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Brain Sciences
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How Emotions Guide Decision-Making: Behavioral and Brain Mechanisms
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How Emotions Guide Decision-Making: Behavioral and Brain Mechanisms

A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Behavioral Neuroscience".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 January 2021) | Viewed by 17715

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Alessandro Grecucci

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Lab – Cli.A.N., Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy
Interests: affective and clinical neuroscience; emotions; decision-making; experimental psychopathology
Dr. Cinzia Giorgetta

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Lab – Cli.A.N., Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy
Interests: affective and clinical neuroscience; emotions; decision-making; experimental psychopathology; psychotherapy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Over the years, there has been increasing interest in understanding the neural and psychological mechanisms behind decision-making. Building on behavioral economics findings and methods from neuroscience, scholars have largely increased our understanding of how we make complex decisions in individual, interpersonal, and social contexts. In such situations, the affective factor is fundamental to understanding how we deviate from simple rationalism, and can provide great insight to better comprehend real-life situations. Emotions are known to affect decisions in multiple ways, from shifting preferences to affecting risk-averse behaviour, to reducing or increasing rates of acceptance of proposers and biasing choices. Additionally, emotion regulation and dysregulation are important factors to understand how decisions deviate from control in specific clinical populations. This Special Issue of Brain Sciences aims to present a collection of studies detailing the most recent advancements in the field of affective decision-making. Original research papers advancing our understanding of how emotions guide decision making in terms of behavioral and brain mechanisms are solicited for this Special Issue. Analytical reviews and metanalyses of previous literature are also welcome.

Prof. Dr. Alessandro Grecucci
Dr. Cinzia Giorgetta
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Brain Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • decision-making
  • affective neuroscience
  • behavioral economics

