An ERPs Study On Outcome Processing Of Decision Making Under Effects Of Selective Attention

The decision-making process includes three phases:stimulus,response and outcome.Outcome processing of decision making under uncertain conditions is a complex cognitive process.The idea that outcome's valence and magnitude are independent coding is currently subject to some experimental evidences' challenge.In this study,ERPs technology was adopted to conduct the systematic operation of selective attention in different phases of decision-making through two experiments to explore effects of selective attention on outcome processing of decision-making.Experiment 1 explored the effects of different selective attention conditions(Pay attention to valence vs.Pay attention to magnitude)in stimulus phase and different choice behavior of the subjects(Choice vs.No-choice)on the outcome neurocognitive processing of decision making.The results show that the main effects of FRN to valence and magnitude are both significant(ps<0.05),and the amplitude of FRN under no-choice condition is significantly larger than the amplitude of the FRN under choice condition(ps<0.05).P3 is also sensitive to valence and magnitude(ps<0.05),the amplitude of P3 under choice condition is significantly higher than that of P3 under no-choice condition(ps<0.05).The interaction effect of selective attention condition and outcome magnitude is significant on magnitude processing(p<0.05).Experiment 2 explored the effects of different selective attention conditions(Pay attention to valence vs.Pay attention to magnitude)in outcome phase and different choice behavior of the subjects(Choice vs.No-choice)on the outcome neurocognitive processing of decision making.The results show that the main effects of FRN to valence and magnitude are both significant(ps<0.05),and the amplitude of FRN under no-choice condition is significantly larger than the amplitude of the FRN under choice condition(ps<0.05).The main effect of selective attention condition is significant(ps<0.05),it shows that the amplitude of FRN is significantly greater as pay attention to magnitude than the amplitude of FRN as pay attention to valence.The main effects of P3 to valence and magnitude are both significant(ps<0.05),and the amplitude of P3 under choice condition is significantly larger than that of P3 under no-choice condition(ps<0.05).P3 amplitude evoked by the condition of paying attention to valence is significantly larger than P3 amplitude evoked by the condition of paying attention to magnitude on valence processing(p<0.05).The following four conclusions can be drawn from the experimental results:First,selective attention in stimulus phase influences outcome processing of decision making,the FRN and P3 in frontocentral area are regulated by outcome's valence and magnitude,and P3 amplitude is regulated by the selective attention conditions on magnitude processing.Second,selective attention in outcome phase influences outcome processing of decision making,the FRN and P3 in frontocentral area are regulated by outcome's valence and magnitude,and the selective attention conditions have different moderating effects on FRN and P3.Third,different choice behavior in response phase influences outcome processing of decision making,choice behaviors have different moderating effects on FRN and P3 in frontocentral area,and the results show that the amplitude of FRN is more negative under no-choice condition,the amplitude of P3 is more sensitive to choice condition.Fourth,outcome's valence and magnitude of decision making are not independent encoding in the brain,but according to the relevance of the task,in a more flexible,more complex and more comprehensive way to encode,the EEG index is the frontocentral FRN and P3 component.