An fMRI study on sunk cost effect.

Abstract in brief

• This fMRI study investigated the neural basis of the sunk cost effect, a common decision bias, by examining brain activity in healthy subjects engaged in decision-making tasks that involved varying levels of sunk and incremental costs.
• The findings showed that higher sunk costs increased activity in lateral frontal and parietal cortices, regions involved in risk-taking, while lower incremental costs activated areas like the striatum and medial prefrontal cortex, which are linked to reward processing.
• The study concluded that different brain regions respond to sunk costs and incremental costs without overlap, supporting the certainty effect explanation over self-justification or diminishing sensitivity for the sunk cost bias.]