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 1800 KiB  
Article
Expect the Worst! Expectations and Social Interactive Decision Making
by Cinzia Giorgetta, Alessandro Grecucci, Michele Graffeo, Nicolao Bonini, Roberta Ferrario and Alan G. Sanfey
Brain Sci. 2021, 11(5), 572; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/brainsci11050572 - 29 Apr 2021
Viewed by 2628
Abstract
Psychological studies have demonstrated that expectations can have substantial effects on choice behavior, although the role of expectations on social decision making in particular has been relatively unexplored. To broaden our knowledge, we examined the role of expectations on decision making when interacting [...] Read more.
Psychological studies have demonstrated that expectations can have substantial effects on choice behavior, although the role of expectations on social decision making in particular has been relatively unexplored. To broaden our knowledge, we examined the role of expectations on decision making when interacting with new game partners and then also in a subsequent interaction with the same partners. To perform this, 38 participants played an Ultimatum Game (UG) in the role of responders and were primed to expect to play with two different groups of proposers, either those that were relatively fair (a tendency to propose an equal split—the high expectation condition) or unfair (with a history of offering unequal splits—the low expectation condition). After playing these 40 UG rounds, they then played 40 Dictator Games (DG) as allocator with the same set of partners. The results showed that expectations affect UG decisions, with a greater proportion of unfair offers rejected from the high as compared to the low expectation group, suggesting that players utilize specific expectations of social interaction as a behavioral reference point. Importantly, this was evident within subjects. Interestingly, we also demonstrated that these expectation effects carried over to the subsequent DG. Participants allocated more money to the recipients of the high expectation group as well to those who made equal offers and, in particular, when the latter were expected to behave unfairly, suggesting that people tend to forgive negative violations and appreciate and reward positive violations. Therefore, both the expectations of others’ behavior and their violations play an important role in subsequent allocation decisions. Together, these two studies extend our knowledge of the role of expectations in social decision making. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue How Emotions Guide Decision-Making: Behavioral and Brain Mechanisms)
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17 pages, 2587 KiB  
Article
Normatively Irrelevant Affective Cues Affect Risk-Taking under Uncertainty: Insights from the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), Skin Conductance Response, and Heart Rate Variability
by Giulia Priolo, Marco D’Alessandro, Andrea Bizzego and Nicolao Bonini
Brain Sci. 2021, 11(3), 336; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/brainsci11030336 - 06 Mar 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2500
Abstract
Being able to distinguish between safe and risky options is paramount in making functional choices. However, deliberate manipulation of decision-makers emotions can lead to risky behaviors. This study aims at understanding how affective reactions driven by normatively irrelevant affective cues can interfere with [...] Read more.
Being able to distinguish between safe and risky options is paramount in making functional choices. However, deliberate manipulation of decision-makers emotions can lead to risky behaviors. This study aims at understanding how affective reactions driven by normatively irrelevant affective cues can interfere with risk-taking. Good and Bad decks of the Iowa Gambling Task have been manipulated to make them unpleasant through a negative auditory manipulation. Anticipatory skin conductance response (SCR) and heart rate variability (HRV) have been investigated in line with the somatic marker hypothesis. Results showed fewer selections from Good decks when they were negatively manipulated (i.e., Incongruent condition). No effect of the manipulation was detected when Bad decks were negatively manipulated (i.e., Congruent condition). Higher anticipatory SCR was associated with Bad decks in Congruent condition. Slower heart rate was found before selections from Good decks in Control and Congruent condition and from Bad decks in Incongruent condition. Differences in heart rate between Bad and Good decks were also detected in Congruent condition. Results shed light on how normatively irrelevant affective cues can interfere with risk-taking. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue How Emotions Guide Decision-Making: Behavioral and Brain Mechanisms)
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19 pages, 1492 KiB  
Article
The Effect of Centralized Financial and Social Incentives on Cooperative Behavior and Its Underlying Neural Mechanisms
by Leticia Micheli, Mirre Stallen and Alan G. Sanfey
Brain Sci. 2021, 11(3), 317; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/brainsci11030317 - 02 Mar 2021
Viewed by 3161
Abstract
Incentives are frequently used by governments and employers to encourage cooperation. Here, we investigated the effect of centralized incentives on cooperation, firstly in a behavioral study and then replicated in a subsequent neuroimaging (fMRI) study. In both studies, participants completed a novel version [...] Read more.
Incentives are frequently used by governments and employers to encourage cooperation. Here, we investigated the effect of centralized incentives on cooperation, firstly in a behavioral study and then replicated in a subsequent neuroimaging (fMRI) study. In both studies, participants completed a novel version of the Public Goods Game, including experimental conditions in which the administration of centralized incentives was probabilistic and incentives were either of a financial or social nature. Behavioral results showed that the prospect of potentially receiving financial and social incentives significantly increased cooperation, with financial incentives yielding the strongest effect. Neuroimaging results showed that activation in the bilateral lateral orbitofrontal cortex and precuneus increased when participants were informed that incentives would be absent versus when they were present. Furthermore, activation in the medial orbitofrontal cortex increased when participants would potentially receive a social versus a financial incentive. These results speak to the efficacy of different types of centralized incentives in increasing cooperative behavior, and they show that incentives directly impact the neural mechanisms underlying cooperation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue How Emotions Guide Decision-Making: Behavioral and Brain Mechanisms)
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15 pages, 1306 KiB  
Article
Motivated Interpretations of Deceptive Information
by Sigal Vainapel, Yaniv Shani and Shaul Shalvi
Brain Sci. 2021, 11(3), 297; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/brainsci11030297 - 26 Feb 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1711
Abstract
We examine whether people seek information that might help them make sense of others’ dishonest behavior. Participants were told that a hypothetical partner (either a friend or a stranger) had engaged in a task in which the partner could lie to boost their [...] Read more.
We examine whether people seek information that might help them make sense of others’ dishonest behavior. Participants were told that a hypothetical partner (either a friend or a stranger) had engaged in a task in which the partner could lie to boost their earnings at the expense of the participant’s earnings. Participants were less likely to search for information that can justify potential dishonest behavior conducted by a friend than by a stranger (Experiment 1). When participants knew for certain that their partners had lied to them, they were less likely to assume that that the lie was justified when told that the partner was a friend rather than a stranger (Experiment 2). The results imply that people are more likely to search for information that may reduce the severity of possible dishonest behavior when a stranger, rather than a friend, is responsible for the behavior. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue How Emotions Guide Decision-Making: Behavioral and Brain Mechanisms)
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18 pages, 1651 KiB  
Article
Threatening Facial Expressions Impact Goal-Directed Actions Only if Task-Relevant
by Christian Mancini, Luca Falciati, Claudio Maioli and Giovanni Mirabella
Brain Sci. 2020, 10(11), 794; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/brainsci10110794 - 29 Oct 2020
Cited by 39 | Viewed by 3019
Abstract
Facial emotional expressions are a salient source of information for nonverbal social interactions. However, their impact on action planning and execution is highly controversial. In this vein, the effect of the two threatening facial expressions, i.e., angry and fearful faces, is still unclear. [...] Read more.
Facial emotional expressions are a salient source of information for nonverbal social interactions. However, their impact on action planning and execution is highly controversial. In this vein, the effect of the two threatening facial expressions, i.e., angry and fearful faces, is still unclear. Frequently, fear and anger are used interchangeably as negative emotions. However, they convey different social signals. Unlike fear, anger indicates a direct threat toward the observer. To provide new evidence on this issue, we exploited a novel design based on two versions of a Go/No-go task. In the emotional version, healthy participants had to perform the same movement for pictures of fearful, angry, or happy faces and withhold it when neutral expressions were presented. The same pictures were shown in the control version, but participants had to move or suppress the movement, according to the actor’s gender. This experimental design allows us to test task relevance’s impact on emotional stimuli without conflating movement planning with target detection and task switching. We found that the emotional content of faces interferes with actions only when task-relevant, i.e., the effect of emotions is context-dependent. We also showed that angry faces qualitatively had the same effect as fearful faces, i.e., both negative emotions decreased response readiness with respect to happy expressions. However, anger has a much greater impact than fear, as it increases both the rates of mistakes and the time of movement execution. We interpreted these results, suggesting that participants have to exploit more cognitive resources to appraise threatening than positive facial expressions, and angry than fearful faces before acting. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue How Emotions Guide Decision-Making: Behavioral and Brain Mechanisms)
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Review

