Variations in Neural Correlates of Human Decision Making – a Case of Book Recommender Systems

• Naveen Z. Quazilbash,
• Zaheeruddin Asif,
• Saman Rizvi,

Vol. 17, No. 3, March 31, 2023
10.3837/tiis.2023.03.006, Download Paper (Free):

• decision support systems
• human decision making
• information systems
• NeuroIS
• Recommender Systems

Abstract

Human decision-making is a complex behavior. A replication of human decision making offers a potential to enhance the capacity of intelligent systems by providing additional user assistance in decision making. By reducing the effort and task complexity on behalf of the user, such replication would improve the overall user experience, and affect the degree of intelligence exhibited by the system. This paper explores individuals' decision-making processes when using recommender systems, and its related outcomes. In this study, human decision-making (HDM) refers to the selection of an item from a given set of options that are shown as recommendations to a user. The goal of our study was to identify IS constructs that contribute towards such decision-making, thereby contributing towards creating a mental model of HDM. This was achieved through recording Electroencephalographic (EEG) readings of subjects while they performed a decision-making activity. Readings from 16 righthanded healthy avid readers reflect that reward, theory of mind, risk, calculation, task intention, emotion, sense of touch, ambiguity and decision making are the primary constructs that users employ while deciding from a given set of recommendations in an online bookstore. In all 10 distinct brain areas were identified. These brain areas that lead to their respective constructs were found to be cingulate gyrus, precentral gyrus, inferior parietal lobule, posterior cingulate, medial frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate, postcentral gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, and middle frontal gyrus (also referred to as dorsolateral prefrontal gyrus (DLPFC)). The identified constructs would help in developing a design theory for enhancing user assistance, especially in the context of recommender systems.

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