How the Brain Predicts and Evaluates Monetary Rewards

We study the relations between decision-making and emotions in normal subjects and in patients with brain damage. The experimental task is based on a simple gambling situation. This task allows to characterize a subjectÆs choice behavior in terms of the anticipated and actual emotional impact of a choice, as indexed by physiological responses and subjective ratings. By manipulating the subjectÆs exposure to the outcome of the rejected alternative, ?ne distinctions could be made between emotions involving disappointment and regret. Normal control subjects report emotional responses consistent with counterfactual reasoning between obtained and non-obtained outcomes; they choose minimizing future regret and learn from their emotional experience. By contrast, patients with lesions of the orbitofrontal cortex do not report regret and do not anticipate negative consequences of their choices. These results suggest that orbitofrontal cortex has a fundamental role in experiencing regret.