Brain Structure Could Predict Risky Behavior

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have found that the volume of the parietal cortex in the brain could predict where people fall on the risk-taking spectrum. With findings published in a recent issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, the research team reports that those with larger volume in a particular part of the parietal cortex were willing to take more risks than those with less volume in this part of the brain. Study participants included young adult men and women from the northeastern United States. Participants made a series of choices between monetary lotteries that varied in their degree of risk, and the research team conducted standard anatomical MRI brain scans. “Based on our findings, we could, in principle, use millions of existing medical brains scans to assess risk attitudes in populations,” said Ifat Levy, assistant professor in comparative medicine and neurobiology at Yale School of Medicine. “It could also help us explain differences in risk attitudes based in part on structural brain differences.” But Levy cautions that the results do not speak to causality. “We don’t know if structural changes lead to behavioral changes or vice-versa,” she said. To learn more about the study, click here.