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Human decisions are often influenced by emotions. An economically relevant example is the role of fear in generating loss aversion. Previous research implicates the amygdala as a key brain structure in the experience of fear and loss aversion. The neural mechanism behind emotional influences on loss aversion is, however, unclear. To address this, we measured brain activation with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while participants made decisions about monetary gambles after viewing fearful or neutral faces. We observed that loss aversion following the presentation of neutral faces was mainly predicted by greater deactivations for prospective losses (relative to activations for prospective gains) in several brain regions, including the amygdala. By contrast, increases in loss aversion following the presentation of fearful faces were mainly predicted by greater activations for prospective losses. These findings suggest a fear-induced shift from positive to negative value coding that reflects a context-dependent involvement of distinct valuation processes.

Highlights • Dual-process models of psychopathy postulate two underlying dimensions. • Fearless Dominance was associated with altered feedback processing. • Feedback-related negativity amplitudes were reduced. • Self-Centered Impulsivity was unrelated to feedback processing. • These findings provide further evidence for dual-process models of psychopathy., Dual-process models of psychopathy postulate two etiologically relevant processes. Their involvement in feedback processing and its neural correlates has not been investigated so far. Multi-channel EEG was collected while healthy female volunteers performed a time-estimation task and received negative or positive feedback in form of signs or emotional faces. The affective-interpersonal factor Fearless Dominance, but not Self-Centered Impulsivity, was associated with reduced feedback-related negativity (FRN) amplitudes. This neural dissociation extends previous findings on the impact of psychopathy on feedback processing and further highlights the importance of distinguishing psychopathic traits and extending previous (neuroscientific) models of psychopathy.