Data from: The neural basis of risky choice with affective outcomes

Both normative and many descriptive theories of decision making under risk
are based on the notion that outcomes are weighted by their probability,
with subsequent maximization of the (subjective) expected outcome.
Numerous investigations from psychology, economics, and neuroscience have
produced evidence consistent with this notion. However, this research has
typically investigated choices involving relatively affect-poor, monetary
outcomes. We compared choice in relatively affect-poor, monetary lottery
problems with choice in relatively affect-rich medical decision problems.
Computational modeling of behavioral data and model-based neuroimaging
analyses provide converging evidence for substantial differences in the
respective decision mechanisms. Relative to affect-poor choices,
affect-rich choices yielded a more strongly curved probability weighting
function of cumulative prospect theory, thus signaling that the
psychological impact of probabilities is strongly diminished for
affect-rich outcomes. Examining task-dependent brain activation, we
identified a region-by-condition interaction indicating qualitative
differences of activation between affect-rich and affect-poor choices.
Moreover, brain activation in regions that were more active during
affect-poor choices (e.g., the supramarginal gyrus) correlated with
individual trial-by-trial decision weights, indicating that these regions
reflect processing of probabilities. Formal reverse inference Neurosynth
meta-analyses suggested that whereas affect-poor choices seem to be based
on brain mechanisms for calculative processes, affect-rich choices are
driven by the representation of outcomes’ emotional value and
autobiographical memories associated with them. These results provide
evidence that the traditional notion of expectation maximization may not
apply in the context of outcomes laden with affective responses, and that
understanding the brain mechanisms of decision making requires the domain
of the decision to be taken into account.