Gain–loss situation modulates neural responses to self–other decision making under risk

Abstract

Although self–other behavioral differences in decision making under risk have been observed in some contexts, little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying such differences. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and the cups task, in which participants choose between risky and sure options for themselves and others in gain and loss situations, we found that people were more risk-taking when making decisions for themselves than for others in loss situations but were equally risk-averse in gain situations. Significantly stronger activations were observed in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and anterior insula (AI) when making decisions for the self than for others in loss situations but not in gain situations. Furthermore, the activation in the dmPFC was stronger when people made sure choices for others than for themselves in gain situations but not when they made risky choices, and was both stronger when people made sure and risky choices for themselves than for others in loss situations. These findings suggest that gain–loss situation modulates self–other differences in decision making under risk, and people are highly likely to differentiate the self from others when making decisions in loss situations.

Neural Processing of Narratives: From Individual Processing to Viral Propagation

“…People also take more risks when making decisions for others compared to themselves, mainly due to differences in perception of losses (Sokol-Hessner et al, 2009 ; Polman and Wu, 2020 ). Self-other perspective discrepancies in loss aversion correlated with a weaker galvanic skin-conductance response to losses (Sokol-Hessner et al, 2009 ) as well as greater involvement of brain areas linked to decision making in the loss domain such as anterior insula (Zhang et al, 2019 ). Differences in self-other behavior have been demonstrated in recent experimental studies concerning various biases, such as anchoring bias or the endowment effect (Ifcher and Zarghamee, 2020 ).…”

Framing the Predicted Impacts of Covid-19 Prophylactic Measures in Terms of Lives Saved Rather than Deaths is More Effective for Older People

“…Zhang et al (2017) do not explore the effect of probability weighting but find that decisions made on behalf of others are on average less risk averse in the gain domain and less risk seeking in the loss domain than they are for oneself. Zhang et al (2019) Coronavirus is likelier to affect older people. Therefore the decisions taken by older people are likely to affect their own health to a greater extent than for young people.…”

Greater learning transfer effect for avoidance of loss than for achievement of gain in Finnish and Russian schoolchildren

“…Outwardly similar behaviors, one aimed at achievement of gain, and another aimed at avoidance of loss, are different with respect to their brain underpinnings (Calcott and Berkman, 2015;Li et al, 2017;Tanaka et al, 2014;Viinikainen et al, 2012;Zhang et al, 2016Zhang et al, , 2019, systems organization (Alexandrov, 2008), and are characterized by positive and negative emotions, correspondingly (Alexandrov and Sams, 2005;Carver et al, 2000;Chen and Bargh, 1999;Davidson et al, 1990; but see Bowen and Spaniol, 2017;Miller et al, 2013). Therefore, we assume that coping with the same task for different outcomes is based on learning processes that have different utility.…”