The Neural Correlates of Emotion in Decision-making
Ahmed H. Alsharif, Nor Zafir Md Salleh, Rohaizat Baharun
Abstract
Both neuroscientific and psychology methods are used to study and explain the active neurons of the individuals' brain response when exposed to external stimuli. This study analyses the relevance literature and investigates the neural correlates of emotion, rewards, and motivation in the decision-making process, the emotional interactions between children, adolescents, and ageing. It was reviewed the literature to explore if neuroscientific methods provide accurate information about the role of emotion, reward, and motivation in decisionmaking mechanisms. The findings showed that the amygdala, medial prefrontal cortex, and ventromedial prefrontal cortex play a central role in processing of emotion which in turn influence decision-making process. While individuals with lesion in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex which is responsible for emotional responses toward risk, reward, and decision-making are not good decision-makers. In addition, the prefrontal cortex plays central role in approach and withdrawal motivational, whereby the right prefrontal cortex associated with withdrawal behavior and the left prefrontal cortex associated with approach behavior.