Scientists Discover Brain Spot that Drives Risk-Taking Decisions
Six epilepsy patients helped researchers identify two orbitofrontal patches that drive risk-taking or avoidance decisions about half a second before action.
- On Tuesday, UCSF and Berkeley researchers published findings in Nature Neuroscience identifying two distinct brain circuits in the OFC that dictate risk-taking and avoidance, allowing scientists to predict choices 500 milliseconds before action.
- Researchers monitored six patients playing an immersive video game, revealing the brain oscillates between two extremes like a switch rather than accumulating evidence like a slowly turning dial.
- Two neighboring regions operate in inverse synchronization: The Medial Orbital Sulcus surges when players confront risk, while The Lateral Orbitofrontal Patch two centimeters away spikes when opting to play it safe.
- Identifying these specific 'go' and 'stop' zones could allow for millimeter-precision neuromodulation, as targeting the OFC previously yielded mixed outcomes when clinicians treated the region as a monolith.
- Clara Starkweather, MD, PhD, a neurosurgery chief resident at UCSF, aims to move beyond subjective mood scores by developing objective, measurable signatures of brain risk-weighing to target psychiatric treatments.
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Brain Activity Can Predict Risky Decisions Before They Happen: Study
Get latest articles and stories on Health at LatestLY. Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the University of California, Berkeley have identified two neighbouring regions in the human brain that appear to compete when a person decides whether to take a risk, and found that their activity can predict the decision nearly half a second before it is made. Health News | Brain Activity Can Predict Risky Decisions Befor…
Brain activity can predict risky decisions before they happen: Study - The Tribune
Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the University of California, Berkeley have identified two neighbouring regions in the human brain that appear to compete when a person decides whether to take a risk, and found that their activity can predict the decision nearly half a second before it is made.
Scientists pinpoint two brain regions that battle it out when deciding whether to take a risk
Every day, your brain runs the same calculation: Take a risk or play it safe? Your gas tank might be low, but there's just enough to make it to work on time. Do you stop and risk being late? If you're out of money at the casino, do you quit playing slots or withdraw more cash from the ATM? Talk to a stranger at the park or stay quiet?
If you weigh between possible gain and imminent loss, the orbitofrontal cortex shows two spatially separated, opposite activity patterns. Direct brain derivations in six patients show that these patterns change quickly before a decision is made between approach and avoidance and are increasingly aligned to the later choice about half a second before the reaction. San Francisco (U.S.A.). In case of risky decisions, the brain has to weigh possible…
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