Figure 4.

A potential mechanism of risky decision making. A risky stimulus such as a gamble with uncertain outcomes or a choice menu with different financial investments is initially evaluated on an emotional level. Activity in the aINS thereby serves as an estimate for the potential of the risky stimulus to result in an unwanted outcome, whereas the thalamus reflects important aspects of potential outcomes (e.g., their variability). At the cognitive level, the risky stimulus is processed in the DMPFC. Both parts of risk processing (emotional and cognitive) inform the actual decision process performed in DLPFC and parietal cortex. In situations, in which no decision has to be made, such as in the bingo game, the process concludes after emotional and cognitive risk processing.