Risky decision-making in major depressive disorder: A three-level meta-analysis / Toma de decisiones arriesgadas en el trastorno depresivo mayor: un metanálisis de tres niveles

Background: Individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) are usually observed making inappropriate risky decisions. However, whether and to what extent MDD is associated with impairments in risky decision-making remains unclear. We performed a three-level meta-analysis to explore the relationship between risky decision-making and MDD. Method: We searched the Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and PsycINFO databases up to February 7, 2023, and calculated Hedges' g to demonstrate the difference in risky decision-making between MDD patients and healthy controls (HCs). The moderating effect of sample and task characteristics were also revealed. Results: Across 73 effect sizes in 39 cross-sectional studies, MDD patients exhibited greater risk-seeking than HCs (Hedges' g = 0.187, p = .030). Furthermore, age (p = .068), region (p = .005), and task type (p < .001) were found to have moderating effects. Specifically, patients preferred risk-seeking over HCs as age increased. European patients showed significantly increased risk-seeking compared to American and Asian patients. Patients in the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) exhibited a notable rise in risk-seeking compared to other tasks, along with an increased risk aversion in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). The multiple-moderator analysis showed that only task type had significant effects, which may be explained by a tentative framework of "operationalization-mechanism-measure" specificity. Conclusions: MDD patients generally exhibit higher risk-seeking than HCs. It implies that impaired risky decision-making might be a noteworthy symptom of depression, which should be placed more emphasis for clinical management and psycho-education.(AU)

Predicting rock-paper-scissors choices based on single-trial EEG signals.

Decision prediction based on neurophysiological signals is of great application value in many real-life situations, especially in human-AI collaboration or counteraction. Single-trial analysis of electroencephalogram (EEG) signals is a very valuable step in the development of an online decision-prediction system. However, previous EEG-based decision-prediction methods focused mainly on averaged EEG signals of all decision-making trials to predict an individual's general decision tendency (e.g., risk seeking or aversion) over a period rather than on a specific decision response in a single trial. In the present study, we used a rock-paper-scissors game, which is a common multichoice decision-making task, to explore how to predict participants' single-trial choice with EEG signals. Forty participants, comprising 20 females and 20 males, played the game with a computer player for 330 trials. Considering that the decision-making process of this game involves multiple brain regions and neural networks, we proposed a new algorithm named common spatial pattern-attractor metagene (CSP-AM) to extract CSP features from different frequency bands of EEG signals that occurred during decision making. The results showed that a multilayer perceptron classifier achieved an accuracy significantly exceeding the chance level among 88.57% (31 of 35) of participants, verifying the classification ability of CSP features in multichoice decision-making prediction. We believe that the CSP-AM algorithm could be used in the development of proactive AI systems.

How time orientation matters for happiness: The nonmonotonic relations featured with a middle valley.

Most previous studies have shown that focusing on the future predicts higher subjective well-being (SWB), but some have reported contradictory results. Due to mixed findings on the relationship between time orientation (TO) and SWB, the present study attempted to clarify and reinterpret this relationship from a nonmonotonic perspective by analyzing two large-scale datasets from the European Social Survey (Study 1; 31 countries, total N = 88,873) and tested the cross-cultural generalizability of our findings in a Chinese sample (Study 2; N = 797). The results confirmed a nonmonotonic relationship between TO and SWB and first revealed a "Middle Valley Effect." This effect demonstrated a decreased SWB at the midpoint of the TO scale, indicating that maintaining a dominant TO, whether present or future, rather than being torn between the two, could improve SWB. This nonmonotonic relationship resolves previous inconsistent findings and suggests that an appropriate clear TO can benefit SWB.

Common and distinct neural correlates of intertemporal and risky decision-making: Meta-analytical evidence for the dual-system theory.

The relationship between intertemporal and risky decision-making has received considerable attention in decision research. Single-process theories suggest that choices involving delay and risk are simply two manifestations of the same psychological mechanism, which implies similar patterns of neural activation. Conversely, the dual-system theory suggests that delayed and risky choices are two contrasting types of processes, which implies distinct brain networks. How these two types of choices relate to each other remains unclear. The current study addressed this issue by performing a meta-analysis of 28 intertemporal decision-making studies (862 subjects) and 51 risky decision-making studies (1539 subjects). We found no common area activated in the conjunction analysis of the delayed and risky rewards. Based on the contrast analysis, delayed rewards were associated with stronger activation in the left dorsal insula, while risky rewards were associated with activation in the bilateral ventral striatum and the right anterior insula. The results align with the dual-system theory with separate neural networks for delayed and risky rewards.

Three-dimensional measurement and analysis of morphological parameters of the uterus in infertile women.

