关键词: 信任 认知控制 抑制控制 认知灵活性 工作记忆刷新 客观风险

Abstract: Trust encompasses one’s willingness to take certain risks based on an expectation of other's behavior in order to obtain positive results in the future. Trust is the basis of interpersonal communication and plays an important role in maintaining social stability and harmony. A great deal of interest in trust has been expressed by scholars of different disciplines and specialties, however, the effects of the subcomponents of cognitive control (i.e. inhibition control, cognitive flexibility, and working memory updating) and objective risk on trust behavior are still unclear. Investigating the effects of subcomponents of cognitive control and objective risk on trust can help us to explore the underlying mechanism of trust behavior and provide guidance for reality. In Experiment 1, by combining trust game paradigm and Simon task, we examined the effects of inhibitory control by manipulating stimulus-response consistency (consistent vs. inconsistent), and the effects of objective risk by manipulating the risk of trust outcome (high risk vs. low risk) on trust behavior. The trust rate (number of trust decision in the total trials) and reaction times (RTs) were recorded. The results found a significant main effect of stimulus-response consistency in RTs, and the RTs in inconsistent condition were longer than that in consistent condition. The main effect of consistency in RTs suggested that inhibitory control can operate on the response organization stage of trust behavior. A significant main effect of objective risk in trust rate was found to show higher trust rate under low risk condition, relative to high risk condition. In Experiment 2, by combining trust game paradigm and task switching paradigm, we investigated the effects of cognitive flexibility by manipulating task switching (switching vs. no switching), and the effects of objective risk (high risk vs. low risk) on trust behavior. The results found a significant main effect of task switching in trust rate, showing a lower rate in switching condition, relative to no switching condition. The main effect of task switching in trust rate suggested that cognitive flexibility can operate on the trust decision stage of trust behavior. Moreover, a main effect of objective risk in trust rate was found, similarly as that in Experiment 1. In Experiment 3, by combining trust game paradigm and working memory paradigm in dual task, we investigated the effects of working memory updating by manipulating working memory load (high load vs. low load) and the effects of objective risk (high risk vs. low risk) on trust behavior. A significant main effect of working memory load was found, showing lower trust rate in high load condition. The main effect of task switching in trust rate suggested that cognitive flexibility can operate on the trust decision stage of trust behavior. Furthermore, a similar main effect of objective risk on trust rate as Experiment 1 and 2 was found. These results indicated the effects of the three cognitive control subcomponents on trust behavior, but the influence of subcomponents were different. Specifically, inhibition control could affect the response organization stage (evident in RTs), while cognitive flexibility and working memory updating could affect the trust decision stage (evident in trust rate). Meanwhile, the impact of objective risk was stable and be consistent across scenarios. However, the results that no significant interaction among subcomponents and objective risk suggested the relatively independent processing of them. In sum, the present study clarified the underlying mechanism of trust behavior based on the view of cognitive control and objective risk, and could provide some evidence for the suggestions of reality.

Key words: trust, cognitive control, inhibition control, cognitive flexibility, working memory updating, objective risk