奖惩对注意缺陷多动障儿童情感决策的影响

采用简化版儿童赌博任务,其中操纵了奖励和惩罚的强度,探察两种亚型(注意缺陷型和混合型)ADHD儿童的情感决策能力,同时采集儿童在任务中的皮肤电活动以探析ADHD儿童在情感决策中的生理机制.结果发现,在不同的奖惩强度下,ADHD儿童情感决策模式不同,在即刻奖励条件下,ADHD儿童情感决策的能力明显弱于正常对照组儿童,倾向于不利选择,所产生的预测性皮电振幅也明显低于正常对照组;在即刻惩罚条件下,ADHD儿童的情感决策能力未见异常.两种亚型ADHD儿童的表现模式相似.上述结果证明,ADHD儿童仅存在对奖励的异常敏感性,并确实影响了其决策能力,而其回避惩罚的能力正常.两种亚型ADHD儿童存在的问题相似.     

奖惩对注意缺陷多动障碍儿童情感决策的影响

采用简化版儿童赌博任务,其中操纵了奖励和惩罚的强度,探察两种亚型（注意缺陷型和混合型）ADHD儿童的情感决策能力,同时采集儿童在任务中的皮肤电活动以探析ADHD儿童在情感决策中的生理机制。结果发现,在不同的奖惩强度下,ADHD儿童情感决策模式不同,在即刻奖励条件下,ADHD儿童情感决策的能力明显弱于正常对照组儿童,倾向于不利选择,所产生的预测性皮电振幅也明显低于正常对照组;在即刻惩罚条件下,ADHD儿童的情感决策能力未见异常。两种亚型ADHD儿童的表现模式相似。上述结果证明,ADHD儿童仅存在对奖励的异常敏感性,并确实影响了其决策能力,而其回避惩罚的能力正常。两种亚型ADHD儿童存在的问题相似     

从儿童赌博任务看热执行功能的发展

为考察热执行功能的发展,本研究通过儿童赌博任务检测了60名3～4岁儿童(男女各半)的情感决策。实验结果表明,3岁和4岁儿童在此任务上存在显著的年龄差异,4岁组在各试验组的分数呈上升趋势,他们在试验组2、尤其在试验组4和5中选择有利纸牌的次数显著多于3岁儿童,这反映出情感决策在3～4岁期间发展迅速。此外,儿童在此任务上的成绩存在很多可变性,可能掩盖了性别差异,因而,尽管男孩在最后两个试验组的成绩优于女孩,但性别差异在统计上并不显著。     

运用赌博任务测查不同攻击/受欺类别儿童的情感决策过程

攻击行为认知研究存在的一个重要问题是忽视情感对儿童认知加工的影响。考虑了情绪－认知整合过程的儿童行为决策更能全面而真实地反映社会信息加工情境下的攻击/受欺行为卷入过程。情感决策的赌博任务范式被认为能诱发类似于个人真实生活决策的表现,本研究运用计算机程序编制的标准赌博任务,以过程的视角考察了不同攻击/受欺儿童的情感决策特点。结果发现,不同类型儿童的有利-不利选择净分数、对有利-不利选择及奖惩频数的决策偏向存在显著差异。研究结果反映未卷入儿童在赌博任务上的整体表现优于其他类型儿童,攻击-受欺儿童仅次于未卷入儿童;直接攻击、攻击-受欺、未卷入儿童呈现惩罚定向的决策风格,但这三类儿童也表现出截然不同的趋势。     

认知资源对4～6岁儿童不公平厌恶的影响

目的:探究幼儿不公平厌恶是自动化反应还是理性行为。方法:采用最后通牒博弈游戏变式和认知资源消耗任务,考察104名4~6岁儿童的不公平厌恶。结果:(1)4~6岁儿童的不利不公平厌恶随年龄发展增多;有利不公平厌恶出现较晚,表现较少;二者发展不平衡;(2)4~6岁儿童的不公平厌恶是依赖于认知资源的理性行为;(3)4~6岁儿童不利不公平厌恶受认知资源影响更大;认知资源不足导致5岁儿童不公平厌恶行为减少更多。结论:4~6岁儿童的不公平厌恶是依赖于认知资源的理性行为。     

