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Neural support for contributions of utility and narrative processing of evidence in juror decision making

View ORCID ProfileJaime J. Castrellon, View ORCID ProfileShabnam Hakimi, View ORCID ProfileJacob M. Parelman, View ORCID ProfileLun Yin, Jonathan R. Law, View ORCID ProfileJesse A.G. Skene, David A. Ball, Artemis Malekpour, Donald H. Beskind, Neil Vidmar, View ORCID ProfileJohn M. Pearson, View ORCID ProfileR. McKell Carter, J. H. Pate Skene
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.11.378935
Jaime J. Castrellon
1Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
2Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
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Shabnam Hakimi
2Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
3Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Colorado Boulder 80309
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Jacob M. Parelman
3Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Colorado Boulder 80309
4Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania 19104
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Lun Yin
2Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
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Jonathan R. Law
1Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
2Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
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Jesse A.G. Skene
1Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
2Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
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David A. Ball
5Malekpour & Ball Consulting (JuryWatch, Inc.), Durham, NC 27705
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Artemis Malekpour
5Malekpour & Ball Consulting (JuryWatch, Inc.), Durham, NC 27705
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Donald H. Beskind
6School of Law, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
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Neil Vidmar
6School of Law, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
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John M. Pearson
1Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
2Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
7Department of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
8Department of Neurobiology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27710
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R. McKell Carter
3Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Colorado Boulder 80309
9Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder 80309
10Electrical, Computer, & Energy Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder 80309
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  • For correspondence: pate.skene@colorado.edu mckell.carter@colorado.edu
J. H. Pate Skene
3Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Colorado Boulder 80309
8Department of Neurobiology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27710
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  • For correspondence: pate.skene@colorado.edu mckell.carter@colorado.edu
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Abstract

Efforts to explain complex human decisions have focused on competing theories emphasizing utility and narrative mechanisms. These are difficult to distinguish using behavior alone. Both narrative and utility theories have been proposed to explain juror decisions, which are among the most consequential complex decisions made in a modern society. Here, we asked jury-eligible male and female subjects to rate the strength of a series of criminal cases while recording the resulting patterns of brain activation. We compared patterns of brain activation associated with evidence accumulation to patterns of brain activation derived from a large neuroimaging database to look for signatures of the cognitive processes associated with different models of juror decision making. Evidence accumulation correlated with multiple narrative processes, including reading and recall. Of the cognitive processes traditionally viewed as components of utility, activation patterns associated with uncertainty, but not value, were more active with stronger evidence. Independent of utility and narrative, activations linked to reasoning and relational logic also correlated with increasing evidence. Hierarchical modeling of cognitive processes associated with evidence accumulation supported a more prominent role for narrative in weighing evidence in complex decisions. However, utility processes were also associated with evidence accumulation. These complementary findings support an emerging view that integrates utility and narrative processes in complex decisions.

Significance Statement The last decade has seen a sharply increased interest in narrative as a central cognitive process in human decision making and as an important factor in the evolution of human societies. However, the roles of narrative versus utility models of decision making remain hotly debated. While available models frequently produce similar behavioral predictions, they rely on different cognitive processes and so their roles can be separated using the right neural tests. Here, we use brain imaging during mock juror decisions to show that cognitive processes associated with narrative, and to a lesser extent utility, were engaged while subjects evaluated evidence. These results are consistent with interactions between narrative and utility processes during complex decision making.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Footnotes

  • Conflicts of interest: The authors declare no conflicting financial interests.

  • In this revision, we have updated the abstract, streamlined discussion and description of methods, moved a supplementary figure to the main text, and provided further details to the interpretation of results.

  • https://osf.io/rk92x/

  • https://github.com/jcastrel/juror_fmri

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted August 03, 2022.
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Neural support for contributions of utility and narrative processing of evidence in juror decision making
Jaime J. Castrellon, Shabnam Hakimi, Jacob M. Parelman, Lun Yin, Jonathan R. Law, Jesse A.G. Skene, David A. Ball, Artemis Malekpour, Donald H. Beskind, Neil Vidmar, John M. Pearson, R. McKell Carter, J. H. Pate Skene
bioRxiv 2020.11.11.378935; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.11.378935
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Neural support for contributions of utility and narrative processing of evidence in juror decision making
Jaime J. Castrellon, Shabnam Hakimi, Jacob M. Parelman, Lun Yin, Jonathan R. Law, Jesse A.G. Skene, David A. Ball, Artemis Malekpour, Donald H. Beskind, Neil Vidmar, John M. Pearson, R. McKell Carter, J. H. Pate Skene
bioRxiv 2020.11.11.378935; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.11.378935

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