title: Blunted neural responses to monetary risk in high sensation seekers.
abstract: The sensation-seeking trait is a valid predictor of various risk-taking behaviors. However, the neural underpinnings of risk processing in sensation seeking are yet unclear. The present event-related potential (ERP) study examined electrophysiological correlates associated with different stages of risky reward processing in sensation seeking. Twenty-one high sensation seekers (HSS) and 22 low sensation seekers (LSS) performed a simple two-choice gambling task. Behaviorally, whereas LSS exhibited a risk-averse pattern, HSS showed a risk-neutral pattern. During the anticipation stage, an increased stimulus-preceding negativity was elicited by high-risk compared to low-risk choices in LSS but not in HSS. During the outcome-appraisal stage, the feedback-related negativity, when calculated as the difference between losses and gains, was enhanced in response to the high-risk versus low-risk outcomes, which appeared for LSS but not for HSS. Further, HSS as compared to LSS exhibited a diminished P300 to both gains and losses. These findings suggest that risk-taking behavior in sensation seeking is expressed as blunted neural responses to risk in the anticipation stage and in the outcome-appraisal stage, which represents a candidate target for drug prevention.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Department of Psychology, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China.
authors.forename: Ya
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. Electronic address: liux@psych.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Xun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D059031:Anticipation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005260:Female; D005715:Gambling / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011930:Reaction Time; D012201:Reward; D012306:Risk; D012309:Risk-Taking; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Feedback-related negativity; P300; Risk processing; Sensation seeking; Stimulus-preceding negativity