title: Risky decision-making: an FMRI study of youth at high risk for alcoholism.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Adolescents with a family history of alcoholism (FHP) are at risk for developing an alcohol use disorder (AUD), and some studies indicate that FHP individuals show deficits in executive functioning. The ability to make adaptive decisions is one aspect of successful executive functioning that is often measured during risk-taking tasks; however, this behavior has not been examined in FHP youth. As impaired decision-making could predispose FHP youth to make poor choices related to alcohol use, the current study examined the neural substrates of risk-taking in FHP adolescents and their family history negative (FHN) peers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-one (18 FHP, 13 FHN) youth between 13 and 15 years old were included in this study. All youth had used little to no alcohol prior to study involvement. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to examine the neural substrates of risk-taking during the Wheel of Fortune (WOF) decision-making task (Ernst et al., 2004) in FHP and FHN youth.
  
  
  RESULTS
  FHP youth did not differ from FHN youth in risk-taking behavior, but showed less brain response during risky decision-making in right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and right cerebellar regions compared with FHN peers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite no behavioral differences on the WOF decision-making task, FHP youth exhibited atypical neural response during risk-taking compared with FHN peers. Atypical brain activity, in regions implicated in executive functioning could lead to reduced cognitive control, which may result in risky choices regarding alcohol use. This could help explain the higher rates of AUDs seen in FHP adolescents. Further examination of risky behavior and associated brain response over the course of adolescence is necessary to characterize the vulnerabilities of FHP youth in the absence of alcohol abuse.
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, USA.
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cservenka
authors.forename: Bonnie J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Nagel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000502:physiology; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012201:Reward; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen