The effects of threat on complex decision-making: evidence from a virtual environment

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Individuals in high-stakes professions (e.g., first responders, military) face complex decisions under threat.
• Ethical constraints limit controlled studies on decision-making under threat.
• Virtual environments offer a controlled method to study decision-making under threat.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of threat on complex decision-making using an immersive virtual environment.
• To analyze behavioral and computational changes in decision-making under threat.
• To demonstrate the utility of virtual reality for cognitive research.

Main Methods:

• Adapted the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) into an immersive virtual reality scenario (collapsing building escape).
• Compared participant performance in threatening versus neutral virtual environments (Study 2).
• Utilized reinforcement-learning computational models to analyze decision-making data.

Main Results:

• Participants learned advantageous decisions over time, consistent with the IGT and computational models (Study 1).
• Threat condition led to worse performance, slower learning, and lower scores compared to neutral conditions (Study 2).
• In threat, participants showed increased short-term reward sensitivity and reduced perseveration.

Conclusions:

• Threat integrated into decision-making tasks results in more erratic choices and a focus on immediate rewards.
• Immersive virtual environments are effective tools for studying cognitive processes under threat.
• Findings have implications for training and understanding decision-making in high-risk professions.