The DOI matches its Crossref record; 6 of the 6 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Deciding Advantageously Before Knowing the Advantageous Strategy
Abstract
Deciding advantageously in a complex situation is thought to require overt reasoning on declarative knowledge, namely, on facts pertaining to premises, options for action, and outcomes of actions that embody the pertinent previous experience. An alternative possibility was investigated: that overt reasoning is preceded by a nonconscious biasing step that uses neural systems other than those that support declarative knowledge. Normal participants and patients with prefrontal damage and decision-making defects performed a gambling task in which behavioral, psychophysiological, and self-account measures were obtained in parallel. Normals began to choose advantageously before they realized which strategy worked best, whereas prefrontal patients continued to choose disadvantageously even after they knew the correct strategy. Moreover, normals began to generate anticipatory skin conductance responses (SCRs) whenever they pondered a choice that turned out to be risky, before they knew explicitly that it was a risky choice, whereas patients never developed anticipatory SCRs, although some eventually realized which choices were risky. The results suggest that, in normal individuals, nonconscious biases guide behavior before conscious knowledge does. Without the help of such biases, overt knowledge may be insufficient to ensure advantageous behavior.
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“In previous papers, Damasio and his colleagues (e.g., Bechara et al., 1997) described the somatic marker hypothesis, which suggested that bodily states outside of conscious awareness could influence behavior.”
From More than a feeling: A unified view of stress measurement for population science (2018) · cites this paper as Bechara et al., 1997
In the citing paper
“They found that as participants turned over cards from the various decks, changes in skin conductance (activity in the eccrine gland, indicating sympathetic activation innervated by acetylcholine) co-occurred with choices from the riskier decks.”
From More than a feeling: A unified view of stress measurement for population science (2018) · cites this paper as Bechara et al., 1997
In the citing paper
“Importantly, these bodily changes preceded conscious reporting of which decks were risky by approximately 40 trials.”
From More than a feeling: A unified view of stress measurement for population science (2018) · cites this paper as Bechara et al., 1997
In the citing paper
“The VMPFC has long been implicated in reward-related decision-making (Bechara et al., 1997, 2005; Glascher et al., 2012)”
From The orbitofrontal cortex: reward, emotion and depression (2020) · cites this paper as Bechara et al., 1997
In the citing paper
“More specifically, it has been proposed that in humans the MPFC may play a role in the integration of emotional and cognitive processes by incorporating emotional biasing signals or markers into decisionmaking processes (43).”
From A default mode of brain function (2001) · cites this paper as [43]
Citations
Cites
(1994) · DigitalGeorgetown (Georgetown University Library) · Cited by 10,542
DESCARTES' ERROR: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain
Marg, E. (1995) · Optometry and Vision Science · doi:10.1002/j.1538-9235.1995.tb03988.x · Cited by 8,178
Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex
Bechara, A., Damasio, A. R., Damasio, H., & Anderson, S. W. (1994) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/0010-0277(94)90018-3 · Cited by 6,128
Self-citationDissociation in prefrontal cortex of affective and attentional shifts
Dias, R., Robbins, T. W., & Roberts, A. C. (1996) · Nature · doi:10.1038/380069a0 · Cited by 1,527
Bechara, A., Tranel, D., Damasio, H., & Damasio, A. R. (1996) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/6.2.215 · Cited by 1,179
Self-citationDiamond, A. D. (1990) · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1990.tb48900.x · Cited by 388
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- We envision these biases to act as markers or qualifiers in the manner suggested by A. Damasio [in (5) chap. 8] and by A. R. Damasio D. Tranel and H. Damasio [in Frontal Lobe Function and Dysfunction H. S. Levin H. M. Eisenberg A. L. Benton Eds. (Oxford Univ. Press New York 1991) pp. 217]. See also P. R. Montague P. Dayan C. Person T. J. Sejnowski Nature 377 725 (1995); This action might occur both at the cortical level and in subcortical structures such as basal ganglia.
- The Nervous System F. Plum Ed. (American Physiological Society Bethesda MD 1987) vol. 5 pp. 373-401] and selective attention [M. I. Posner and S. Dehaene Trends Neurosci. 17 75 (1994). In other words we propose an addition to mechanisms already recognized as necessary for proper reasoning rather than an alternative to those mechanisms.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
An Integrative Theory of Prefrontal Cortex Function
Miller, E. K., & Cohen, J. D. (2001) · Annual Review of Neuroscience · doi:10.1146/annurev.neuro.24.1.167 · Cited by 12,803
A default mode of brain function
Raichle, M. E., MacLeod, A. M., Snyder, A. Z., Powers, W. J., Gusnard, D. A., & Shulman, G. L. (2001) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.98.2.676 · Cited by 12,190
Loewenstein, G. F., Weber, E. U., Hsee, C. K., & Welch, N. (2001) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.127.2.267 · Cited by 5,955
The brain's default mode network
Raichle, M. E. (2015) · Annual Review of Neuroscience · doi:10.1146/annurev-neuro-071013-014030 · Cited by 3,904
What is the role of dopamine in reward: hedonic impact, reward learning, or incentive salience?
Berridge, K. C., & Robinson, T. E. (1998) · Brain Research Reviews · doi:10.1016/s0165-0173(98)00019-8 · Cited by 4,127
Metadata
- Authors
- Bechara, A., Damasio, H., Tranel, D., & Damasio, A. R.
- Affiliations
- University of Iowa (US)
- H. Damasio and A. R. Damasio, Department of Neurology, Division of Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA 52242, and The Salk Institute of Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA 92186, USA.
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 1997-02-28
- Volume
- 275
- Issue
- 5304
- Pages
- 1293-1295
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2006633893
- Cited by
- 3,547
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 67 · 2025: 73 · 2024: 139 · 2023: 81 · 2022: 111 · 2021: 131 · 2020: 179 · 2019: 134 · 2018: 123 · 2017: 120 · 2016: 157 · 2015: 156 · 2014: 158 · 2013: 182 · 2012: 181
- FWCI
- 29.07
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (P01 NS19632, P01NS019632)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › General Decision Sciences › Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Cognitive Science and Education Research
- Keywords
- decision-making, risk perception, implicit learning, declarative knowledge, gambling task, conscious knowledge, psychophysiology
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Brain Damage, Chronic, Decision Making, Female, Galvanic Skin Response, Gambling, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Unconscious, Psychology, Prefrontal Cortex, Intuition
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