The investigation of working memory load on decision making: evidence from university students

Iowa gambling task (IKG) is a decision making task that measures uncertainty involves gains and losses in real life. There is controversial results about IKG performance on the role of working memory due to methodological differences. The main aim of this research is to investigate the effects on decison-making behavior through IKG when working memory was taxing by using dual task paradigm. Population of this research consists of 90 students whose ages are between 18-25. Participants were matched to different working memory load (WML) groups according to their gender and working memory capacity by maeasuring with operation span task. There are three different WML conditions. (1) In high WML condition, paticipants had to keep 7 random digits in their memory in the course of IKG. (2) In low WML condition, participants had to keep 3 random digits in their memory in the course of IKG. (3) Participants in control group had completed IKG without any manipulation. After IKG had been completed, all participants' awareness regarding decks have been assessed by paper-pencil test. As a result, decision-making behavior under uncertainty at low and high WML groups was poorer than control group. Besides, In high and low WML groups, awareness about decks was lower than control group. Suprisingly, there is no significant differences on IKG performance between low and high WML groups. These results indicate that when working memory processes were interrupted, decision making behavior under uncertainty was influenced .