幼儿在不同规范标准下的意图判断：“副作用”效应

在幼儿对主人公的行为意图做出判断后加入奖惩任务,用意图"有无"判断和星星分配的数量作为考察"副作用"效应的指标,探讨幼儿在不同规范标准下能否利用理性策略对主人公的心理状态进行推断。结果发现:(1)幼儿对带来积极和消极"副作用"的行为意图"有无"判断没有差异;(2)相比于消极"副作用",幼儿倾向于给带来积极"副作用"的行为者分配更多的星星作为奖励;(3)"副作用"效价对4、 5、 6岁幼儿分配行为的影响是一致的;(4)在道德规范标准和约定规范标准下,"副作用"效价对4、 5、 6岁幼儿分配行为的影响是一致的。结果表明:(1)使用星星分配数量作为指标考察幼儿的行为意图判断更敏感。(2)幼儿会把违背规范的行为推断为有意的,遵守规范的行为推断为无意的。且这种表现在4～6岁之间具有稳定性。不同规范标准下,幼儿的这一表现没有差异。(3)研究结果支持了意图判断"副作用"效应的理性推理观点。     

3～5岁幼儿在主题-规则冲突条件下的类比推理

本研究采用经典类比任务,考察了3～5岁幼儿在主题-规则冲突条件下类比推理发展的水平与特点.结果表明:(1)在无主题联想条件下,幼儿的单维类比推理在3～4岁迅速发展,4～5岁发展较为平缓,而双维类比推理在3～5岁仍处于较低水平.(2)在主题—规则冲突条件下,幼儿在单维类比推理中表现出一定的主题联想优势反应;幼儿在双维类比推理中表现出较强的主题联想优势反应,年龄特点为:3岁幼儿有较强的主题联想优势反应,4岁幼儿的主题联想优势反应明显下降,而5岁幼儿又表现出较强的主题联想优势反应.     

3～5岁幼儿反事实思维的发展研究

该研究采用结果和前提反事实推理任务,选取58名3-5岁幼儿为被试,考察了其反事实思维能力的发展。结果表明:1.3岁儿童在结果反事实推理中的得分显著低于4岁和5岁儿童,而4岁和5岁儿童的得分并不存在显著差异;2.幼儿的前提反事实推理因结构和方向不同而表现出不同的年龄变化趋势;3.幼儿产生的上行和下行反事实论断之间不存在显著差异。如成人一样,幼儿较少产生减法反事实。     

幼儿反事实推理的错误源分析

本研究选取57名3~5岁幼儿,考察了在两种选择和三种选择的反事实推理任务中儿童的表现以及是否出现现实错误。结果如下:无论在两种还是三种选择的反事实任务中,3岁组儿童的得分显著低于4岁和5岁组儿童,而4岁和5岁组儿童之间不存在显著差异;幼儿在反事实推理中的确会出现现实错误,但除此之外,幼儿在三种选择任务中也会选择现实和正确答案之外的第三个选项。由此可见,年幼儿童可能在抑制现实和建构反事实替代情境方面都存在困难,这尚需我们进一步探究。     

四种注意情境下幼儿自我延迟满足的实验研究

将120名中等自控能力的3～5岁幼儿随机分配到四种注意情境下:两种奖励物同时呈现、只呈现即时奖励物、只呈现延迟奖励物、两种奖励物都不呈现,以探索幼儿自我延迟满足的注意机制及发展特点。结果发现:(1)幼儿自我延迟满足在两种奖励物都不呈现情境下平均延迟时间最长,在呈现奖励物的三种情境下平均延迟时间较短,表现出跨年龄稳定性;(2)3～5岁幼儿自我延迟满足发展存在显著年龄差异,表现出随年龄增长而提高的趋势。     

The uncertainty appraisal enhances the prominent deck B effect in the Iowa gambling task

