Neural responses reveal associations between personal values and value-based decisions.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Decision Science

Background:

• Personal values are known to influence decision-making, but the underlying neural mechanisms are not fully understood.
• Understanding how individual values modulate the processing of rewards and losses is crucial for explaining behavioral variability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the neural correlates of how personal values for hedonism and security impact value-based decision-making.
• To examine the relationship between individual value priorities and brain responses during reward and loss processing.

Main Methods:

• A Lottery Choice Task was employed with functional brain imaging (fMRI).
• Participants' personal values (hedonism, security) were assessed using the Schwartz Value Survey.
• Neural activity and functional connectivity were analyzed in relation to decision outcomes and stimulus properties (probability, magnitude).

Main Results:

• Hedonistic individuals showed increased neural responses in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and striatum when facing potential losses.
• Security-focused individuals exhibited altered responses in the amygdala and precuneus, modulated by stake magnitude and winning probability.
• Value-based differences were associated with distinct whole-brain functional connectivity patterns in regions like the insula, habenula, and anterior cingulate cortex.

Conclusions:

• Individual differences in personal values significantly modulate neural processing in reward, affective, and cognitive control systems.
• These neural modulations provide a mechanism for how personal values shape value-based decisions, influencing risk-taking and status quo maintenance.
• The findings highlight the brain's flexible engagement of distinct neural systems to align decisions with core personal values.