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13 pages, 277 KiB  
Review
Emotional Reasoning and Psychopathology
by Amelia Gangemi, Margherita Dahò and Francesco Mancini
Brain Sci. 2021, 11(4), 471; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/brainsci11040471 - 08 Apr 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3392
Abstract
One of the several ways in which affect may influence cognition is when people use affect as a source of information about external events. Emotional reasoning, ex-consequentia reasoning, and affect-as-information are terms referring to the mechanism that can lead people to take their [...] Read more.
One of the several ways in which affect may influence cognition is when people use affect as a source of information about external events. Emotional reasoning, ex-consequentia reasoning, and affect-as-information are terms referring to the mechanism that can lead people to take their emotions as information about the external world, even when the emotion is not generated by the situation to be evaluated. Pre-existing emotions may thus bias evaluative judgments of unrelated events or topics. From this perspective, the more people experience a particular kind of affect, the more they may rely on it as a source of valid information. Indeed, in several studies, it was found that adult patients suffering from psychological disorders tend to use negative affect to estimate the negative event as more severe and more likely and to negatively evaluate preventive performance. The findings on this topic have contributed to the debate that theorizes the use of emotional reasoning as responsible for the maintenance of dysfunctional beliefs and the pathological disorders based on these beliefs. The purpose of this paper is to explore this topic by reviewing and discussing the main studies in this area, leading to a deeper understanding of this phenomenon. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue How Emotions Guide Decision-Making: Behavioral and Brain Mechanisms)
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