dat1 polymorphism is associated with risk taking in the balloon analogue risk task (bart)dat1多态性与冒险气球模拟风险任务(bart).pdf

DAT1 Polymorphism Is Associated with Risk Taking in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) 1 1 2,3,4 1,5 Rui Mata *, Robin Hau , Andreas Papassotiropoulos , Ralph Hertwig 1 Center for Cognitive and Decision Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland, 2 Division of Molecular Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland, 3 Division of Molecular Neuroscience, University Psychiatric Clinics, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland, 4 Life Sciences Training Facility, Department Biozentrum, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland, 5 Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany Abstract Twin-studies suggest that a significant portion of individual differences in the propensity to take risks resides in people’s genetic make-up and there is evidence that variability in dopaminergic systems relates to individual differences in risky choice. We examined the link between risk taking in a risk taking task (the Balloon Analogue Risk Task, BART) and a variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) polymorphism in the 39UTR of the dopamine transporter gene (SLC6A3/DAT1). Behavior in BART is known to be associated with activity in striatal reward-processing regions, and DAT1 is assumed to modulate striatal dopamine levels. We find that carriers of DAT1 alleles, which presumably result in lower striatal dopamine availability, showed more risk taking, relative to carriers of the alleles associated with higher striatal dopamine availability. Our analyses suggest that the mechanism underlying this association is diminished sensitivity to rewards among those who take more risks. Overall, our results support the notion that a behavioral genetic approach ca