Amygdala signals subjective appetitiveness and aversiveness of mixed gambles

TY - JOUR

T1 - Amygdala signals subjective appetitiveness and aversiveness of mixed gambles

AU - Gelskov, Sofie V

AU - Henningsson, Susanne

AU - Madsen, Kristoffer H

AU - Siebner, Hartwig R

AU - Ramsøy, Thomas Z

N1 - Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

PY - 2015/5/1

Y1 - 2015/5/1

N2 - People are more sensitive to losses than to equivalent gains when making financial decisions. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to illuminate how the amygdala contributes to loss aversion. The blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) response of the amygdala was mapped while healthy individuals were responding to 50/50 gambles with varying potential gain and loss amounts. Overall, subjects demanded twice as high potential gain as loss to accept a gamble. The individual level of loss aversion was expressed by the decision boundary, i.e., the gain-loss ratio at which subjects accepted and rejected gambles with equal probability. Amygdala activity increased the more the gain-loss ratio deviated from the individual decision boundary showing that the amygdala codes action value. This response pattern was more strongly expressed in loss aversive individuals, linking amygdala activity with individual differences in loss aversion. Together, the results show that the amygdala signals subjective appetitiveness or aversiveness of gain-loss ratios at the time of choice.

AB - People are more sensitive to losses than to equivalent gains when making financial decisions. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to illuminate how the amygdala contributes to loss aversion. The blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) response of the amygdala was mapped while healthy individuals were responding to 50/50 gambles with varying potential gain and loss amounts. Overall, subjects demanded twice as high potential gain as loss to accept a gamble. The individual level of loss aversion was expressed by the decision boundary, i.e., the gain-loss ratio at which subjects accepted and rejected gambles with equal probability. Amygdala activity increased the more the gain-loss ratio deviated from the individual decision boundary showing that the amygdala codes action value. This response pattern was more strongly expressed in loss aversive individuals, linking amygdala activity with individual differences in loss aversion. Together, the results show that the amygdala signals subjective appetitiveness or aversiveness of gain-loss ratios at the time of choice.

KW - Adult

KW - Amygdala

KW - Brain

KW - Brain Mapping

KW - Decision Making

KW - Functional Neuroimaging

KW - Gambling

KW - Humans

KW - Magnetic Resonance Imaging

KW - Male

KW - Risk-Taking

KW - Ventral Striatum

KW - Young Adult

U2 - 10.1016/j.cortex.2015.02.016

DO - 10.1016/j.cortex.2015.02.016

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 25817710

SN - 0010-9452

VL - 66

SP - 81

EP - 90

JO - Cortex

JF - Cortex

ER -