Background: To determine differences in endometrial cavity anteroposterior diameter, thickness, volume, and diameter lines of uterine body and thickness, and volume of upper, middle, and lower regions of the endometrium in infertile women using a new method for three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction based on two-dimensional (2D) ultrasound images. Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study included a total of 81 infertile women, who underwent 2D ultrasound standard examination. We created 3D models of the uterine body, endometrial cavity, and endometrium based on 2D ultrasound images. The parameters that were measured and analyzed in a 3D plane included volume and diameter lines of endometrial cavity, surface area, thickness, volume, and diameter lines of uterine body, and surface area, thickness, and volume of upper, middle, and lower region of the endometrium. These parameters were used for comparisons between normal and arcuate uterus, between non-pregnant and pregnant infertile women, and between nulliparous and multiparous infertile women. The differences between the different regions of the endometrium and the correlations between age and the parameters were also determined in this study. Results: Endometrial cavity length, and middle and lower regions of the endometrial volume in the normal uterus were 39.63±7.61 mm, 1,307.92±1,034.40 mm3, and 653.98±460.41 mm3, respectively. For arcuate uterus, these parameters were 32.96±4.69 mm, 539.89±298.94 mm3, and 347.90±129.61 mm3, respectively. The parameters were significantly higher in normal uterus compared with arcuate uterus (P=0.000, 0.001, and 0.006, respectively). Upper, middle, and lower regions of endometrial thickness in normal uterus were 7.79±3.26, 8.18±3.33, and 6.41±2.60 mm, respectively. Both upper and middle regions of endometrial thickness were significantly greater than the lower regions of endometrial thickness with P=0.009 and P=0.001, respectively. Correlation analysis revealed that age positively correlated with volume of upper endometrial regions (r=0.274, P=0.028). Conclusions: This study provides references for the volume and thickness of the endometrium in the different anatomical regions of normal and arcuate uterus. Age mainly affects the upper region of the endometrium. The 3D measurement provides a precise way to quantify the morphological parameters of gynecological diseases.

Global metabolic profiling of hemorrhagic shock and resuscitation.

Hemorrhagic shock (HS) is a medical emergency during trauma. Significant loss of tissue perfusion may result in cellular hypoxia, organ damage and death. The primary treatment of HS is control of the source of bleeding as soon as possible and fluid replacement (crystalloid solutions and blood transfusion). Metabolomics can identify novel biomarkers for various functional and organic diseases. Therefore, systematic exploration of the biological mechanisms of HS and blood transfusion enables the optimization of treatments for HS to reduce the occurrence of organ damage. In this study, a global metabolic profiling strategy is applied to evaluate metabolic changes in the HS rat model. A serum metabolic network with 58 significant metabolites was constructed for HS and resuscitation. Our investigation will offer insights into the pathogenesis.

Subjective Importance of a Common Feature Decides Its Consideration in Multi-attribute Decision-making.

One of the interesting research questions in multi-attribute decision-making is what affects the consideration of shared information (i.e., common features) between two alternatives. Previous studies have suggested two approaches (bottom-up and top-down) in finding what characteristics of common features affect their consideration. Two bottom-up factors (salience and interdependence) were found, but no top-down factors were discovered. In the current study, we followed the top-down approach and investigated how subjective importance (SI) of a common feature affects its consideration. In two studies, we consistently found that, on both the general and individual level, the level of consideration increased with the SI of the common feature. This result provided a new explanation for the effect of common feature consideration and its individual difference; it also provided insights in explaining the underlying process of multi-attribute decision making.

Deciding for Future Selves Reduces Loss Aversion.

In this paper, we present an incentivized experiment to investigate the degree of loss aversion when people make decisions for their current selves and future selves under risk. We find that when participants make decisions for their future selves, they are less loss averse compared to when they make decisions for their current selves. This finding is consistent with the interpretation of loss aversion as a bias in decision-making driven by emotions, which are reduced when making decisions for future selves. Our findings endorsed the external validity of previous studies on the impact of emotion on loss aversion in a real world decision-making environment.

Correction: Immorally obtained principal increases investors' risk preference.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0175181.].

Immorally obtained principal increases investors' risk preference.

Capital derived from immoral sources is increasingly circulated in today's financial markets. The moral associations of capital are important, although their impact on investment remains unknown. This research aims to explore the influence of principal source morality on investors' risk preferences. Three studies were conducted in this regard. Study 1 finds that investors are more risk-seeking when their principal is earned immorally (through lying), whereas their risk preferences do not change when they invest money earned from neutral sources after engaging in immoral behavior. Study 2 reveals that guilt fully mediates the relationship between principal source morality and investors' risk preferences. Studies 3a and 3b introduce a new immoral principal source and a new manipulation method to improve external validity. Guilt is shown to the decrease the subjective value of morally flawed principal, leading to higher risk preference. The findings show the influence of morality-related features of principal on people's investment behavior and further support mental account theory. The results also predict the potential threats of "grey principal" to market stability.

The Contrast Effect in Temporal and Probabilistic Discounting.

In this information age, messages related to time, and uncertainty surround us. At the same time, our daily lives are filled with decisions accompanied by temporal delay or uncertainty. Will such information influence our temporal and probabilistic discounting? The authors address this question from the perspectives of decision by sampling (DbS) theory and psychological distance theory. Studies 1 and 2 investigated the effect of contextual messages on temporal discounting and probabilistic discounting, respectively. The results indicated that participants who memorized messages about long-term and low-probability events rated delay or uncertainty as mentally closer and exhibited a less degree of value discounting than those who memorized messages regarding short-term and high-probability events. In addition, a sense of distance from present or reality mediated the effect of contextual messages on value discounting. The implications of the current findings for theory and applications are discussed.