QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

The Journal of Neuroscience, June 14, 2006, 26(24):6469-6472; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0804-06.2006

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental data Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in J. Neurosci. Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (38) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Knoch, D. Articles by Brugger, P. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Knoch, D. Articles by Brugger, P.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Disruption of Right Prefrontal Cortex by Low-Frequency Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Induces Risk-Taking Behavior

Daria Knoch,¹ Lorena R. R. Gianotti,³ Alvaro Pascual-Leone,⁴ Valerie Treyer,² Marianne Regard,¹ Martin Hohmann,¹ and Peter Brugger¹

¹Department of Neurology, ²PET Center, Division of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Zurich, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland, ³The KEY Institute for Brain–Mind Research, University Hospital of Psychiatry, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland, and ⁴Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation, Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts 02215

Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Daria Knoch, Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zurich, Frauenklinikstrasse 26, CH-8091 Zurich, Switzerland. Email: daria.knoch{at}usz.ch

Decisions require careful weighing of the risks and benefits associated with a choice. Some people need to be offered large rewards to balance even minimal risks, whereas others take great risks in the hope for an only minimal benefit. We show here that risk-taking is a modifiable behavior that depends on right hemisphere prefrontal activity. We used low-frequency, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation to transiently disrupt left or right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) function before applying a well known gambling paradigm that provides a measure of decision-making under risk. Individuals displayed significantly riskier decision-making after disruption of the right, but not the left, DLPFC. Our findings suggest that the right DLPFC plays a crucial role in the suppression of superficially seductive options. This confirms the asymmetric role of the prefrontal cortex in decision-making and reveals that this fundamental human capacity can be manipulated in normal subjects through cortical stimulation. The ability to modify risk-taking behavior may be translated into therapeutic interventions for disorders such as drug abuse or pathological gambling.

Key words: decision-making; dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; inhibitory control; laterality; transcranial magnetic stimulation; risk-taking

---

Received Feb. 22, 2006; revised April 6, 2006; accepted May 9, 2006.

Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Daria Knoch, Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zurich, Frauenklinikstrasse 26, CH-8091 Zurich, Switzerland. Email: daria.knoch{at}usz.ch

Related articles in J. Neurosci.:

This Week in The Journal

J. Neurosci. 2006 26: i. [Full Text]  

This article has been cited by other articles:

				G. I. Christopoulos, P. N. Tobler, P. Bossaerts, R. J. Dolan, and W. Schultz Neural Correlates of Value, Risk, and Risk Aversion Contributing to Decision Making under Risk J. Neurosci., October 7, 2009; 29(40): 12574 - 12583. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. B. Long, C. M. Kuhn, and M. L. Platt Serotonin shapes risky decision making in monkeys Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci, June 23, 2009; (2009) nsp020v1. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. N. Tobler, G. I. Christopoulos, J. P. O'Doherty, R. J. Dolan, and W. Schultz Risk-dependent reward value signal in human prefrontal cortex PNAS, April 28, 2009; 106(17): 7185 - 7190. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C.-s. R. Li, H. H.-A. Chao, and T.-W. Lee Neural Correlates of Speeded as Compared with Delayed Responses in a Stop Signal Task: An Indirect Analog of Risk Taking and Association with an Anxiety Trait Cereb Cortex, April 1, 2009; 19(4): 839 - 848. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				F. Krueger, J. Grafman, and K. McCabe Neural correlates of economic game playing Phil Trans R Soc B, December 12, 2008; 363(1511): 3859 - 3874. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Rustichini Dual or unitary system? Two alternative models of decision making Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci, December 1, 2008; 8(4): 355 - 362. [Abstract] [PDF]

				N. Eiji Nawa, E. E. Nelson, D. S. Pine, and M. Ernst Do you make a difference? Social context in a betting task Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci, December 1, 2008; 3(4): 367 - 376. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. Clark, A. Bechara, H. Damasio, M. R. F. Aitken, B. J. Sahakian, and T. W. Robbins Differential effects of insular and ventromedial prefrontal cortex lesions on risky decision-making Brain, May 1, 2008; 131(5): 1311 - 1322. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Fecteau, D. Knoch, F. Fregni, N. Sultani, P. Boggio, and A. Pascual-Leone Diminishing Risk-Taking Behavior by Modulating Activity in the Prefrontal Cortex: A Direct Current Stimulation Study J. Neurosci., November 14, 2007; 27(46): 12500 - 12505. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. R. Aron, S. Durston, D. M. Eagle, G. D. Logan, C. M. Stinear, and V. Stuphorn Converging Evidence for a Fronto-Basal-Ganglia Network for Inhibitory Control of Action and Cognition J. Neurosci., October 31, 2007; 27(44): 11860 - 11864. [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Fecteau, A. Pascual-Leone, D. H. Zald, P. Liguori, H. Theoret, P. S. Boggio, and F. Fregni Activation of Prefrontal Cortex by Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Reduces Appetite for Risk during Ambiguous Decision Making J. Neurosci., June 6, 2007; 27(23): 6212 - 6218. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. R. Aron The Neural Basis of Inhibition in Cognitive Control Neuroscientist, June 1, 2007; 13(3): 214 - 228. [Abstract] [PDF]

				M. Alonso-Alonso and A. Pascual-Leone The Right Brain Hypothesis for Obesity JAMA, April 25, 2007; 297(16): 1819 - 1822. [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. Knoch, A. Pascual-Leone, K. Meyer, V. Treyer, and E. Fehr Diminishing Reciprocal Fairness by Disrupting the Right Prefrontal Cortex Science, November 3, 2006; 314(5800): 829 - 832. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help