经济行为科学重点实验室

近日，经济行为科学重点实验室张汉其和天津师范大学心理学部冯杰等合作的论文Neuroanatomical substrates of maximizing tendency in decision-making: a voxel-based morphometric study被Brain imaging and behavior接受发表。

Hanqi Zhang; Shiyu Wei; Yajie Wang; Jie Feng; Neuroanatomical substrates of maximizing tendency in decision-making: a voxel-based morphometric study, Brain Imaging and Behavior,2022.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-022-00656-3

Abstract

Maximizing tendency is a central decision-making concept that has increasingly drawn attention from the scientific community. It refers to individuals’ predisposition to look for the best option instead of settling for something that merely passes an internal threshold of acceptability. Although this maximizing strategy intuitively increases individual benefits, it also has been linked to various negative outcomes, including decreased well-being and low life satisfaction, and it varies considerably across populations. However, the neuroanatomical characteristics underlying this heterogeneity remain poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, a 13-item Maximization Scale and magnetic resonance imaging technique were respectively used in this study to estimate individual maximizing tendency and structural morphological information on a sample of healthy adults (n = 69). Furthermore, voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis was conducted to investigate the associations between gray matter volume (GMV) and maximizing tendency through univariate and multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA). Univariate analysis did not determine an association between maximizing tendency and whole-brain GMV; by contrast, MVPA revealed that maximizing tendency could be successfully predicted by the GMVs of the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), right insula, and right cerebellum. These findings suggest the critical role of the morphological characteristics of the cortical-subcortical circuitry in individuals’ maximizing tendency.