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Neuronal correlates of risk-seeking attitudes to anticipated losses in binge drinkers
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posted on 2023-06-08, 17:15 authored by Yulia Worbe, Michael Irvine, Iris Lange, Prantik Kundu, Nicholas A Howell, Neil Harrison, Edward T Bullmore, Trevor W Robbins, Valerie VoonBackground Abnormal decision making under risk is associated with a number of psychiatric disorders. Here, we focus on binge drinkers (BD), characterized by repeated episodes of heavy alcohol intoxication. Previous studies suggest a decreased sensitivity to aversive conditioning in BD. Here, we asked whether BD might be characterized by enhanced risk seeking related to decreased sensitivity to the anticipation of negative outcomes. Methods Using an anticipatory risk-taking task (40 BD and 70 healthy volunteers) and an adapted version of this task for functional magnetic resonance imaging (21 BD and 21 healthy volunteers), we assessed sensitivity to reward and loss across risk probabilities. Results In the behavioral task, BD showed a higher number of risky choices in high-risk losses. In the neuroimaging task, the high-risk attitude in the loss condition was associated with greater activity in dorsolateral prefrontal, lateral orbitofrontal, and superior parietal cortices in BD. Explicit exposure of BD to the probability and magnitude of loss, via introduction of feedback, resulted in a subsequent decrease in risky choices. This change in risk attitude in BD was associated with greater activity in inferior frontal gyrus, which also correlated with the percentage of decrease in risky choices after feedback presentation, suggesting a possible role for cognitive control toward risk-seeking attitudes. Conclusions Our findings suggest that a decrease in sensitivity to the anticipation of high-risk negative outcomes might underlie BD behavior. Presentation of explicit feedback of probability and loss in BD can potentially modify risk-taking attitudes, which have important public health implications and suggest possible therapeutic targets.
History
Publication status
- Published
Journal
Biological PsychiatryISSN
0006-3223Publisher
ElsevierExternal DOI
Issue
9Volume
76Page range
717-724Department affiliated with
- Clinical and Experimental Medicine Publications
Full text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2014-05-13Usage metrics
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