Nothing to lose? Separating the Neural Correlates of Decision,
Anticipation and Feedback in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task
Abstract
Understanding the subprocesses of risky decision-making is prerequisite
for understanding (dys-)functional decisions. For the present fMRI study
we designed a variant of the balloon-analogue-risk task (BART) that
allows separating decision making from reward anticipation and feedback
processing. 29 healthy young adults completed the BART. We analyzed
neural activity and functional connectivity. Parametric modulation
allowed assessing changes in brain functioning depending on the
riskiness of the decision. Our results confirm involvement of Nacc,
Insula, ACC and DLPFC in all subprocesses of risky decision making. In
addition, subprocesses were differentiated by the strength of activation
in these regions, as well as by changes in activity and
Nacc-connectivity by the riskiness of the decision. The presented
fMRI-BART variant allows distinguishing activity and connectivity during
the subprocesses of risky decision making and shows how activation and
connectivity patterns relate to the riskiness of the decision. Hence, it
is a useful tool for unraveling impairments in subprocesses of risky
decision making in people with high risk behavior.