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Assessing behavioural profiles following neutral, positive and negative feedback.

Rimsa Dahal¹, Kelsey MacLellan¹, Danielle Vavrek¹

¹University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.

|July 5, 2022

Summary

Draws in decision-making tasks are perceived negatively, not neutrally. This study reveals that outcomes like draws trigger behavioral responses similar to losses, impacting performance and choices.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Neuroeconomics
Decision Science

Background:

Previous research indicates that neutral outcomes, such as draws, are often subjectively perceived with negative valence.
Behavioral indicators like faster reaction times, shift behavior, and reduced flexibility following draws align with responses to explicitly negative outcomes (losses).

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the subjective valence and behavioral consequences of neutral outcomes (draws) compared to explicitly positive and negative outcomes.
To examine how manipulating the perceived value of draws influences decision-making behavior.

Main Methods:

Three experiments were conducted manipulating the assigned value of outcomes (neutral, positive, negative) for draws, wins, and losses.
Behavioral measures included reaction times, choice behavior (stay vs. shift), and performance deviations from optimal strategies.

Main Results:

When draws were valued at 0, behavior showed some similarities to losses (speeded reaction times).
Increasing draw value to +1 improved performance and approximated optimal behavior, while a value of -1 significantly increased shift behavior.
Value manipulations on win/loss trials did not produce similar behavioral modifications, isolating the effect to draw outcomes.

Conclusions:

Draws are not processed as valence-free neutral outcomes but elicit complex behavioral profiles.
The subjective experience and cognitive processing of draws incorporate elements typically associated with both negative and positive outcomes, depending on context and perceived value.