Manipulating noise frequencies alters hemispheric contributions to decision making

Abstract

Participants listened to the Asian disease problem framed in terms of either gains or losses and chose between two plans to combat the disease. All participants heard the problem embedded in other sounds; for some it was the relatively lower-frequency information, and for others it was the relatively higher-frequency information. The classic framing effect appeared only for those participants for whom the problem was the relatively lower-frequency information (p<.05). These results suggest that mixing filtered speech signals and noise may be a way to assess the role of the left and right hemisphere in various aspects of decision making.