Neural Mechanisms of Post-Decisional Spreading of Alternatives
Keywords:
cognitive dissonance, preference change, decision making, medial prefrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
Abstract
Human choices are not only driven by inner preferences, but also have an impact on behavior. Economists and psychologists have extensively demonstrated that choosing between two attractive options leads to a downgrade of the rejected option and to an upgrade of the chosen one. Preference modulation after the mere act of making a choice has been repeatedly demonstrated over the last 50 years by an experimental paradigm called the ‘free-choice paradigm’. In the past decade the phenomenon of choice-induced preference change generated by cognitive dissonance has been explored by neuroscientists. An increasing amount of research has highlighted the central role of the posterior medial frontal cortex (pMFC) in social conformity and cognitive dissonance. This area represents the dissonance between one’s currently inconsistent and ideally consistent states. However, other brain areas have been linked to cognitive dissonance and its resolution, but as yet the mechanisms underpinning cognitive dissonance and the functional connection among brain areas found involved in cognitive dissonance are still unknown. Here, we firstly review the neural mechanisms and brain areas involved in post-decisional preference change and cognitive dissonance. Secondly, we suggest an integration of the existing neurocognitive mechanism of cognitive dissonance. Finally, we suggest new research lines to further explore neural principles of cognitive dissonance and subsequent post-decisional preference change.
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References
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2. Bartra, O., McGuire, J. T., & Kable, J. W. (2013). The valuation system: A coordinate-based metaanalysis of BOLD fMRI experiments examining neural correlates of subjective value. Neurolmage, 76, 412-427.
3. Bellebaum, C., & Colosio, M. (2014). From feedback- to response-based performance monitoring in active and observational learning. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 26(9), 2111-2127.
4. Botvinick, M. M., Braver, T. S., Barch, D. M., Carter, C. S., & Cohen, J. D. (2001). Conflict monitoring and cognitive control. Psychological Review, 108(3), 624-652.
5. Botvinick, M. M., Cohen, J. D., & Carter, C. S. (2004). Conflict monitoring and anterior cingulate cortex: an update. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8(12), 539-546.
6. Brehm, J. W. (1956). Postdecision changes in the desirability of alternatives. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 52(3), 384-389.
7. Carter, C. S., Braver, T. S., Barch, D. M., Botvinick, M. M., Noll, D., & Cohen, J. D. (1998). Anterior cingulate cortex, error detection, and the online monitoring of performance. Science, 280(5364), 747-749.
8. Colosio, M., Shestakova, A., Nikulin, V. V., Blagovechtchenski, E., & Klucharev, V. (2017). Neural mechanisms of cognitive dissonance (revised): An EEG study. The Journal of Neuroscience, 37(20), 5074-5083.
9. Debener, S. (2005). Trial-by-trial coupling of concurrent electroencephalogram and functional magnetic resonance imaging identifies the dynamics of performance monitoring. Journal of Neuroscience, 25(50), 11730-11737.
10. Di Martino, A., Scheres, A., Margulies, D. S., Kelly, A. M. C., Uddin, L. Q., Shehzad, Z., Milham, M. P. (2008). Functional connectivity of human striatum: A resting state fMRI study. Cerebral Cortex, 18(12), 2735-2747.
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12. Gerard, H. B., & White, G. L. (1983). Post-decisional reevaluation of choice alternatives. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 9(3), 365-369.
13. Harmon-Jones, E., Gerdjikov, T., & Harmon-Jones, C. (2008). The effect of induced compliance on relative left frontal cortical activity: A test of the action-based model of dissonance. European Journal of Social Psychology, 38(1), 35-45.
14. Harmon-Jones, E., & Harmon-Jones, C. (2008). Action-based model of dissonance: A review of behavioral, anterior cingulate, and prefrontal cortical mechanisms. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(3), 1518-1538.
15. Hinojosa, A. S., Gardner, W. L., Walker, H. J., Cogliser, C., & Gullifor, D. (2016). A review of cognitive dissonance theory in management research: Opportunities for further development. Journal of Management, 43(1), 170-199.
16. Holroyd, C. B., & Coles, M. G. H. (2002). The neural basis of human error processing: reinforcement learning, dopamine, and the error-related negativity. Psychological Review, 109(4), 679-709.
