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Alexithymia, Cumulative Feedback, and Differential Response Patterns on the Iowa Gambling Task
Author(s) -
Ferguson Eamonn,
Bibby Peter A.,
Rosamond Sara,
O'Grady Claire,
Parcell Alison,
Amos Christopher,
McCutcheon Christine,
O'Carroll Ronan
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2009.00568.x
Subject(s) - alexithymia , iowa gambling task , psychology , task (project management) , context (archaeology) , trait , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , cognition , social psychology , neuroscience , computer science , economics , biology , programming language , paleontology , management
Although the role of emotional processing is central to contemporary models of risky decision making, to date the role of trait emotional understanding has not been explored experimentally in this context. The current experiment ( N =326) explores the role of alexithymia with respect to performance on the standard Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and a version where cumulative financial feedback is obscured. Standard learning on the IGT was observed for those low in alexithymia. Those high in alexithymia learned to avoid disadvantageous decks over the first half of the task. However, over the later trials they showed a change in performance, shifting from advantageous to disadvantageous and back to advantageous decks again (termed an “explore‐learn‐change‐return” strategy). It is argued that this is due to an inability to fully consolidate earlier learning and reduced sensitivity to losses. The absence of cumulative feedback independently resulted in reduced performance.