J. M. ZENG ET AL.
Figure 5.
Subjects’ susceptibility to framing effect can be reflected by electrical
potentials on the medial prefrontal scalp during 1100 - 1200 ms.
Figure 6.
Subjects’ susceptibility to framing effect can be negatively reflected by
the electrical potentials on the parietal scalp during 1300 - 1500 ms.
Previous fMRI research (Kuo et al., 2009) has related delib-
eration with the activity of the parietal cortex. We speculated
that choosing according to reversal framing effect (behaving
opposite to the dominant choice pattern) might need more de-
liberation, and so relied more on the parietal cortex, and thus
were preceded by stronger electrical potential on the parietal
scalp. Our observation in the experiment verified this expecta-
tion.
Most importantly, we found that both the electrical potentials
on the medial prefrontal scalp and those on the parietal scalp
could respectively reflect subjects’ susceptibility to the framing
effect. A previous fMRI study (Deppe et al., 2007) found that
the susceptibility to framing during attractiveness evaluation
could be reflected in the activity of anterior cingulated cortex.
Our study is distinct from that fMRI study in two important
aspects. Firstly, the research fields are distinct: our study fo-
cused on decision making, while that study focused on attract-
tiveness evaluation. Secondly, the research techniques are dis-
tinct: our study used ERP technique while that study used fMRI
technique.
This study is probably the first study that finds correlation
between susceptibility to framing effect in decisions and scalp
potentials. Future further research on this topic can possibly
develop into such degree that people can predict and decrease
human susceptibility to framing effect in decisions by measure-
ing and modulating scalp potentials.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by National Natural Science
Foundation of China (a grant awarded to Jianmin Zeng in 2013),
Southwest University’s Program in Reform of Education and
Teaching (2012JY216), Doctoral Foundation of Southwest
University (20710930), The Sponsored Program for Cultivating
Youths of Outstanding Ability in Jiangxi Normal University,
and Project for Excellent Postdoctoral Researchers in Jiangxi
Province.
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