Intracerebral mechanisms explaining the impact of incidental feedback on mood state and risky choice

Abstract

Identifying factors whose fluctuations are associated with choice inconsistency is a major issue for rational decision theory. Here, we investigated the neuro-computational mechanisms through which mood fluctuations may bias human choice behavior. Intracerebral EEG data were collected in a large group of participants (n = 30), while they were performing interleaved quiz and choice tasks. Neural baseline activity preceding choice onset was confronted first to mood level, estimated by a computational model integrating the feedbacks received in the quiz task, and then to the weighting of option attributes, in a computational model predicting risk attitude in the choice task. Results showed that 1) elevated broadband gamma activity (BGA) in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and dorsal anterior insula (daIns) was respectively signaling periods of high and low mood, 2) increased vmPFC and daIns BGA respectively promoted and tempered risk taking by overweighting gain versus loss prospects. Thus, incidental feedbacks induce brain states that correspond to different moods and bias the comparison of safe and risky options. More generally, these findings might explain why people experiencing positive (or negative) outcome in some part of their life tend to expect success (or failure) in any other.

Neurocomputational mechanisms of affected beliefs

“…It is proposed that this internal affective information is integrated with external information to shape beliefs that rather than being objective, are motivated and biased by subjective feelings about the beliefs themselves, leading to a recursive influence of beliefs and affective states on each other 2,9,10 . Previous studies supported aspects of Bromberg-Martin and Sharot's framework 2 by demonstrating that internal beliefs and external feedback can elicit emotions like happiness, pride, or embarrassment [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] . Affective states also have been shown to alter decision making 13,18,19 and cognitive processes like situational judgments or learning styles 7 .…”

Self-belief formation

“…Similarly, beliefs are increasingly discussed as a cause and consequence of emotional states. In line with the "value of beliefs" framework (Bromberg- Martin & Sharot, 2020), studies demonstrate that internal beliefs and external feedback interact and thereby elicit emotions like happiness, pride, or embarrassment (Cecchi et al, 2022;Müller-Pinzler et al, 2015;Rutledge et al, 2016Rutledge et al, , 2014Stolz et al, 2020;Vinckier et al, 2019Vinckier et al, , 2018. Also, emotional states increase the probability of the presence of certain beliefs and shape belief-updating processes (Bromberg- Martin & Sharot, 2020;Müller-Pinzler et al, 2022).…”

A cognitive-computational account of mood swings in adolescence

“…Whether any (and if so which) of these factors accounts for higher real-life mood changes in adolescence remains an open empirical question. Experimental and computational tools which have been developed over the last years [11,[13][14][15][16], combined with ecological momentary assessment in developmental populations, are available to elucidate these mechanisms further.…”

“…These theories emphasize that emotional states in health and psychopathology are affected by learning, and that emotional states, in turn, bias learning processes themselves. Recent studies in adults have revealed insight into the biological basis of such mood-learning dynamics using computational neuroimaging and neuropharmacological techniques [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. Intriguingly, this also revealed implications of computational mood theories for real-world emotions outside of the lab [20,21].…”