Li Shu, Du Xue-Lei, Li Qi, Xuan Yan-Hua, Wang Yun, Rao Li-Lin
Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing, China.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2016 Jan 21;9:717. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00717. eCollection 2015.
Two kinds of probability expressions, verbal and numerical, have been used to characterize the uncertainty that people face. However, the question of whether verbal and numerical probabilities are cognitively processed in a similar manner remains unresolved. From a levels-of-processing perspective, verbal and numerical probabilities may be processed differently during early sensory processing but similarly in later semantic-associated operations. This event-related potential (ERP) study investigated the neural processing of verbal and numerical probabilities in risky choices. The results showed that verbal probability and numerical probability elicited different N1 amplitudes but that verbal and numerical probabilities elicited similar N2 and P3 waveforms in response to different levels of probability (high to low). These results were consistent with a levels-of-processing framework and suggest some internal consistency between the cognitive processing of verbal and numerical probabilities in risky choices. Our findings shed light on possible mechanism underlying probability expression and may provide the neural evidence to support the translation of verbal to numerical probabilities (or vice versa).
人们使用两种概率表达方式，即文字表述和数字形式，来描述所面临的不确定性。然而，文字概率和数字概率在认知过程中是否以相似方式进行处理的问题仍未得到解决。从加工水平的角度来看，文字概率和数字概率在早期感官加工过程中可能会有不同的处理方式，但在后期语义关联操作中可能会相似。这项事件相关电位（ERP）研究调查了风险选择中文字概率和数字概率的神经加工过程。结果表明，文字概率和数字概率引发了不同的N1波幅，但在面对不同概率水平（从高到低）时，文字概率和数字概率引发了相似的N2和P3波形。这些结果与加工水平框架一致，并表明在风险选择中文字概率和数字概率的认知加工之间存在一些内在一致性。我们的研究结果揭示了概率表达背后可能的机制，并可能为支持文字概率向数字概率转换（或反之亦然）提供神经学证据。
