The Behavioral and Neural Mechanisms of Social and Non-social Risky Decision-Making

• Main Author: Lauharatanahirun, Nina
• Other Authors: Psychology
• Format: Others
• Published: Virginia Tech 2014
• Subjects: fMRI; social risk; individual differences; risk; social neuroscience; trust
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10919/42671; http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-05152013-223854/

Decisions made under risk have been primarily studied within economic contexts (Platt & Huettel, 2008). This has led to the development of sound methods and models for studying risky choice behavior (Rangel, Camerer & Montague, 2008). In particular, these models are helpful for estimating how much risk an individual is willing to tolerate. However, there may be a limit in the extent to which we can generalize these estimations, in that economic models do not take into account the underlying social preferences that often guide decision makers (Fehr & Camerer, 2007; Fehr & Schmidt, 2004). This suggests that an individualâ s propensity for risk may be different depending on social or non-social information present within the environment (Bohnet, Greig, Herrmann & Zeckhauser, 2008). The present study aimed to: (i) assess how risk preferences may differ across social and non-social contexts; (ii) identify common and distinct neural correlates of social and non-social risk; and (iii) determine neural characteristics associated with individual sensitivities to social and non-social risk. Subjects (N=30) played an adaptation of the Trust Game while their blood-oxygen-level-dependent response was monitored using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Differences in risk preferences across social and non-social conditions as well as neuroimaging correlates of social and non-social risk will be discussed. === Master of Science