Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:20:00 BST CiteULike: stefanherzog Zink http://www.citeulike.org/user/stefanherzog/author/Zink CiteULike.org en-gb Copyright © 2004-2008 citeulike.org http://www.citeulike.org/user/stefanherzog/article/615602 <i>Science, Vol. 312, No. 5774. (5 May 2006), pp. 754-758.</i><br /><br />Given the choice of waiting for an adverse outcome or getting it over with quickly, many people choose the latter. Theoretical models of decision-making have assumed that this occurs because there is a cost to waiting--i.e., dread. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we measured the neural responses to waiting for a cutaneous electric shock. Some individuals dreaded the outcome so much that, when given a choice, they preferred to receive more voltage rather than wait. Even when no decision was required, these extreme dreaders were distinguishable from those who dreaded mildly by the rate of increase of neural activity in the posterior elements of the cortical pain matrix. This suggests that dread derives, in part, from the attention devoted to the expected physical response and not simply from fear or anxiety. Although these differences were observed during a passive waiting procedure, they correlated with individual behavior in a subsequent choice paradigm, providing evidence for a neurobiological link between the experienced disutility of dread and subsequent decisions about unpleasant outcomes. 10.1126/science.1123721 Neurobiological Substrates of Dread Gregory Berns Jonathan Chappelow Milos Cekic Caroline Zink Giuseppe Pagnoni Megan Martin-Skurski doi:10.1126/science.1123721 Science, Vol. 312, No. 5774. (5 May 2006), pp. 754-758. 2006-05-05T22:58:53-00:00 2006 Science 312 5774 754 758 choice dread neuroeconomics neuroscience waiting