As seen in the Ultimatum Game, people sometimes make an irrational, emotional decision (at least in a simple laboratory task). Which brain region seems to be involved in making such irrational, emotional choices?

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The question asks which brain region is linked to making irrational, emotional decisions in the Ultimatum Game, a context where people sometimes override rationality.
Option 1: prefrontal cortex. This region is crucial for executive functions, planning, impulse control, and evaluating consequences, so it often supports more deliberative, rational decisions rather than purely emotional impulses. Its impairment can affect self-control, but it is not the primary region highlighted for emotional, irrational responses in this task.
Option 2: motor cortex. The motor cortex controls voluntary movement, not decision-making or emotion processing. While it participates downstream in actions, it does not underpin the emotional evaluation processes implicated in the Ultimatum Game.
Option 3: insular cortex. The insula is deeply involved in interoceptive awareness, emotional processing, and affective states. In the context of the Ultimatum Game, it has been associated with emotional reactions to unfair offers and with making seemingly irrational choices driven by gut feelings or visceral responses. This aligns with the observed involvement of affect in these decisions.
Option 4: emotion cortex. There is no widely recognized brain region specifically named 'emotion cortex' in standard neuroanatomy. Emotional processing is distributed across several areas, including the amygdala and insula, but 'emotion cortex' is not a standard designation for a distinct region.
In summary, among the listed regions, the insular cortex best fits the described role in contributing to irrational, emotion-driven decisions in the Ultimatum Game, due to its role in subjective feeling states and interoceptive processing. The other options either align with more cognitive control, basic motor functions, or refer to a nonstandard anatomical label, making them less suitable explanations for this specific phenomenon.

PSC 135 001 SQ 2025 Lecture 30 Quiz: Judgement and Decision Making II

As seen in the Ultimatum Game, people sometimes make an irrational, emotional decision (at least in a simple laboratory task). Which brain region seems to be involved in making such irrational, emotional choices?

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