Framing and self-responsibility modulate brain activities in decision escalation.

Background: Escalation of commitment is a common bias in human decision making. The present study examined (1) differences in neural recruitment for escalation and de-escalation decisions of prior investments, and (2) how the activations of these brain networks are affected by two factors that can arguably modulate escalation decisions: (i) self-responsibility, and (ii) framing of the success probabilities.

Results: Imaging data were obtained from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) applied to 29 participants.