Several studies have found gender differences in Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) performance in which males typically outperform females. However, the precise mechanism that underlies this effect remains unclear, and prior modeling efforts have been unable to pinpoint specific gender differences in behavioral aspects of the IGT. Our results replicated the behavioral gender difference finding and showed that females select the disadvantageous Deck B more than males. We fit the data with versions of the Expectancy Valence and Prospect Valence Learning models that included a parameter to account for participants’ perseverative tendencies. The addition of this parameter to the models led to a substantial improvement in the fit to the data. An examination of the best fitting parameter differences suggests that females give greater weight to recent events than males, which may lead females to discount the large, infrequent losses given by Deck B more and select that option more frequently

Decision-making under uncertainty is pervasive. This worksought to understand the role of working memory (WM) in losssensitivity by utilizing two widely used tasks, the IowaGambling Task (IGT) and the Soochow Gambling Task (SGT),and manipulating WM with a dual-task paradigm. Wehypothesized that WM load would reduce attention to both lossvalue and frequency in the decision-making tasks. To betterdelineate the psychological processes underpinning choicebehavior, we developed an Expectancy-Frequency-Perseveration (EFP) model which parsimoniously capturesthree critical factors driving choices: expected value,frequency of gains and losses, and perseveration. Behavioraland computational modeling results indicate that WM loadcompromised performance in the IGT due to reduced attentionto loss value but enhanced performance in the SGT because ofdiminished attention to loss frequency. Our findings suggestthat WM heightens attention to losses, but that greater attentionis given to loss frequency than loss value.