Neuroactive Associated with a Gambling Task

Abstract

Neuroactive Associated with a Gambling Task Shiann-Fong Huang Department of Electronic Engineering, Oriental Institute of Technology, Taiwan R.O.C. ?: Digest Body: Gehring and Willoughby (2002a) determined that a newly discovered event-related potential, medial frontal negativity (MFN), could not be represented only by gain-loss evaluation, and was correlated with the level of risk associated with choice in a subsequent trial. Large loss induced a large MFN, which was linked to a risky choice in next trial and vice versa. This investigation manipulates a critical variable, monetary value, to identify the MFN by measuring the neuromagnetic fields. Superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID), which is a very sensitive magnetic sensor, has been widely used to detect the ultra-small magnetic signals in many spatial locations on the scalp, especially in the biomagnetic measurement. In this study, a 128-channel SQUID first-order axial gradiometer system for whole-head magnetoencephalography (MEG) measurements was setup to characterize the visual evoked magnetic fields (VEFs). Method: Experimental procedures followed those by Gehring and Willoughby. Twenty-four college school students, 21 years old (4 males) participated in this study. They had no previous experiences on the gambling task. The first experiment manipulated two variables, gain-loss and monetary value; the second experiment manipulated two variables, right-wrong and monetary value. Result: The decision making behavior made by most people in gambling tasks supported the view of the gain-loss frequency. Furthermore, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) study, which possesses relatively high spatial-resolution, may be applicable to validating the source localized in the MFN.