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Updated: Jun 27, 2025

Measuring the Subjective Value of Risky and Ambiguous Options using Experimental Economics and Functional MRI Methods
Published on: September 19, 2012
Distinct neural dynamics of the observed ostracism effect in decision-making under risk and ambiguity
Ruiwen Tao1,2, Hanxuan Zhao1,2, Can Zhang3
1Center for Magnetic Resonance Imaging Research & Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain-Machine Intelligence for Information Behavior, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai 20083, China.
Abstract:
Observational ostracism, as a form of social exclusion, can significantly affect human behavior. However, the effects of observed ostracism on risky and ambiguous decision-making and the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. This event-related potential study investigated these issues by involving participants in a wheel-of- fortune task, considering observed ostracism and inclusion contexts. The results showed that the cue-P3 component was more enhanced during the choice phase for risky decisions than for ambiguous decisions in the observed inclusion contexts but not in the observed ostracism contexts. During the outcome evaluation phase, feedback-related negativity amplitudes following both risky and ambiguous decisions were higher in the no-gain condition than in the gain condition in the observed inclusion context. In contrast, this effect was only observed following risky decisions in the observed ostracism context. The feedback-P3 component did not exhibit an observed ostracism effect in risky and ambiguous decision-making tasks. Risk levels further modulated the cue-P3 and feedback-related negativity components, while ambiguity levels further modulated the feedback-P3 components. These findings demonstrate a neural dissociation between risk and ambiguity decision-making during observed ostracism that unfolds from the choice phase to the outcome evaluation phase.
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