title: Activation of the prefrontal cortex by unilateral transcranial direct current stimulation leads to an asymmetrical effect on risk preference in frames of gain and loss.
abstract: Previous brain imaging and brain stimulation studies have suggested that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex may be critical in regulating risk-taking behavior, although its specific causal effect on people's risk preference remains controversial. This paper studied the independent modulation of the activity of the right and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex using various configurations of transcranial direct current stimulation. We designed a risk-measurement table and adopted a within-subject design to compare the same participant's risk preference before and after unilateral stimulation when presented with different frames of gain and loss. The results confirmed a hemispheric asymmetry and indicated that the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex has an asymmetric effect on risk preference regarding frames of gain and loss. Enhancing the activity of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex significantly decreased the participants' degree of risk aversion in the gain frame, whereas it increased the participants' degree of risk aversion in the loss frame. Our findings provide important information regarding the impact of transcranial direct current stimulation on the risk preference of healthy participants. The effects observed in our experiment compared with those of previous studies provide further evidence of the effects of hemispheric and frame-dependent asymmetry. These findings may be helpful in understanding the neural basis of risk preference in humans, especially when faced with decisions involving possible gain or loss relative to the status quo.
authors: College of Economics and Interdisciplinary Center for Social Sciences (ICSS), Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China; School of Economics, Center for Economic Behavior and Decision-making (CEBD), Neuro & Behavior EconLab (NBEL), Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China. Electronic address: hangye@zju.edu.cn.
authors: Hang
authors: H
authors: Ye
authors: College of Economics and Interdisciplinary Center for Social Sciences (ICSS), Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. Electronic address: hdqjerry@zju.edu.cn.
authors: Daqiang
authors: D
authors: Huang
authors: College of Economics and Interdisciplinary Center for Social Sciences (ICSS), Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. Electronic address: wsq2424@gmail.com.
authors: Siqi
authors: S
authors: Wang
authors: College of Economics and Interdisciplinary Center for Social Sciences (ICSS), Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. Electronic address: haolizheng@hotmail.com.
authors: Haoli
authors: H
authors: Zheng
authors: School of Economics, Center for Economic Behavior and Decision-making (CEBD), Neuro & Behavior EconLab (NBEL), Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China. Electronic address: luojun_zju@hotmail.com.
authors: Jun
authors: J
authors: Luo
authors: College of Economics and Interdisciplinary Center for Social Sciences (ICSS), Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. Electronic address: zjuchenshu@gmail.com.
authors: Shu
authors: S
authors: Chen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D012306:Risk; D012309:Risk-Taking; D065908:Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; Gain frame; Loss frame; Risk preference; Unilateral transcranial direct current stimulation