Genetic Contribution to Variation in Risk Taking: A Functional MRI Twin Study of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task

Excessive risk-taking behaviors have been implicated as a potential endophenotype for substance use disorders and psychopathological gambling. However, the genetic and environmental influences on risk taking and the risk-related brain activations remain unclear. This study investigated the heritabil...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological science 2018-10, Vol.29 (10), p.1679-1691
Main Authors: Rao, Li-Lin, Zhou, Yuan, Zheng, Dang, Yang, Liu-Qing, Li, Shu
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Behavior
Brain
Environmental aspects
Functional magnetic resonance imaging
Gambling
Heritability
Individual differences
Risk assessment
Risk behavior
Risk factors
Risk taking
Substance use disorder
Twin studies
Twins
Young adults
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Summary:Excessive risk-taking behaviors have been implicated as a potential endophenotype for substance use disorders and psychopathological gambling. However, the genetic and environmental influences on risk taking and the risk-related brain activations remain unclear. This study investigated the heritability of risk taking and the genetic influence on individual variation in risk-related brain activation. The Balloon Analogue Risk Task was used to assess individuals’ risk-taking behavior. In a sample of 244 pairs of young adult twins, we found that there was a moderate heritability (41%) of risk taking. Using voxel-level analysis, we found a moderate genetic influence on risk-related brain activation. We also found a moderate genetic correlation between risk-taking behavior and risk-related brain activation in the left insula, right striatum, and right superior parietal lobule in the active-choice condition. The present study provides important evidence for the genetic correlation between risk-taking behavior and risk-related brain activation.
ISSN:0956-7976
1467-9280
DOI:10.1177/0956797618779961