HWNI member Robert Knight and UCSF professor Edward Chang are co-senior authors on a new study published in Nature Neuroscience that has identified two brain areas that become more active just before a person makes a decision to take a risk or not, respectively. The study was led by Clara Starkweather, a neurosurgery chief resident at UCSF, who did a year of research in Knight’s lab. HWNI members Kevin Weiner and Ming Hsu are also authors on the study, along with other collaborators.
The team recorded electrical activity directly from the orbitofrontal cortex of the brain in patient volunteers who already had electrodes implanted for medical reasons, while they played a video game. The researchers found that activity increased in one brain area before the patients took a risk in the game, and in a neighboring area before they avoided a risk. They also discovered that activity switches back and forth between these regions until one “wins” and a final decision is made. This research could lead to more targeted and effective brain stimulation treatments for people with conditions that involve an imbalance between risk-taking and caution, such as OCD, anxiety, depression, and addiction and gambling disorders.
