Somatic markers, working memory, and decision making

John M Hinson; Tina L Jameson; Paul Whitney

doi:10.3758/CABN.2.4.341

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Somatic markers, working memory, and decision making

Journal article

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Somatic markers, working memory, and decision making

John M Hinson, Tina L Jameson and Paul Whitney

Cognitive, affective, & behavioral neuroscience, Vol.2(4), pp.341-353

12/2002

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/CABN.2.4.341

Handle:

https://hdl.handle.net/2376/113222

PMID: 12641178

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Abstract

Decision Making

Psychomotor Performance

Gambling

Choice Behavior

Humans

Memory

Male

Neuropsychological Tests

Galvanic Skin Response

Students

Risk-Taking

Adolescent

Adult

Female

Task Performance and Analysis

The somatic marker hypothesis formulated by Damasio (e.g., 1994; Damasio, Tranel, & Damasio, 1991) argues that affective reactions ordinarily guide and simplify decision making. Although originally intended to explain decision-making deficits in people with specific frontal lobe damage, the hypothesis also applies to decision-making problems in populations without brain injury. Subsequently, the gambling task was developed by Bechara (Bechara, Damasio, Damasio, & Anderson, 1994) as a diagnostic test of decision-making deficit in neurological populations. More recently, the gambling task has been used to explore implications of the somatic marker hypothesis, as well as to study suboptimal decision making in a variety of domains. We examined relations among gambling task decision making, working memory (WM) load, and somatic markers in a modified version of the gambling task. Increased WM load produced by secondary tasks led to poorer gambling performance. Declines in gambling performance were associated with the absence of the affective reactions that anticipate choice outcomes and guide future decision making. Our experiments provide evidence that WM processes contribute to the development of somatic markers. If WM functioning is taxed, somatic markers may not develop, and decision making may thereby suffer.

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Title: Somatic markers, working memory, and decision making
Creators: John M Hinson - Department of Psychology, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164-4820, USA. hinson@mail.wsu.edu
Tina L Jameson
Paul Whitney
Publication Details: Cognitive, affective, & behavioral neuroscience, Vol.2(4), pp.341-353
Academic Unit: Office of International Programs; Psychology, Department of
Publisher: United States
Identifiers: 99900547723501842
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article