Week 6 - Emotion

Article:
Bechara, A., Damasio, H., Tranel, D., & Damasio, A. H. (2005). The Iowa Gambling Task and the somatic marker hypothesis: some questions and answers. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9, 159-162

During an average day, most of us are faced with myriad decisions to make - frequently mundane and simple of course but occasionally more involved and complex. Whatever the issue, choices need to be made and many of us arrive at decisions in a reasonably straightforward way – most often by weighing up the pros and cons. However, an additional element in almost all decision making is that of 'gut feeling' - intuitively ‘knowing’ what the best option is based on how it makes us ‘feel, either consciously or outside of our awareness. This is the cornerstone of the Somatic Marker Hypothesis, proposed by eminent researcher Antonio Damasio. 

With elements of risk, uncertainty, reward and punishment, Bechara et al. (1994) devised the Iowa Gambling Task in an attempt to simulate the ‘real life’ decision-making process. The IGT was employed to test patients with ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPC) damage against healthy controls.  Although VMPC patients appear to have normal intellectual function, advantageous decision making is shown to significantly compromised in this task.  Briefly, given that the role of the VMPC in moderating emotional response is well documented in the literature, Bechara et al. argue that (based on SMT) damage to this area leads patients to make poor decisions with no apparent regard for future consequences.

Although a popular paradigm employed by several researchers, the IGT is not without its detractors.  The article by Bechara el al. (2005) listed at the head of this page is a response to one such criticism.  Maia and McClelland (2004), argue that the findings in the original Bechara et al. (1997)  study are really due to VMPC patients’ inability to deal with contingency reversal, a ‘tool’ central to success in the IGT.

Additional reading:

Maia, T.V. and McClelland, J.L. (2004) A reexamination of the evidence for the somatic marker hypothesis: What participants really know in the Iowa gambling Task. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 101,16075–16080