Blunted neural responses to monetary risk in high sensation seekers

The sensation-seeking trait is a valid predictor of various risk-taking behaviors. However, the neural underpinnings of risk processing in sensation seeking are yet unclear. The present event-related potential (ERP) study examined electrophysiological correlates associated with different stages of risky reward processing in sensation seeking. Twenty-one high sensation seekers (HSS) and 22 low sensation seekers (LSS) performed a simple two-choice gambling task. Behaviorally, whereas LSS exhibited a risk-averse pattern, HSS showed a risk-neutral pattern. During the anticipation stage, an increased stimulus-preceding negativity was elicited by high-risk compared to low-risk choices in LSS but not in HSS. During the outcome-appraisal stage, the feedback-related negativity, when calculated as the difference between losses and gains, was enhanced in response to the high-risk versus low-risk outcomes, which appeared for LSS but not for HSS. Further, HSS as compared to LSS exhibited a diminished P300 to both gains and losses. These findings suggest that risk-taking behavior in sensation seeking is expressed as blunted neural responses to risk in the anticipation stage and in the outcome-appraisal stage, which represents a candidate target for drug prevention.