Exposure to Unsolvable Anagrams Impairs Performance on the Iowa Gambling Task

Abstract

Recent research indicates that external manipulations, such as stress or mood induction, can affect decision-making abilities. In the current study, we investigated whether the exposure to an unsolvable task affected subsequent performance on the Iowa Gambling Task. Participants were randomly assigned to a condition in which they were exposed to unsolvable anagrams (n = 20), or a condition in which they worked on solvable anagrams (n = 22). Afterwards, all participants played the Iowa Gambling Task, a prominent task that measures decision making under uncertain conditions with no explicit rules for gains and losses. In this task, it is essential to process feedback from previous decisions. The results demonstrated that participants who worked on unsolvable anagrams made more disadvantageous decisions on the Iowa Gambling Task than the other participants. In addition, a significant gender effect was observed: Males who worked on unsolvable anagrams made a more disadvantageous decisions than the other male participants. Females who worked on unsolvable anagrams also made more disadvantageous decision than the other female participants, but differences were small and not significant. We conclude that the exposure to unsolvable anagrams induced the experience of uncontrollability which can elicit stress and learned helplessness. Stress and learned helplessness might have reduced the ability to learn from the given feedback, particularly in male participants. We assume that in real life, uncontrollable challenges that last longer than a single experimental manipulation can affect decision making severely, at least in males.

Performance Improver for Block Generator in 1010! Using AND-OR Tree

“…If players found unsolvable block sets too often, they will feel like wasting time to solve an unsolvable problem and finally decide to give up [7], (p. 248). Hopelessness after repeatedly facing unsolvable problems can worsen player's ability in decision making [10].…”

Country and Sex Differences in Decision Making Under Uncertainty and Risk

“…Our previous work (within/single-country analysis) pointed toward phase-specific sex-differences in the IGT. For instance, IGT performance declined after the uncertainty blocks for strongly right-handed Indian females (Singh, 2016), presence of female-dominant sample in the United States was linked with poor deck choice (deck B) in the uncertainty phase of the IGT (Okdie et al, 2016), and stress-induced IGT deficit was high in German males whereas the non-stressed males continued to show maleadvantage in the task (Starcke et al, 2017). Even though the IGT is a non-linguistic measure of neuropsychological assessment, authors have cautioned that country and cultural differences should be considered in task interpretation (Fasfous et al, 2013;Daugherty et al, 2017).…”

Performance Under Stress: An Eye-Tracking Investigation of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT)

“…Stress is a mental tension that arises in uncontrollable situations and results in a compensatory psychological and physiological response (Lovallo, 2016 ). Stress moreover, alters cognitive and emotional processes implicated in decision making (Reimann and Bechara, 2010 ; Simonovic et al, 2017a ; Starcke et al, 2017 ). Traditionally, emotion was characterized as disruptive to cognitive processes in decision making however, the Somatic Marker Hypothesis (SMH) made a compelling case that emotional factors and arousal facilitate effective decision making (Damasio, 1994 ).…”

“…Traditionally, emotion was characterized as disruptive to cognitive processes in decision making however, the Somatic Marker Hypothesis (SMH) made a compelling case that emotional factors and arousal facilitate effective decision making (Damasio, 1994 ). The SMH postulates that emotion plays a pivotal role in complex decision making (Bechara and Damasio, 2005 ) and emotion-based learning (Damasio, 1996 ; Starcke et al, 2017 ). The goals of this article are two fold: first, to examine the effect of stress on cognitive reflection, conscious awareness and attention in predicting risky decision making performance; and second, to test theoretical explanations of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and consider its suitability as a diagnostic clinical tool.…”

“…According to the SMH, the connection between somatic markers and decision making can be interrupted by stress (e.g., Reimann and Bechara, 2010 ). Stress interferes with the learning process in healthy controls, increases risk-taking behavior and leads to disadvantageous card selections on the IGT (Preston et al, 2007 ; Miu et al, 2008 ; van den Bos et al, 2009 ; Robinson et al, 2015 ; Simonovic et al, 2017a ; Starcke et al, 2017 ). Preston et al ( 2007 ) demonstrated that stressed participants learned more slowly on the IGT than the control group.…”