Impact of Audio and Video Narratives Describing Financial Successes and Failures on Risk-Taking in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task

Written by Zorina Rakhmankulova, Kirill Efimov, Dzerassa Kadieva, Ioannis Ntoumanis, Ksenia Panidi, Olga Kuskova, Yana Klochkova, Vladimir Kosonogov, Anna Shestakova, Vasily Klucharev, and Iiro Jääskeläinen on 30 September 2024. Posted in Volume XXVIII, Nr 2

Authors

Zorina Rakhmankulova^1*, Kirill Efimov^1**, Dzerassa Kadieva^1**, Ioannis Ntoumanis¹, Ksenia Panidi¹, Olga Kuskova¹, Yana Klochkova², Vladimir Kosonogov¹, Anna Shestakova¹, Vasily Klucharev¹, and Iiro Jääskeläinen¹

¹ Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
² Moscow Aviation Institute, Moscow, Russia

Abstract

Narratives can influence risk-taking by shaping perceptions and emotions. In the present study we used first-person audio and video narratives describing either financial successes, failures, or neutral events devoid of any risk references in order to investigate how these types of stimuli affect risk-taking performance in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Audio narratives of different types did not significantly alter risk-taking in the BART. However, videos depicting neutral narratives and narratives about financial successes surprisingly had risk-demoting influence compared to videos about financial failures, indexed by the percentage of popped balloons. The underlying reason for this finding remains to be understood. Additionally, gender differences emerged by the adjusted pumps measure in interaction with stimuli condition. Specifically, female participants displayed riskier tendencies after audio narratives, and conversely, video narratives led to a slight increase in risk-taking among male participants. These results emphasize the significant role of stimuli modality and indexing measures in risk-related studies.

Keywords: the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), narratives, risk-taking, stimuli modality, uncertainty

PAGES:137-182

doi:10.24193/cbb.2024.28.08

* Corresponding author:
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Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Zorina Rakhmankulova, International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Krivokolenny 3, Moscow, Russia, 101000.
** Author Note:
These authors contributed equally to this work.
The order of the authors is defined in alphabetical order.
The data presented in this study, as well as minimal code to reproduce the main findings, are openly available online via the Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/85zhd/ (Rakhmankulova, 2024). We have no conflicts of interest to disclose.