17. Holroyd, C. B., Nieuwenhuis, S., Yeung, N., & Cohen, J. D. (2003). Errors in reward prediction are reflected in the event-related brain potential. Neuroreport, 14(18), 2481-2484.
18. Izuma, K. (2013). The neural basis of social influence and attitude change. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 23(3), 456-462.
19. Izuma, K., Akula, S., Murayama, K., Wu, X. D., Iacoboni, X. M., & Adolphs, R. (2015). A causal role for posterior medial frontal cortex in choice-induced preference change. The Journal of Neuroscience, 35(8), 3598-3606.
20. Izuma, K., Matsumoto, M., Murayama, K., Samejima, K., Sadato, N., & Matsumoto, K. (2010). Neural correlates of cognitive dissonance and choice-induced preference change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(51), 22014-22019.
21. Jarcho, J. M., Berkman, E. T., & Lieberman, M. D. (2011). The neural basis of rationalization: Cognitive dissonance reduction during decision-making. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 6(4), 460-467.
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23. Kitayama, S., Chua, H. F., Tompson, S., & Han, S. (2013). Neural mechanisms of dissonance: An fMRI investigation of choice justification. Neurolmage, 69, 206-212.
24. Knutson, B., Delgado, M. R., & Phillips, P. E. M. (2009). Representation of subjective value in the striatum. In P. W. Glimcher, C. F. Camerer, E. Fehr, & R. A. Poldrack (Eds.), Neuroeconomics: Decision making and the brain (pp. 389-406). San Diego, CA: Elsevier Academic Press.
25. Leech, R., Kamourieh, S., Beckmann, C. F., & Sharp, D. J. (2011). Fractionating the default mode network: distinct contributions of the ventral and dorsal posterior cingulate cortex to cognitive control. The Journal of Neuroscience : The OfficialJournal of the Society for Neuroscience, 31(9), 3217- 3224.
26. Leech, R., & Sharp, D. J. (2014). The role of the posterior cingulate cortex in cognition and disease. Brain, 137(Pt 1), 12-32.
27. Maddock, R. J., Garrett, A. S., & Buonocore, M. H. (2001). Remembering familiar people: The posterior cingulate cortex and autobiographical memory retrieval. Neuroscience, 104(3), 667-676.
28. Miller, E. K., & Cohen, J. D. (2001). An integrative theory of prefrontal cortex function. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 24, 167-202.
29. Pearson, J. M., Heilbronner, S. R., Barack, D. L., Hayden, B. Y., & Platt, M. L. (2011). Posterior cingulate cortex: Adapting behavior to a changing world. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 15(4), 143-151.
30. Qin, J., Kimel, S., Kitayama, S., Wang, X., Yang, X., & Han, S. (2011). How choice modifies preference: neural correlates of choice justification. Neurolmage, 55(1), 240-246.
31. Ridderinkhof, K. R., Ullsperger, M., Crone, E. A., & Nieuwenhuis, S. (2004). The role of the medial frontal cortex in cognitive control. Science, 306(5695), 443-447.
32. Sharot, T., De Martino, B., & Dolan, R. J. (2009). How choice reveals and shapes expected hedonic outcome. Journal of Neuroscience, 29(12), 3760-3765.
33. Tompson, S., Chua, H. F., & Kitayama, S. (2016). Connectivity between mPFC and PCC predicts post-choice attitude change: The self-referential processing hypothesis of choice justification. Human Brain Mapping,, 37(11), 3810-3820. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.23277
34. Van Veen, V., Krug, M. K., Schooler, J. W., & Carter, C. S. (2009). Neural activity predicts attitude change in cognitive dissonance. Nature Neuroscience, 12(11), 1469-1474.
35. Vann, S. D., Aggleton, J. P., & Maguire, E. A. (2009). What does the retrosplenial cortex do? Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 10(11), 792-802. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2733
Published
2018-11-08
How to Cite
КолозиоМ., РыбинаЕ. П., ШестаковаА. Н., & КлючаревВ. А. (2018). Neural Mechanisms of Post-Decisional Spreading of Alternatives. Psychology. Journal of the Higher School of Economics, 15(3), 606-614. https://doi.org/10.17323/1813-8918-2018-3-606-614
Issue
Section
Reviews
