The Influence Of Contingent Emotions On Empirical Decision Making

Decision-making is a high-level cognitive activity of the human brain.In social situations,humans often need to make several consecutive decisions based on previous experiences to achieve their goals,a process called empirical decision making.In empirical decision making,individuals analyze the decision outcome through reinforcement learning to inform the next decision.Previous research has shown that episodic emotions,which are social emotions attached to decision making,are also influential on individuals’ decisions,and their specific mechanisms are not clear.In order to investigate the effects of positive,negative,and neutral emotions on empirical decision making,this study systematically investigated the influence of contingent emotions on two kinds of empirical decision tasks(choice independent task and choice dependent task)and their reinforcement learning.It aims to enrich the research results in the field of empirical decision making and provide new ideas and inspiration for this field of study.In this study,there were three experimental studies,which induced positive,negative and neutral emotions by means of picture arousal,and recorded the EEG indicators and behavioral results of the subjects in the empirical decision-making task by using event-related potential technology.Experiment 1 used a 3(emotion type:positive emotion,negative emotion,neutral emotion)× 3(feedback type: gain feedback,loss feedback,neutral feedback)mixed experimental design to examine individual differences in empirical risk decision making across episodic emotions and individual cognitive processing of decision outcomes using a choice independent task.Experiment II used a 3(emotion type: positive emotion,negative emotion,neutral emotion)× 2(choice feedback type: score increase,score decrease)mixed experimental design to examine the effects of different episodic emotions on empirical dynamic decision making using a choice dependent task.Experiment 3 used a 3(emotion type: positive emotion,negative emotion,neutral emotion)× 5(block:block1～block5)mixed experimental design to examine the effects of different episodic emotions on reinforcement learning effects in dynamic decision making.The results of the study found that.(1)In the choice independence task,the positive emotion group induced more negative FRN components than the neutral emotion group in the expected processing of individual empirical risk decision making under the influence of contingent positive emotion.This result indicates that there is a large gap between the expected results and the actual results under the influence of contingent positive emotion,which further indicates that the positive emotion enhances the subjective expectations of individuals in the decision making.Further deviating the expected results from the actual results.(2)In the choice dependence task,the decision reaction time of the positive emotion group was significantly greater than that of the negative emotion group(P<0.01),which indicated that individuals under the influence of positive emotion tended to process the decision information more fully.This result indicates that individuals under the influence of positive emotion tend to process decision information more fully.Moreover,the correct decision rate of positive emotion group is significantly higher than that of negative emotion group and neutral emotion group,which indicates that positive emotion facilitates individuals to make more effective decisions.The event-related potential results provided the basis for the behavioral data results.In the feedback stage of decision making,the score-increasing feedback induced a corrected P2 component than the score-decreasing feedback,indicating that under the score-increasing feedback,individuals produced more cognitive conflicts,and at this time,individuals needed to do fuller processing of the decision results and learn the patterns from them,so as to improve the correct rate of decision making.Therefore,positive emotions facilitate individuals to make effective decisions.(3)The number of decision makers choosing the correct option increased with the increase of block,indicating that there is a reinforcement learning effect in the dynamic decision-making process,and individuals under the influence of positive emotion performed better in decision-making.Conclusion: Compared with neutral emotions,decision-makers under the influence of positive emotions are more likely to have higher psychological expectations,which results in a greater deviation between the expected results of decision-making and the actual results.In the process of dynamic decision making,positive emotion helps decision-makers to process the decision results cognitively.Individuals affected by positive emotions have stronger reinforcement learning effect in experiential decision-making,and are more likely to grasp the rule in experiential decision-making,so as to make the right decision.