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Why do some people cope better with stress than others, even under pressure? A new psychological study by researchers at the RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau and the University of Amsterdam offers new insights into this question. The results show that higher resilience is associated with placing greater weight on positive aspects in cost-benefit decisions. This link is mediated by a specific way the brain processes negative information.
The research team investigated how psychological resilience relates to how people weigh positive and negative information when making decisions, a situation we constantly encounter in everyday life. In an experimental task, participants repeatedly made cost-benefit decisions in which colors and geometric shapes were linked to small monetary gains and losses. Over the course of the experiment, participants repeatedly decided whether to accept or reject certain offers. Meanwhile, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to measure their brain activity. This noninvasive imaging technique visualizes brain activity by measuring local changes in blood oxygenation levels. The research team then used statistical models to analyze the extent to which individuals value positive information more than negative information and how this relates to characteristics of psychological resilience.
Positive decision-making tendency with strong response to negatives
The results showed a clear correlation: individuals who gave slightly more weight to positive information than negative information when making decisions exhibited higher levels of acceptance, an important factor for psychological resilience. The researchers were surprised by how this correlation manifested in the brain. "Contrary to our original assumption, the brains of individuals with higher resilience did not generally respond more strongly to positive information," explains Ulrike Basten, a psychology professor at RPTU. Instead, their brains showed stronger neural responses to negative information, particularly in brain regions relevant to cognitive control and the regulation of information processing. This greater regulation of negative information processing may explain why it carried less weight in the decision-making process.
Resilience arises from the regulated handling of negative information
"Our findings suggest that psychological resilience does not mean blocking out or perceiving less negative information," Basten explains. Rather, psychological resilience appears to be linked to how negatively evaluated information is processed and regulated. This greater control can lead to negative information carrying less weight in decisions than positive information, even though they are processed intensely in the brain.
The study complements earlier research on specific aspects of information processing, which primarily linked resilience to biases in attention or the interpretation of ambiguous information. The new findings show that everyday decision-making processes are also closely linked to psychological resilience.
Surprising results and new perspectives
The research team was surprised that a more positive decision-making bias could not be explained by increased sensitivity to positive stimuli. Instead, how negative consequences were processed played a central role. This distinction had not been systematically identified in previous studies, opening up new perspectives on the neurocognitive foundations of psychological resilience.
Resilience may be trainable
"Based on the results, we see exciting starting points for future studies," says Basten. One next step could be investigating whether decision-making processes can be trained to place greater emphasis on positive information and whether such training can promote psychological resilience. If a causal relationship is confirmed, these approaches could play a role in the long-term prevention or treatment of psychological stress.
Ulrike Basten
RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau
Biological Psychology
+49 (0)6341 280-31241
ulrike.basten@rptu.de
"Positive Bias in Value-Based Decision Making": Positive Bias in Value-Based Decision Making: Neurocognitive Associations with Resilience." In: Journal of Neuroscience.
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1734-25.2026
https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1734-25.2026
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