title: The medial frontal cortex and the rapid processing of monetary gains and losses.
abstract: We report the observation of neural processing that occurs within 265 milliseconds after outcome stimuli that inform human participants about gains and losses in a gambling task. A negative-polarity event-related brain potential, probably generated by a medial-frontal region in or near the anterior cingulate cortex, was greater in amplitude when a participant's choice between two alternatives resulted in a loss than when it resulted in a gain. The sensitivity to losses was not simply a reflection of detecting an error; gains did not elicit the medial-frontal activity when the alternative choice would have yielded a greater gain, and losses elicited the activity even when the alternative choice would have yielded a greater loss. Choices made after losses were riskier and were associated with greater loss-related activity than choices made after gains. It follows that medial-frontal computations may contribute to mental states that participate in higher level decisions, including economic choices.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 525 East University, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1109, USA. wgehring@umich.edu
authors.forename: William J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Gehring
authors.forename: Adrian R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Willoughby
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D004467:Economics; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005715:Gambling / Q000523:psychology*; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013997:Time Factors