Study Finds Brain Signals Forecast Risky Decisions Seconds Ahead
What Happened
Researchers from University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and UC Berkeley found that activity in two neighboring regions of the brain's orbitofrontal cortex can predict whether a person will take or avoid a risk nearly half a second before the decision is made. The team recorded brain activity from implanted electrodes while participants played a risk-based video game, revealing a neural ""tug-of-war"" between risk-seeking and risk-avoiding signals. The findings were published in Nature Neuroscience.
Key Takeaways
The discovery offers a rare real-time view of how the brain weighs risk versus reward and could help develop better treatments for conditions linked to excessive risk-taking or avoidance, including addiction, gambling disorders, depression, and OCD.