Antonio Damasio Gambling Experiment

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This quote came from the book Descartes’ Error written by Antonio Damasio (2005).

And later on, commenting on Damasio’s interpretation of the gambling experiments: Once again, going by one’s gut feelings is not the only way to cut through the maze of a complex decision 1(Elster 1999),p. FLAIRS 2003 303. The somatic-marker hypothesis (SMH) proposes a mechanism by which emotional processes can guide (or bias) behavior, particularly decision-making. This hypothesis has been formulated by Antonio Damasio. Hypothesis Somatic markers are probably stored in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex; pictured. When we make decisions, we must assess the incentive value of the choices available. This question was addressed in an experiment in which ten normal subjects and six VM frontal patients were tested on the gambling task, while their SCRs were being recorded as before. The Iowa gambling task is a psychological task thought to simulate real life decision making.It was introduced by Bechara, Damasio, Tranel and Anderson (1994), then researchers at the University of Iowa.

It is referring to a study published by Damasio and others in Cognition, 50:7-12.

Basically the participants have to choose between 4 different decks of cards that lead to either a reward or punishment depending on what card they choose.

In this quote he is discussing the results of normal, healthy individuals.

Damasio

“There is no way for players to carry out a precise calculation of gains and loss. Rather, bit by bit, they develop a hunch that some decks—namely, A and B—are more “dangerous” than others. One might say they intuit that the lower penalties in decks C and D will make them come out ahead in the long run, despite the smaller initial gain. I suspect that before and beneath the conscious hunch there is a nonconscious process gradually formulating a prediction for the outcome of each move, and gradually telling the mindful player, at first softly but then ever louder, that punishment or reward is about to strike if a certain move is indeed carried out. In short, I doubt that it is a matter of only fully conscious process, or only fully nonconscious process. It seems to take both types of processing for the well-tempered decision-making brain to operate. (p.214)”

I think this study makes it pretty clear that at least sometimes one’s intuition is better than one’s rational mind at answering a particular problem. What I think is more interesting is how much the non-conscious is processing even when you are not fully aware of it.

Antonio Damasio Gambling Experiments

This quote came from the book Descartes’ Error written by Antonio Damasio (2005).

It is referring to a study published by Damasio and others in Cognition, 50:7-12.

Basically the participants have to choose between 4 different decks of cards that lead to either a reward or punishment depending on what card they choose.

In this quote he is discussing the results of normal, healthy individuals.

Antonio Damasio Gambling Experiment Theory

“There is no way for players to carry out a precise calculation of gains and loss. Rather, bit by bit, they develop a hunch that some decks—namely, A and B—are more “dangerous” than others. One might say they intuit that the lower penalties in decks C and D will make them come out ahead in the long run, despite the smaller initial gain. I suspect that before and beneath the conscious hunch there is a nonconscious process gradually formulating a prediction for the outcome of each move, and gradually telling the mindful player, at first softly but then ever louder, that punishment or reward is about to strike if a certain move is indeed carried out. In short, I doubt that it is a matter of only fully conscious process, or only fully nonconscious process. It seems to take both types of processing for the well-tempered decision-making brain to operate. (p.214)”

Antonio Damasio Gambling Experiment Stories

I think this study makes it pretty clear that at least sometimes one’s intuition is better than one’s rational mind at answering a particular problem. What I think is more interesting is how much the non-conscious is processing even when you are not fully aware of it.