Reference Point Effect of Self Experience and Vicarious Experience during Outcome Evaluation: An ERPs Study Using Gambling Game

LIU Yao-Zhong; ZHANG Jian-Liang; DOU Kai

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Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2015, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (5) : 1147-1154.

Reference Point Effect of Self Experience and Vicarious Experience during Outcome Evaluation: An ERPs Study Using Gambling Game

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Abstract

Risky decision is commonplace. In a wide range of decision people are often faced with risky contexts. In the decisions which include both loss and benefit, individual must have a quick appraisal on the post-decision feedback so as to adjust and improve subsequent decision-making processes. Such feedbacks are not only from one’s own experience, but also from vicarious experience by observing others’ outcome. As the development of event-related potentials (ERPs), researchers are devoted to discovering and interpreting how appraisal of decision outcomes affects decision-making processes using ERPs, which helps to reduce the occurrence of irrational decision. Recently, feedback-related negativity (FRN) has been found to be one of the components that are closely related with appraisal of outcome. The existing studies concerning the representation of FRN on reference point effect are primarily based on the decision made by participants themselves. However, in daily life we may make decision for ourselves and for others; decision can be made not only by ourselves but it can also be made by others. Recently, it is found that when participants are observing others to get negative feedback, the neural activity is similar as when participants get negative feedback themselves. Such mirror processes indicate that FRN may be the same neural processes shared by self-reference and others-reference processes. Although few studies reported that FRN could be still evoked even when participants did not respond or observed others to respond, little is known about whether reference point effect of FRN still appears when decider changes. This topic warrants further investigation. Through two experiments, the current research investigated the influence of bet (i.e., reference point) on brain activity in the processes of appraising one’s own decision (experiment 1) and observing others’ decision (experiment 2). “Bet-feedback” virtual gamble paradigm was used. Two bet conditions (0 Yuan vs. 50 Yuan) and four feedback conditions (+110 Yuan, +60 Yuan, -10 Yuan, and -60 Yuan) were set to formulate an absolute outcome (based on absolute zero point) and a relative outcome (based on the amount of bet). In study 1, participants were required to participate in the gamble task with EEG recorded, whereas in study 2 participants were asked to observe others to gamble, also with EEG recorded. Results indicated that when subjects participated in the gamble task in person, the feedback of losing money evoked more negative FRN than winning money, and just one feedback (-10 Yuan) with bet evoked more negative FRN than without bet. However, when observing others to gamble, no matter losing or wining money with bet evoked more negative FRN than without bet. In conclusion, when behavior is self-relevant, people are more sensitive to loss regardless of losing money with or without bet. However, when behavior is others-relevant, negative appraisal as a result from losing money is affected by with or without bet; and at this moment monitoring does not reflect the feedback per se, but one’s own positive or negative emotion based on the outcome.

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outcome evaluation / feedback-related negativity(FRN) / reference point effect / vicarious experiences / self experiences

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Reference Point Effect of Self Experience and Vicarious Experience during Outcome Evaluation: An ERPs Study Using Gambling Game[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2015, 38(5): 1147-1154

References

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