title: Psychophysiological arousal and inter- and intraindividual differences in risk-sensitive decision making.
abstract: The current study assessed peripheral responses during decision making under explicit risk, and tested whether intraindividual variability in choice behavior can be explained by fluctuations in peripheral arousal. Electrodermal activity (EDA) and heart rate (HR) were monitored in healthy volunteers (N = 68) during the Roulette Betting Task. In this task, participants were presented with risky gambles to bet on, with the chances of winning varying across trials. Hierarchical Bayesian analyses demonstrated that EDA and HR acceleration responses during the decision phase were sensitive to the chances of winning. Interindividual differences in this peripheral reactivity during risky decision making were related to trait sensitivity to punishment and trait sensitivity to reward. Moreover, trial-by-trial variation in EDA and HR acceleration responses predicted a small portion of intraindividual variability in betting choices. Our results show that psychophysiological responses are sensitive to explicit risk and can help explain intraindividual heterogeneity in choice behavior.
authors.affiliation: Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute (BCNI), Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.|Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Medical Faculty, University of Dusseldorf, Dusseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Bettina
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Studer
authors.affiliation: Geneva School of Economics and Management, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Scheibehenne
authors.affiliation: Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute (BCNI), Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.|Centre for Gambling Research at UBC, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Luke
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Clark
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response; D005717:Games, Experimental; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D010552:Personality Assessment; D011601:Psychophysics; D011930:Reaction Time; D012306:Risk; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Bayesian; Decision making; Peripheral arousal; Personality; Risk