Neural correlates of dueling affective reactions to win–win choices
View/ Open
Author
Shenhav, Amitai
Buckner, Randy L.
Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1405725111Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Shenhav, A., and R. L. Buckner. 2014. “Neural Correlates of Dueling Affective Reactions to Win-Win Choices.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111 (30). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: 10978–83. doi:10.1073/pnas.1405725111.Abstract
Win-win choices cause anxiety, often more so than decisions lacking the opportunity for a highly desired outcome. These anxious feelings can paradoxically co-occur with positive feelings, raising important implications for individual decision styles and general well-being. Across three studies, people chose between products that varied in personal value. Participants reported feeling most positive and most anxious when choosing between similarly high-valued products. Behavioral and neural results suggested that this paradoxical experience resulted from parallel evaluations of the expected outcome (inducing positive affect) versus the cost of choosing a response (inducing anxiety). Positive feelings were reduced when there was no high-value option, and anxiety was reduced when only one option was highly valued. Dissociable regions within the striatum and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) tracked these dueling affective reactions during choice. Ventral regions, associated with stimulus valuation, tracked positive feelings and the value of the best item. Dorsal regions, associated with response valuation, tracked anxiety. In addition to tracking anxiety, the dorsal mPFC was associated with conflict during the current choice, and activity levels across individual items predicted whether that choice would later be reversed during an unexpected reevaluation phase. By revealing how win-win decisions elicit responses in dissociable brain systems, these results help resolve the paradox of win-win choices. They also provide insight into behaviors that are associated with these two forms of affect, such as why we are pulled toward good options but may still decide to delay or avoid choosing among them.Terms of Use
This article is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of-use#LAACitable link to this page
http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:41555758
Collections
- HMS Scholarly Articles [17875]
Contact administrator regarding this item (to report mistakes or request changes)