The Iowa gambling task (Bechara et al., Cognition 50:7–15, 1994) is designed to simulate a decision making problem under ambiguity, in which the degree of reliance on emotional cues arising from previous experiences contributes to perform advantageously. Recent studies based on the appraisal tendency framework demonstrated that emotional certainty (associated with intuitive strategies) leads to a more advantageous decision pattern, whereas emotional uncertainty (associated with deliberative strategies) impairs the performance in the IGT (Bagneux et al., Motivation and Emotion 37(4):818–827, 2013; Bollon and Bagneux, Cognition and Emotion 27(2):376–384, 2013). Due to the problems in the IGT (Dunn et al., Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 30:239–271, 2006; Steingroever et al., Psychological Assessment 25(1):180–193, 2013), however, it is an open question to what extent the disadvantageous IGT performance in the uncertainty conditions was based on risky decision making. Addressing the main criticisms on the IGT, the primary aim of the present study is to provide a further explanation for the underlying source of the IGT impairment led by uncertainty appraisals. In line with previous research, we found that participants in the certainty-associated emotion condition (disgust) outperformed those in uncertainty-associated conditions (fear, sadness) in the gambling game. Detailed four-deck format analyses on decision patterns and knowledge levels provided supporting evidence for our main hypothesis that the weak IGT scores in the uncertainty conditions can be summarized as a failure to anticipate the badness and the goodness of the most difficult decks, and a dominant preference for a risky option with high immediate gains and infrequent losses.     

Working memory involvement in emotion-based processes underlying choosing advantageously

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is widely used to assess decision making under conditions of uncertainty in clinical as well as in nonclinical populations. However, there is still debate as to whether normal performance at this task relies on implicit, emotion-based processes that are independent of working memory. To clarify the role of working memory on normal performance on the IGT, participants performed the task under low or high working memory load. We used a modified version of the original task, in which the position of the four decks was randomized between trials. Results showed that only participants performing under low memory load significantly chose more advantageously halfway through the task. In addition, when comparing the number of cards chosen from the two decks with frequent losses, one advantageous and one disadvantageous, only participants performing under low memory load chose more cards from the advantageous deck. The present findings indicate that the processes underlying optimal advantageous performance on the IGT rely on working memory functions.     

A mixed-effects expectancy-valence model for the Iowa gambling task

The Iowa gambling task (IGT; Bechara, Damasio, Damasio, & Anderson, 1994) was developed to simulate real-life decision making under uncertainty. The task has been widely used to examine possible neurocognitive deficits in normal and clinical populations. Busemeyer and Stout (2002) proposed the expectancy-valence (EV) model to explicitly account for individual participants’ repeated choices in the IGT. Parameters of the EV model presumably measure different psychological processes that underlie performance on the task, and their values may be used to differentiate individuals across different populations. In the present article, the EV model is extended to include both fixed effects and subject-specific random effects. The mixed-effects EV model fits the nested structure of observations in the IGT naturally and provides a unified procedure for parameter estimation and comparisons among groups of populations. We illustrate the utility of the mixed-effects approach with an analysis of gender differences using a real data set. A simulation study was conducted to verify the advantages of this approach.     

Construct Validity of the Iowa Gambling Task

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) was created to assess real-world decision making in a laboratory setting and has been applied to various clinical populations (i.e., substance abuse, schizophrenia, pathological gamblers) outside those with orbitofrontal cortex damage, for whom it was originally developed. The current review provides a critical examination of lesion, functional neuroimaging, developmental, and clinical studies in order to examine the construct validity of the IGT. The preponderance of evidence provides support for the use of the IGT to detect decision making deficits in clinical populations, in the context of a more comprehensive evaluation. The review includes a discussion of three critical issues affecting the validity of the IGT, as it has recently become available as a clinical instrument: the lack of a concise definition as to what aspect of decision making the IGT measures, the lack of data regarding reliability of the IGT, and the influence of personality and state mood on IGT performance.     

Hormonal changes after competition predict sex‐differentiated decision‐making

Recent neuroendocrinology research has pointed out that testosterone (T) and cortisol (C) changes after social interactions can predict risk‐taking behavior in decision‐making, depending on the sex of participants. However, previous research has focused on the effects of the changes in only one hormone, rather than the interaction between them, even though C can suppress T activity. Our aim was to test, in men and women, the role of T changes moderated by C changes after competition in decision‐making. Thus, 48 males and 46 females completed the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) after a laboratory competition or a noncompetitive task (control task). Saliva samples were collected before and after the competition/control task. IGT was employed to measure risk‐taking decision‐making, considering the degree of uncertainty. Our results showed sex‐differentiated effects of T and C changes on risk‐taking behavior. On the one hand, men from both task groups (Competition/Control) who had higher C and T changes after competition showed more risk‐taking decision‐making (higher IG Risk). On the other hand, women from the competitive task who had high C and T showed conservative decision‐making. Therefore, these results show sex‐differentiated decision‐making profiles, which would help to understand how men and women behave after experiencing a competitive social context.     

