. In the present study, both the event-related potentials (ERPs) and the graph theory analysis were employed to investigate the differences in intertemporal decision-making between the gain and loss frameworks. Our results suggested that participants preferred the short latency/small amount (SS) alternatives and exhibited a smaller discount rate in a loss context compared to a gain framework. Furthermore, our ERP data indicated that the P200 component could constitute a preliminary assessment of the decision-making, related to gain and loss. In contrast, the N2 component was associated with negative emotions and showed significantly bigger amplitudes in the loss context, when compared to the gain framework. Further analyses of brain networks suggested the loss decision-making brain network to have a larger small-worldness index given individuals' loss aversion. Taken together, intertemploral decision-making in a loss context was accompanied by a greater brain response due to the negative emotions linked to loss aversion.

The lower bound depth of the self-weight collapse of loess is used to determine the type and grade of a collapsible loess foundation. It is important to select a reasonable foundation treatment depth and to determine negative skin friction neutral points of the pile. This study comprehensively analyses the differences between laboratory and full-scale field testing in determining the lower bound depth of the self-weight collapse of loess. Although this lower bound depth tends to be a unique value, obvious differences were obtained in the test results obtained by the two methods. Generally, the laboratory test results were 1·25–2·90 times greater than those of the field test, mainly owing to differences in saturation, test pressure, the sample stress state and soil non-uniformity. Evaluation of the lower bound depth of the self-weight collapse of loess should therefore be based on field testing and the results from laboratory tests need to be modified. This paper puts forward a new theoretical modification method for this purpose, which could reduce the differences between laboratory and field test results.

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When people have headaches, they put their work aside and do other things. When they return, their decisions may be better, resulting in more satisfaction than if they had contemplated their choices consciously. Researchers have proposed the “deliberation-without-attention” hypothesis to discover whether it is always advantageous to engage in conscious deliberation before making a choice. Unconscious thinking can optimize people’s behavioral decision-making in a complex environment and improve their satisfaction with their choices. As previous studies have not used a resting state (RS), another kind of unconscious thinking, this paper adds the RS to unconscious thinking during distracting tasks, unconscious and conscious joint thinking, and conscious thinking conditions, to study the unconscious thought effect and decision-making performance in four different thinking modes. We performed three experiments involving a choice of jobs, using two ways of presenting information, to check the unconscious effect and compare the decision-making performance of different thinking patterns. The results show that RS and unconscious thinking have similar effects, while people’s decision-making performance differs in different thinking modes.