Risk Taking: It is a Matter of Biology
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Are you a risk taker? Or, are you a risk averter? According to a recent article in the New York Times (Rats That Tend to Gamble Help Reveal Science of Risk by Pam Belluck, March 24, 2016 at page A21), the answer lies in a specific type of neuron or nerve cell in the brain. That is, you are hard wired to love risk or to hate it. But, modern science can also manipulate that neuron to turn the risk taker into a risk avoider.
In a study conducted on rats by Dr. Karl Deisseroth, a Stanford neuroscientist and psychiatrist, and his colleagues, they found that a risk adverse rat made decisions based on the outcome of its previous choice; that is, whether there was a gain or a loss (involving food). If the rat lost food in the last round, it acted more conservatively in the next round. The researchers saw this behavior in the rat’s brain, and specifically by signals from certain receptors in the nucleus accumbens region of the brain. (Id.) “These receptors, which are proteins attached to neurons, are part of the dopamine system, a neurochemical important to emotion, movement and thinking.” (Id.)
In those rats that love to take risks, these receptors “…sent a much fainter signal, so the rats kept making high-stakes choices even if they lost out.” (Id.) Interestingly though, when the researchers used optogenetics, or a technique that uses light to manipulate neurons, they were able to stimulate the brain cells of these high risk taking rats to strengthen the “loss” signal and thus turn these rats into more conservative risk averters.
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