Bid outcome processing in Vickrey auctions: An ERP study



Newton-Fenner, Alice, Tyson-Carr, John ORCID: 0000-0003-3364-2184, Roberts, Hannah, Henderson, Jessica ORCID: 0000-0002-3816-5084, Hewitt, Danielle ORCID: 0000-0003-2245-4962, Byrne, Adam, Fallon, Nicolas ORCID: 0000-0003-1451-6983, Gu, Yiquan ORCID: 0000-0002-4594-4852, Gorelkina, Olga ORCID: 0000-0002-0873-8873, Xie, Yuxin
et al (show 3 more authors) (2022) Bid outcome processing in Vickrey auctions: An ERP study. PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, 59 (12). e14125-.

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Abstract

Online retailers often sell products using a socially competitive second-price sealed-bid auction known as a Vickrey auction (VA), an incentivized demand-revealing mechanism used to elicit players' subjective values. The VA presents a situation of risky decision-making, which typically implements value processing and a loss aversion mechanism. Neural outcome processing of VA bids are not known; this study explores this for the first time using EEG. Twenty-eight healthy participants bid on household items against an anonymous, computerized opponent. Bid outcome event-related potentials were predicted to differentiate between three conditions: outbid (no-win), large margin win (bargain), and small margin win (snatch). Individual loss aversion values were evaluated in a separate behavioral experiment offering gains or losses of variable amounts but equal chances against an assured gain. Processing outcomes of VA bids were associated with a feedback-related negativity (FRN) potential with a spatial maximum at the vertex (251-271 ms), where bargain win trials resulted in greater FRN amplitudes than snatch win trials. Additionally, a P300 potential was sensitive to win versus no-win outcomes and to retail price. Individual loss aversion level did not correlate with the strength of FRN or P300. Results show that outcome processing in a VA is associated with FRN that differentiates between relatively advantageous and less advantageous gains, and a P300 that distinguishes between the more and less expensive auction items. Our findings pave the way to an objective exploration of economic decision-making and purchasing behavior involving a widely popular auction.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: ERPs, FRN, P300, reward, Vickrey auction
Divisions: Faculty of Health and Life Sciences
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences > Institute of Population Health
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Management
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 22 Jun 2022 09:23
Last Modified: 18 Jan 2023 20:57
DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14125
Open Access URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/psyp.1...
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3156969