About this Research Topic
The Somatic Marker Hypothesis (SMH) has been proposed over two decades to explore the role of emotion and its influence in decision-making under uncertainty. This hypothesis is considered an innovative theoretical advancement in the history of psychology and cognitive neuroscience. The SMH was mainly verified through the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) experimentation that was first conducted by Bechara et al. in 1994 and 1997.
This Research Topic is a follow up of the previous Research Topic “Twenty Years After the Iowa Gambling Task: Rationality, Emotion, and Decision-Making” that was completed in early 2018. It is about time for the scientific community to go back to the core SMH and incorporate this hypothesis along with other diverse approaches in the main frame of decision-under-uncertainty studies. It is also timely to put these perspectives under a new framework of neuroeconomic studies. The classical decision-under-uncertainty studies include the traditional rationality-maximizing/optimizing normative models and two great cognitive divides proposed by Herbert Simon’s Bounded Rationality model and Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky’s Prospect Theory. As powerful as they might have been, they do not incorporate formally the component of emotion into the human decision context. Interestingly, a noticeable proportion of the emerging neuroeconomic studies have been concerned with the influence of emotion on decision-making process. The IGT and the SMH may then serve as a connection bridge between the traditional behavioral decision and neuroeconomic studies to further explore the respective role of rationality and emotion in decision under uncertainty.
To reemphasize the influence of emotion into the behavioral and neuroscientific decision studies, the SMH and other new theories of emotion are unique in advancing the understanding of the decision-making under uncertainty. It should be important to examine how the notion of emotion could be brought to the front line of scientific inquiries under various decision tasks.
Recent emergence of interest to incorporate emotion into the study of artificial intelligence (AI) could also be critically evaluated along a modern learning scheme. It will be a valuable addition if SMH and other new theories of emotion could be accommodated to implement emotional component effectively into the new-generation AI constructions.
We welcome all researchers to submit experimental reports, review articles, and original commentaries to examine the new role of rationality and emotion in the study of decision under uncertainty.
This Research Topic is a follow up of the previous Research Topic “Twenty Years After the Iowa Gambling Task: Rationality, Emotion, and Decision-Making” that was completed in early 2018. It is about time for the scientific community to go back to the core SMH and incorporate this hypothesis along with other diverse approaches in the main frame of decision-under-uncertainty studies. It is also timely to put these perspectives under a new framework of neuroeconomic studies. The classical decision-under-uncertainty studies include the traditional rationality-maximizing/optimizing normative models and two great cognitive divides proposed by Herbert Simon’s Bounded Rationality model and Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky’s Prospect Theory. As powerful as they might have been, they do not incorporate formally the component of emotion into the human decision context. Interestingly, a noticeable proportion of the emerging neuroeconomic studies have been concerned with the influence of emotion on decision-making process. The IGT and the SMH may then serve as a connection bridge between the traditional behavioral decision and neuroeconomic studies to further explore the respective role of rationality and emotion in decision under uncertainty.
To reemphasize the influence of emotion into the behavioral and neuroscientific decision studies, the SMH and other new theories of emotion are unique in advancing the understanding of the decision-making under uncertainty. It should be important to examine how the notion of emotion could be brought to the front line of scientific inquiries under various decision tasks.
Recent emergence of interest to incorporate emotion into the study of artificial intelligence (AI) could also be critically evaluated along a modern learning scheme. It will be a valuable addition if SMH and other new theories of emotion could be accommodated to implement emotional component effectively into the new-generation AI constructions.
We welcome all researchers to submit experimental reports, review articles, and original commentaries to examine the new role of rationality and emotion in the study of decision under uncertainty.
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