They all do it, will you? Event-related potential evidence of herding behavior in online peer-to-peer lending

Publication date: 10 August 2018 Source:Neuroscience Letters, Volume 681 Author(s): Haihong Yu, MengHan Dan, Qingguo Ma, Jia Jin As herding is a typical characteristic of human behavior, many researchers have found the existence of herding behavior in online peer-to-peer lending through empirical surveys. However, the underlying neural basis of this phenomenon is still unclear. In the current study, we studied the neural activities of herding at decision-making stage and feedback stage using event-related potentials (ERPs). Our results showed that at decision-making stage, larger error related negativity (ERN) amplitude was induced under low-proportion conditions than that of high-proportion conditions. Meanwhile, during feedback stage, negative feedback elicited larger feedback related negativity (FRN) amplitude than that of positive feedback under low-proportion conditions, however, there was no significant FRN difference under high-proportion conditions. The current study suggests that herding behavior in online peer-to-peer lending is related to individual’s risk perception and is possible to avoid negative emotions brought by failed investments.

Source: Neuroscience Letters - May 20, 2018 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research