Loss Aversion Reflects Information Accumulation, Not Bias: A Drift-Diffusion Model Study
Open Access
- 10 October 2017
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Frontiers Media SA in Frontiers in Psychology
- Vol. 8, 1708
- https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01708
Abstract
Defined as increased sensitivity to losses, loss aversion is often conceptualized as a cognitive bias. However, findings that loss aversion has an attentional or emotional regulation component suggest that it may instead reflect differences in information processing. To distinguish these alternatives, we applied the drift-diffusion model (DDM) to choice and response time data in a card gambling task with unknown risk distributions. Loss aversion was measured separately for each participant. Dividing the participants into terciles based on loss aversion estimates, we found that the most loss-averse group showed a significantly lower drift rate than the other two groups, indicating overall slower uptake of information. In contrast, neither the starting bias nor the threshold separation (barrier) varied by group, suggesting that decision thresholds are not affected by loss aversion. These results shed new light on the cognitive mechanisms underlying loss aversion, consistent with an account based on information accumulation.This publication has 62 references indexed in Scilit:
- HDDM: Hierarchical Bayesian estimation of the Drift-Diffusion Model in PythonFrontiers in Neuroscience, 2013
- Subthalamic nucleus stimulation reverses mediofrontal influence over decision thresholdNature Neuroscience, 2011
- Multialternative drift-diffusion model predicts the relationship between visual fixations and choice in value-based decisionsProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2011
- Value-driven attentional captureProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2011
- Amygdala damage eliminates monetary loss aversionProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2010
- HUMAN RESPONDING ON RANDOM‐INTERVAL SCHEDULES OF RESPONSE‐COST PUNISHMENT: THE ROLE OF REDUCED REINFORCEMENT DENSITYJournal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 2010
- Quality of evidence for perceptual decision making is indexed by trial-to-trial variability of the EEGProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2009
- Thinking like a trader selectively reduces individuals' loss aversionProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2009
- The Diffusion Decision Model: Theory and Data for Two-Choice Decision TasksNeural Computation, 2008
- Attentional bias for threat: Evidence for delayed disengagement from emotional facesCognition and Emotion, 2002