title: Application of the somatic marker hypothesis to individual differences in decision making.
abstract: The somatic marker hypothesis (Damasio, Tranel, & Damasio, 1991) is a controversial theory asserting that somatic activities implicitly bias human behavior. In this study, we examined the relationship between choice behaviors in the Iowa Gambling Task and patterns of skin conductance responses (SCRs) within a healthy population. Results showed that low SCRs for appraising the monetary outcome of risky decisions were related to persistence in risky choices. Such adherence to risky decisions was not related to poor explicit knowledge about the task. On the other hand, anticipatory SCRs and the effect of them on performance were not confirmed. Our findings suggest that a variation in covert physiological appraisal underlies individual differences in decision making.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive and Behavioral Science, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan. suzuki@bayes.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp
authors.forename: Atsunobu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Akihisa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hirota
authors.forename: Noriyoshi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Takasawa
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shigemasu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response / Q000502:physiology*; D005715:Gambling; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012309:Risk-Taking
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers