Differential effects of prior outcomes and pauses on the speed and quality of risky choices

Abstract

Failures to obtain rewards influence both the direction (choosing what to do) and intensity (response vigor) of subsequent motivated behavior. For instance, in risky decision-making, losses can induce faster responses ('intensity') and sometimes increase risk-taking ('direction'), which may lead to detrimental consequences. Pauses might reduce these motivational influences of prior outcomes. To examine this question, participants (from the general population on Prolific.co in 2022 and 2023) alternated between a guess game, in which they won or lost money, and a choice game, in which they chose between two risky options. The pause between a guess and a choice game was either short (0 or 300 milliseconds) or long (3000 milliseconds). In four experiments, prior outcomes consistently influenced decision speed, but not people’s choices. Contrarily, pauses increased decision quality (choosing the option with a higher expected value) without substantially reducing decision speed. Pauses may improve decision quality by increasing attention to relevant information, as its effect was absent when the overall task attention was increased (Experiment 3). These findings have implications for both responsible gambling and risky decision-making research. Future work can examine the underlying computational and cognitive processes, and the generalizability of these findings to other contexts and populations.