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Updated: Jun 29, 2026
08:24
The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies
Published on: August 25, 2023
Anticipatory affect: neural correlates and consequences for choice.
Brian Knutson1, Stephanie M Greer
1Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Building 420, Jordan Hall, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. knutson@psych.stanford.edu
Summary
Anticipatory affect, or emotions before outcomes, influences decisions. Brain imaging reveals nucleus accumbens and anterior insula activity patterns predict choices, linking emotions to behavior.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Decision Science
- Affective Science
Background:
- Anticipatory affect involves emotions experienced before significant outcomes.
- Historically, studying its influence on choice was limited by technology.
- Advances in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) enable real-time neural activity visualization.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review evidence on how anticipatory affect influences subsequent choice.
- To explore the neural basis of anticipatory affect using fMRI data.
- To establish a neurally plausible framework for affect-driven decision-making.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies.
- Activation Likelihood Estimate (ALE) meta-analysis of cued response tasks.
- Correlation analysis between neural activation and self-reported affective states.
Main Results:
- Nucleus accumbens (NAcc) activation increases during gain anticipation.
- Anterior insula activation increases during both gain and loss anticipation.
- NAcc activation correlates with positive arousal; anterior insula with arousal (positive/negative).
- NAcc activation precedes purchasing and high-risk choices; anterior insula precedes rejection and low-risk choices.
Conclusions:
- Neural activity in the nucleus accumbens and anterior insula during anticipation influences decision-making.
- These brain regions show distinct patterns of activation related to gain/loss anticipation and arousal.
- Findings support a framework where anticipatory affect guides choices.
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