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Financial loss response linked to brain chemical
Source: Agencies |
February 22, 2012, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
FINANCIAL market traders and keen gamblers take note. Scientists have found that a chemical in the region of the brain involved in sensory and reward systems is crucial to whether people brush off the pain of financial losses.
Scientists say the study points the way to the development of drugs to treat problem gamblers and sheds light on what may go on in the brains of financial traders.
"We like to believe we all have free will and make whatever decisions we want to, but this shows it's not so easy," said Julio Licinio, editor of the Molecular Psychiatry journal, which reviewed and published the study yesterday.
A team of researchers, led by Hidehiko Takahashi of Kyoto University, scanned the brains of 19 healthy men who had completed a gambling task.
The experiment showed that a neurotransmitter, or chemical messenger, called norepinephrine, or noradrenaline, is central to the response to losing money.
Those with low levels of norepinephrine transporters had higher levels of the chemical in a crucial part of their brain - leading them to be less sensitive to losing money.
Scientists say the study points the way to the development of drugs to treat problem gamblers and sheds light on what may go on in the brains of financial traders.
"We like to believe we all have free will and make whatever decisions we want to, but this shows it's not so easy," said Julio Licinio, editor of the Molecular Psychiatry journal, which reviewed and published the study yesterday.
A team of researchers, led by Hidehiko Takahashi of Kyoto University, scanned the brains of 19 healthy men who had completed a gambling task.
The experiment showed that a neurotransmitter, or chemical messenger, called norepinephrine, or noradrenaline, is central to the response to losing money.
Those with low levels of norepinephrine transporters had higher levels of the chemical in a crucial part of their brain - leading them to be less sensitive to losing money.
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