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Do somatic markers mediate decisions on the gambling task?

Nature Neuroscience volume 5, pages 1103–1104 (2002)Cite this article

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Recent work suggests that emotions are critical in mediating decisions1,2,3. A dominant perspective is the somatic marker hypothesis, which posits that emotional bodily responses ('somatic markers') can unconsciously bias decision-making1,4. This hypothesis was initially inspired by observations of decision-making deficits among patients with prefrontal damage4. The interpretation of these observations depended crucially on the performance of normals using a gambling task in which the accumulation of emotional responses biased decision making5,6,7. Here we provide an alternative explanation for the performance of normal subjects on the gambling task by showing how factors other than somatic markers may alter decision making.

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Figure 1: Original and modified gambling tasks.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, 02138, Massachusetts, USA

    Ian Tomb, Marc Hauser, Patricia Deldin & Alfonso Caramazza

Authors
  1. Ian Tomb
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  2. Marc Hauser
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  3. Patricia Deldin
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  4. Alfonso Caramazza
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Tomb, I., Hauser, M., Deldin, P. et al. Do somatic markers mediate decisions on the gambling task?. Nat Neurosci 5, 1103–1104 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1102-1103

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