NEURO-connect: Dr Stefano Palminteri, Feedback-induced dispositional changes in risk preferences

Do note that the NEURO-connect seminar series is a new joint initiative between EPFL, UniGE, HUG and the Wyss Center at Campus Biotech

Contrary to the original normative decision-making standpoint, emprirical studies have repeteadly reported that risk preferences are affected by the disclosure of choice outcome (feedback). Although no concensus has yet emerged regarding the properties and mechanisms of this effect, a widespread and intuitive hypothesis is that repreated feedback affects risk preferences by means of a learning effect, which alters the representation of subjective probabilities. Here, we ran a series of seven experiments (N=538), tailored to decipher the effects of feedback on risk preferences. Our results indicate that the presence of feedback consistently increases risk-taking, even when the risk option is economically less advantageous. Crucially, risk-taking increases just after the instructions, before participants experience any feedback. These results challenge the learning account, and advocate for a dispositional effect, induced by the mere anticipation of feedback information. Epistemic curiosity and regret avoidance may drive this effect in partial and complete feedback conditions, respectively. 

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