Emotion and Decision Making

1. How important is decision making in everyday life? What body of research has pointed to an important role for emotions in these decisions? According to the somatic-marker hypothesis, how are emotions involved in decision making?
       Decision making occurs on a regular, day-to-day basis and precedes many of life's most important events. Not only do people use expected utility upon explicit knowledge of outcomes, but neuroscientists have also concluded that emotion plays a critical role in biasing decision making. According to the somatic-marker hypothesis, emotion biases decision making toward choices that maximize reward and minimize punishment.
2. What are the effects on decision making of damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC)? What intellectual and problem-solving abilities do such patients have? What emotional impairments do they have? How are these impairments related to the somatic-marker hypothesis?
        Patients with damage to the vmPFC, located above the eye sockets, often engaged in activities that were detrimental to their well-being and appeared unable to learn from their previous mistakes due to their repetition of these patterns. In contrast, their intellects and problem-solving abilities were normal. However, their ability to react to emotional situations was impaired, meaning that damage to the vmPFC affected their ability to use emotions to aid in their decision making. This supported the somatic-marker hypothesis in that emotions play a role in decision making, especially where the outcome is uncertain.
3. What is the Iowa Gambling Task? How do intact people differ from those with vmPFC damage on this task? How are skin conductance responses (SCRs) different for these two groups of participants? How are these patterns of response on the task different for patients with damage to the amygdala?
        The Iowa Gambling Task used four decks of cards (two advantageous and two disadvantageous) and had people choose from all four decks. The two advantageous decks, which provided low reward and low punishment would eventually lead to a net gain. the two disadvantageous decks provided high reward and punishment and would lead to a net loss. "Normal individuals" after sampling all four decks equally, typically shifted their choices to the advantageous deck. Subjects with vmPFC continued to choose from the disadvantageous deck. Normal subjects also elicited higher SCRs before choosing from the disadvantageous decks whereas the subjects with vmPFC showed very little SCRs. Patients with damage to the amygdala showed similar results as those with vmPFC damage however those with amygdala damage had impaired SCRs to receiving rewards and punishments and registering the impact.
4. In what two ways may our bodily states affect our decision making? What brain areas are involved in these effects? What are "gut feelings?"
         After our bodies have been feed palatable food to satiety, our responses to specific primary reinforcers are reduced by manipulations that diminished their value. This way, vmPFC neurons respond to conditioned stimuli that predict the delivery of primary reinforcers. The insular cortex, as well as the vmPFC and amygdala are involved in predicting reward and decision making. Gut feelings come from the mapping of visceral states within the insular cortex, which cause an unconscious reinforcement that is delivered in an unpredictable way.
5. Do neurons in the various brain areas mentioned above respond in ways that are consistent with the somatic-marker hypothesis?
         The mesolimbic dopamine system is an area that contributes to decision making and reward processing. The activity of single neurons within the mesolimbic dopamine system is increased by primary reinforcers. These neurons also respond to stimuli that predict and the neurons shift over time. This is consistent with the role of the mesolimbic dopamine system proposed by the somatic-marker hypothesis.
6. How may the processes discussed in this article be involved in moral decisions? How may they be important in drug abuse?
         Studies have found that there is a greater activation of the vmPFC when the moral decision involves negative consequence for another person. Moral decisions engage emotions, especially when one is required to consider another's well-being. Drug addiction has been found to elicit the same impairments as people with vmPFC damage, which suggests that drug addiction is promoted in part by the dysfunction of the vmPFC which would normally steer people away from harmful or negative consequences.
7. How does the somatic-marker hypothesis provide a bridge linking complex human abilities with fundamental motivations and physiological processes?
          The somatic-marker hypothesis is a good base for understanding the connection with the mesolimbic dopamine system and insular cortex and how they work together to facilitate decision making through gut feelings and unconscious biasing of behavior. Because of this we can use the somatic-marker hypothesis to compare the most complex human abilities to motivational and homeostatic processes.