We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress
Sign In
Advertise with Us
GLOBETECH PUBLISHING LLC

Download Mobile App




Gray Matter Volume in Brain Region Can Predict Risk Tolerance

By MedImaging International staff writers
Posted on 09 Oct 2014
Print article
Using whole-brain analysis, scientists discovered that the gray matter volume of a region in the right posterior parietal cortex of the brain was significantly predictive of individual risk attitudes. Men and women with higher grey matter volume in this region exhibited less risk aversion. The findings may clarify why risk tolerance decreases with age.

These new findings show that indeed is a link between brain structure and tolerance of risk, new research suggests. Dr. Agnieszka Tymula, an economist at the University of Sydney (Australia), is one of the lead authors of a new study that identifies what might be considered the first stable “biomarker” for financial risk-attitudes. “Individual risk attitudes are correlated with the grey matter volume in the posterior parietal cortex suggesting existence of an anatomical biomarker for financial risk-attitude,” said Dr. Tymula. This means tolerance of risk “could potentially be measured in billions of existing medical brain scans.”

However, she has cautioned against making a causal link between brain structure and behavior. More research will be needed to establish whether structural changes in the brain lead to changes in risk attitude or whether that individual’s risky choices alter his or her brain structure, or both. “The findings fit nicely with our previous findings on risk attitude and ageing. In our Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2013 paper, we found that as people age they become more risk averse," she said. “From other work we know that cortex thins substantially as we age. It is possible that changes in risk attitude over lifespan are caused by thinning of the cortex.”

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 level of risk, and the research team conducted traditional anatomic MRI brain scans. The findings were first gathered in a group of 28 participants, and then validated in a second, independent, group of 33 participants.

The findings are published in the September 10, 2014, issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

Related Links:

University of Sydney


Gold Member
Solid State Kv/Dose Multi-Sensor
AGMS-DM+
New
Ultrasound Doppler System
Doppler BT-200
Dose Area Product Meter
VacuDAP
Under Table Shield
3 Section Double Pivot Under Table Shield

Print article

Channels

Ultrasound

view channel
Image: Structure of the proposed transparent ultrasound transducer and its optical transmittance (Photo courtesy of POSTECH)

Ultrasensitive Broadband Transparent Ultrasound Transducer Enhances Medical Diagnosis

The ultrasound-photoacoustic dual-modal imaging system combines molecular imaging contrast with ultrasound imaging. It can display molecular and structural details inside the body in real time without... Read more

Nuclear Medicine

view channel
Image: PET/CT of a 60-year-old male patient with clinical suspicion of lung cancer (Photo courtesy of EJNMMI Physics)

Early 30-Minute Dynamic FDG-PET Acquisition Could Halve Lung Scan Times

F-18 FDG-PET scans are a way to look inside the body using a special dye, and these scans can be either static or dynamic. Static scans happen 60 minutes after the dye is administered into the body, showing... Read more

Imaging IT

view channel
Image: The new Medical Imaging Suite makes healthcare imaging data more accessible, interoperable and useful (Photo courtesy of Google Cloud)

New Google Cloud Medical Imaging Suite Makes Imaging Healthcare Data More Accessible

Medical imaging is a critical tool used to diagnose patients, and there are billions of medical images scanned globally each year. Imaging data accounts for about 90% of all healthcare data1 and, until... Read more

Industry News

view channel
Image: The acquisition will expand IBA’s medical imaging quality assurance offering (Photo courtesy of Radcal)

IBA Acquires Radcal to Expand Medical Imaging Quality Assurance Offering

Ion Beam Applications S.A. (IBA, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium), the global leader in particle accelerator technology and a world-leading provider of dosimetry and quality assurance (QA) solutions, has entered... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2024 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.