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Prediction of Individual Differences in Risky Behavior in Young Adults Via Variations in Local Brain Structure Publisher



Nasiriavanaki Z1 ; Ariannik M1 ; Abbassian A2, 3 ; Mahmoudi E4 ; Roufigari N4 ; Shahzadi S3 ; Nasiriavanaki M5 ; Bahrami B6
Authors
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Authors Affiliations
  1. 1. Medical Faculty, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  2. 2. School of Mathematics, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  3. 3. School of Cognitive Sciences, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  4. 4. Medical Faculty, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  5. 5. Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering and School of Medicine Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States
  6. 6. Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, United Kingdom

Source: Frontiers in Neuroscience Published:2015


Abstract

In recent years the problem of how inter-individual differences play a role in risk-taking behavior has become a much debated issue. We investigated this problem based on the well-known balloon analog risk task (BART) in 48 healthy subjects in which participants inflate a virtual balloon opting for a higher score in the face of a riskier chance of the balloon explosion. In this study, based on a structural Voxel Based Morphometry (VBM) technique we demonstrate a significant positive correlation between BART score and size of the gray matter volume in the anterior insula in riskier subjects. Although the anterior insula is among the candidate brain areas that were involved in the risk taking behavior in fMRI studies, here based on our structural data it is the only area that was significantly related to structural variation among different subjects. © 2015 Nasiriavanaki, ArianNik, Abbassian, Mahmoudi, Roufigari, Shahzadi, Nasiriavanaki and Bahrami.