RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Hard decisions shape the neural coding of preferences
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 298406
DO 10.1101/298406
A1 Katharina Voigt
A1 Carsten Murawski
A1 Sebastian Speer
A1 Stefan Bode
YR 2018
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/04/10/298406.abstract
AB Hard decisions between equally valued alternatives can result in preference changes, meaning that subsequent valuations for chosen items increase and decrease for rejected items. Previous research suggests that this phenomenon is a consequence of cognitive dissonance reduction after the decision, induced by the mismatch between initial preferences and decision outcomes. In contrast, this functional magnetic resonance imaging and eye-tracking study tested whether preferences are already updated online while making decisions. Preference changes could be predicted from activity in left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and precuneus during decision-making. Furthermore, fixation durations predicted both choice outcomes and subsequent preference changes. These preference adjustments became behaviourally relevant at re-evaluation, but only for choices that were remembered and were associated with hippocampus activity. Our findings refute classical explanations of post-choice dissonance reduction and instead suggest that preferences evolve dynamically as decisions arise, potentially as a mechanism to prevent stalemate situations in underdetermined decision scenarios.