Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation influences risk-taking behaviour

NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA

卷:160

Article

De Maio, Gabriele^1,2  Bottini, Gabriella^2,3  Ferre, Elisa Raffaella¹ 

[1] Royal Holloway Univ London, Dept Psychol, Egham TW20 0EX, Surrey, England

[2] Univ Pavia, Brain & Behav Sci Dept, Pavia, Italy

[3] Osped Niguarda Ca Granda, ASST Grande Osped Metropolitano, Ctr Cognit Neuropsychol, Milan, Italy

关键词: Vestibular system;    Risk-taking behaviour;    Galvanic vestibular stimulation;    Behavioural control;    Balloon analogue risk task;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107965

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Risk-taking behaviour is an essential aspect of our interactions with the environment. Here we investigated whether vestibular inputs influence behavioural measurement of risk-taking propensity. We have combined bipolar Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation (GVS) with a well-known and established risk-taking behaviour task, namely the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). A sham stimulation was used to control for non-specific effects. Left-anodal and right-cathodal GVS (L-GVS), which preferentially activates the vestibular projections in the right hemisphere, decreased the willingness to take risk during the BART compared with right-anodal and left-cathodal GVS (R-GVS), which activates the left hemisphere. This proved a specific vestibular effect which depends on GVS polarity. Conversely, no generic vestibular effect, defined as the adjusted average of L-GVS and R-GVS conditions compared to sham, emerged, excluding non-specific vestibular effects. Our results confirmed recent findings of a vestibular contribution to decision-making and strategy control behaviour. We suggest that the vestibular-mediated balancing of risk seeking behaviour is an important element of the brain's capacity to adapt to the environment.

【 授权许可】

Free