The role of reward-processing in human decision-making: A review

Abstract

Decision-making is a big part of our everyday life: People encounter countless decisions that need to be made. In order to be able to do so, it is necessary to process the reward-value and risk that are associated with the several choice options. One theory on decision making is the somatic marker hypothesis, which is based on processing emotional reactions to the different choice options. Most evidence for this theory comes from the Iowa Gambling Task and patients with lesions to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, but there is also some criticism. Besides the Iowa Gambling Task other tasks have been used to study decision-making. In this review, a few of these studies are discussed to paint a picture of what happens when an individual has to make a decision. Special attention will be paid to two influences on reward-value and risk-taking behaviour. Future discounting is the phenomenon that reward-value declines when an individual has to wait to get the reward. Other people also have their influence on what is rewarding to an individual. This review finishes with suggestions for future research that may contribute to our understanding of decision-making.