Fran Reckers '18, Neuroscience (Honors)

Friend or Foe?: The Effects of Friendship on Emotional Responses to Paired Gamble Outcomes

Decision-making is influenced by many factors, including the social context in which a decision is made. In this study, we investigated how friendship can moderate decision-making and emotional responses in a paired gambles task. Participants were primed to think of playing a gambles task with either a close friend or a stranger and reported their emotional responses to both their own and the other player’s choices. Furthermore, we collected ERPs to examine participants’ neural activity when their choices matched or conflicted with the other player’s choices, and whether the identity of the other player had an impact.