Money or life: Behavioral and neural context effects on choice under uncertainty.

Abstract

Despite robust evidence from behavioral decision making demonstrating context effects on choice, most neural studies on choice under risk and uncertainty have involved monetary gambles. We instructed participants to make choices under uncertainty in life and cash domains. Participants exhibited greater risk aversion, conflict, and sensitivity to negative feedback in the life domain, which we attribute to valuation of human lives. Supporting this assertion, choices to save lives activated the dorsal striatum, consistent with its role in context-sensitive reward processing. In contrast, choices to save cash activated the posterior insula, which we attribute to its role in probability signaling and risk prediction. Our findings highlight dissociable and context-dependent neural systems underlying choice under uncertainty.

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