Can the uncertainty appraisal associated with emotion cancel the effect of the hunch period in the Iowa Gambling Task?

Research has given little attention to the influence of incidental emotions on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), in which processing of the emotional cues associated with each decision is necessary to make advantageous decisions. Drawing on cognitive theories of emotions, we tested whether uncertainty-associated emotion can cancel the positive effect of the hunch period, by preventing participants from developing a tendency towards advantageous decisions. Our explanation is that uncertainty appraisals initiate deliberative processing that is irrelevant to process emotional cues, contrary to intuitive processing (Kahneman, 2003; Tiedens & Linton, 2001). As expected, uncertainty-associated emotion cancelled the positive effect of the hunch period in the IGT compared to certainty-associated emotion: disgusted participants (certainty-associated emotion) and sad participants induced to feel certainty developed a stronger tendency towards advantageous decisions than sad participants induced to feel uncertainty. We discuss the importance of the core components that trigger incidental emotions to predict decision making.     

The effect of age on decision making according to the Iowa gambling task

Aging has been associated with several brain changes that often affect the cognitive functioning of adults, but changes in executive functions, particularly in the field of decision making, have not been fully investigated. The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is a widely used tool to evaluate decision making, but little is known about the effect of age on its results. This study used the IGT and compared healthy young (n = 40) and elderly (n = 40) adults to evaluate their decision making processes. There were significant differences in the learning curve of the two age groups, but no difference in overall IGT performance. The results for the first IGT block were different from those of the rest of the task, and the group of elderly adults had a better performance in this block. Elderly adults also showed a preference for deck A, the one that resulted in greater losses. Findings confirmed the results of other studies, which reported that the IGT block score is the variable with the greatest sensitivity to age in this instrument.     

Common and distinct factors in decision making under ambiguity and risk: A psychometric study of individual differences

The relation between decision making under ambiguity and risky decision making was examined. In Studies 1 and 2, choices under ambiguity were measured for a large sample receiving an Ellsberg-type Ambiguity-Probability Tradeoff Task. Participants with extreme scores were recruited for Part 2 of each study which consisted of a risky decision making task (Study 1) or a series of decisions under ambiguity in “real life” scenarios (Study 2). Despite a time gap of up to 2 months, individual differences in scores on Part 1 predicted scores on Part 2. In Study 3 participants received in a single session several risky decision making tasks, several measures of decision making under ambiguity, and several personality scales related to uncertainty and decision making style. Taken together, the findings support the existence of a stable dispositional trait to reduce uncertainty in decision making but also task-specific differences related to gains and losses.     

Age-related changes in decision making: comparing informed and noninformed situations

Advantageous decision making progressively develops into early adulthood, most specifically in complex and motivationally salient decision situations in which direct feedback on gains and losses is provided (Figner & Weber, 2011). However, the factors that underlie this developmental improvement in decision making are still not well understood. The current study therefore investigates 2 potential factors, long-term memory and working memory, by assigning a large developmental sample (7-29 years of age) to a condition with either high or low demands on long-term and working memory. The first condition featured an age-adapted version of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT; Bechara, Damasio, Damasio, & Anderson, 1994; i.e., a noninformed situation), whereas the second condition provided an external store where explicit information on gains, losses, and probabilities per choice option was presented (i.e., an informed situation). Consistent with previous developmental IGT studies, children up to age 12 did not learn to prefer advantageous options in the noninformed condition. In contrast, all age groups learned to prefer the advantageous options in the informed conditions, although a slight developmental increase in advantageous decision making remained. These results indicate that lowering dependence on long-term and working memory improves children's advantageous decision making. The results additionally suggest that other factors, like inhibitory control processes, may play an additional role in the development of advantageous decision making.     

The effect of cognitive behavior therapy on decision making in adolescents who self-harm: a pilot study

Research shows poor decision making in adolescents who self-harm and a positive correlation between decision-making abilities and duration since last self-harm episode. This exploratory study investigated whether decision making in self-harming adolescents could be improved through treatment with a novel cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). It also investigated whether improvement in decision making following treatment was linked to self-harm cessation. Adolescent self-harmers receiving CBT (n = 24) or no treatment (n = 9) and healthy controls (n = 22) were longitudinally compared on the Iowa gambling task (IGT). Significant IGT improvements were only observed for adolescents who self-harm following CBT. CBT may benefit adolescent self-harmers and generate decision-making improvements.