Neural dynamics underlying the illusion of control during reward processing

Abstract The illusion of control refers to a behavioral bias in which people believe they have greater control over completely stochastic events than they actually do, leading to an inflated estimate of reward probability than objective probability warrants. In this study, we examined how reward system is modulated by the illusion of control through the lens of neural dynamics. Participants in a behavioral task exhibited a classical illusion of control, assigning a higher value to the gambling wheels they picked themselves than to those given randomly. An event-related potential study of the same task revealed that this behavioral bias is associated with reduced reward anticipation as indexed by the stimulus-preceding negativity, diminished positive prediction error signals as reflected by the reward positivity, and enhanced motivational salience as revealed by the P300. Our findings offer a mechanistic understanding of the illusion of control in terms of reward dynamics.