Analyzing decision making behaviour under risk and uncertainty with the help of computational cognitive modeling and neuroscience perspectives

Date

2024-1-26

Author

Bulur, Hatice Gonca

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This study aims to understand individuals' decision making behaviour under risk and uncertainty by bringing insights from computational cognitive modeling and neuroscience perspectives. More specifically, it investigates connections between behavioural/neural measures and model parameters to improve the comprehension of the processes guiding decisions. Two functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-based Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) experiments (perfect gambling, probability learning) are conducted to obtain measures related to risk taking behaviour and risk probability learning. Behavioural data analysis results indicate significant differences between balloon colours (explosion probabilities), conditions (gambling, probability learning) and balloon presentation orders (constant, mixed) on the (average) total number of pumps, total points earned and adjusted average number of pumps. The mean value of the gambling condition is greater than the probability learning case for all measures, which indicates higher risk taking. fNIRS data analysis findings show that the difference between two conditions for mixed blocks is the strongest at the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) due to the increased cognitive challenge induced by the perfect gambling case. The separation between conditions is mostly in the balloon with the highest explosion probability. The acquired data is benefited to jointly model participants' intended number of pumps in BART. Modeling results demonstrate that increase in the left/right dlPFC/dmPFC (dorsomedial PFC) and frontopolar regions are positively associated with risk taking. While the strongest relationship with the left dlPFC may be attributed to probability learning or risk-averse behaviour in gains, it may be related to risk taking owing to uncertainty for the right dlPFC.

Subject Keywords

Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), Decision Making Under Risk and Uncertainty, fNIRS, Computational Cognitive Modeling, Joint Modeling

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/108471

Collections

Graduate School of Informatics, Thesis