Neural Correlates of Anticipation Risk Reflect Risk Aversion

Event Abstract Back to Event Neural Correlates of Anticipation Risk Reflect Risk Aversion Sarah Rudorf1*, Kerstin Preuschoff2, Christian E. Elger1 and Bernd Weber1 1 University of Bonn, Center for Economics and Neuroscience, Germany 2 University of Zürich, Institute for Empirical, Switzerland Objective: Risk preferences are important determinants of human behavior in many domains, ranging from health attitudes to financial decisions. Recent studies highlighted the role of specific brain regions in the processing of decision risk (during or before choices; e.g. Christopoulos et al., 2009) and anticipation risk (after or without a choice; e.g. Preuschoff et al., 2008). In this study we want to investigate to what extent neural correlates of anticipation risk reflect individual risk preferences. Methods: Using fMRI we measured neural correlates of reward and risk prediction and the corresponding prediction errors during a simple card gambling game (Preuschoff et al., 2006, 2008). Additionally, we applied a standard binary choice lottery scenario to group subjects according to their risk preferences. We also tested for functional connectivity during risk processing. Results: We were able to replicate neural signals of reward and risk processing as reported by Preuschoff et al. (2006, 2008). In accordance with the behavioral measure of risk preferences (certainty equivalent),risk seekers showed stronger BOLD effects to reward related information while risk averters were more sensitive to risk prediction and risk prediction error. Psychophysiological Interaction (PPI) analyses contrasting high versus low risk trials revealed stronger functional connectivity of ventral striatum and anterior insula with frontal regions (IFG, DLPFC) for risk averters compared to the other groups. Conclusions: Our findings support a two-step model of risk processing with an automatic evaluation of risk coded by ventral striatum and anterior insula that interacts with prefrontal signals of cognitive control during decisions under risk (cp. Mohr et al., 2010). Further, individual differences in risk preferences might not only be due to a lack of prefrontal control in risk seekers as suggested elsewhere (Gianotti et al., 2009, Cohen et al., 2010), but to a hypersensitive signal of anticipation risk in risk averters. References Christopoulos et al. (2009). J Neurosci. Cohen et al. (2010). Nat Neurosci. Gianotti et al. (2009). Psychol Sci. Preuschoff et al. (2006). Neuron. Preuschoff et al. (2008). J Neurosci. Mohr et al. (2010). J Neurosci. Keywords: fMRI, Risk Anticipation, risk aversion Conference: Decision Neuroscience From Neurons to Societies, Berlin, Germany, 23 Sep - 25 Sep, 2010. Presentation Type: Poster Topic: Abstracts Citation: Rudorf S, Preuschoff K, Elger CE and Weber B (2010). Neural Correlates of Anticipation Risk Reflect Risk Aversion. Front. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: Decision Neuroscience From Neurons to Societies. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnins.2010.82.00010 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 13 Aug 2010; Published Online: 07 Sep 2010. * Correspondence: Miss. Sarah Rudorf, University of Bonn, Center for Economics and Neuroscience, Bonn, Germany, sarahrudorf@hotmail.de Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Sarah Rudorf Kerstin Preuschoff Christian E Elger Bernd Weber Google Sarah Rudorf Kerstin Preuschoff Christian E Elger Bernd Weber Google Scholar Sarah Rudorf Kerstin Preuschoff Christian E Elger Bernd Weber PubMed Sarah Rudorf Kerstin Preuschoff Christian E Elger Bernd Weber Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.