A neuropsychological investigation of decisional certainty

Abstract

The certainty that one feels following a decision increases decision-making efficiency, but can also result in decreased decision accuracy. In the current study, a neuropsychological approach was used to examine the impact of damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) on core psychological processes promoting decision certainty: selective exposure, overconfidence, and decisiveness. Given previous research demonstrating that vmPFC damage disrupts the generation of negative emotional (somatic) states that have been associated with selective exposure and overconfidence, it was hypothesized that damage to the vmPFC would disrupt engagement in selective exposure, decrease overconfidence, and increase indecision. Individuals with vmPFC damage exhibited increased indecision, but contrary to our hypothesis, engaged in similar levels of selective exposure and overconfidence as the comparison groups. These results indicate that indecision may be an important psychological mechanism involved in decision-making impairments associated with vmPFC injury. The results also suggest that the vmPFC may not be critical for selective exposure or overconfidence, which provides support for a recent “desirability” account of selective exposure.

Developmental exposure to the synthetic progestin, 17α‐hydroxyprogesterone caproate, disrupts the mesocortical serotonin pathway and alters impulsive decision‐making in rats

“…However, it is clear the prefrontal cortex plays a critical role (for review see Euston et al, 2012), although not yet well understood. For example, humans with damage to ventromedial PFC exhibited increased indecision in a prediction task (Scherer et al, 2015). Serotonergic activity may also play an important role.…”

On Curiosity: A Fundamental Aspect of Personality, a Practice of Network Growth

“…At smaller spatial scales, structural connections can be defined by synapses between neurons (Kleinfeld et al, 2011); at finer temporal scales, functional connections can be defined as correlations between trains of action potentials (Brody, 1999). The multiscale network of the human brain houses rich information about how complex patterns of thought arise, and how individual differences in neurophysiology can produce individual differences in personality traits such as openness to experience (Beaty et al, 2016), manners of production such as creativity (Beaty, Benedek, Kaufman, & Silvia, 2015), and behaviors related to knowledge acquisition such as information seeking (Scherer, Taber-Thomas, & Tranel, 2015).…”