High-level sensation seeking (HSS) has been linked to a range of risky and unhealthy behavior; however, the neural mechanisms underlying such linkage remain unclear. In the present study, we used event-related potential (ERP) with a Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) to investigate how sensation seeking modulates brain responses to sequential decision-making with variable reward/loss outcome magnitudes. Behavior data showed that decision-making behavior was significantly affected by the large compared with the small magnitude of monetary outcome in the BART for individuals with low-level sensation seeking (LSS), but not for individuals with HSS. Similarly, HSS individuals displayed no changes in feedback-related negativity (FRN) in response to negative outcomes from decision-making with large or small reward/loss magnitudes, whereas LSS individuals showed greater FRN in response to decision-making with large loss magnitude than those with small loss magnitude. In addition, FRN amplitude differences correlated with decision-making behavior changes from small to large outcome magnitude for LSS, while such correlation was not observed for HSS. These findings suggest that a high-level of sensation seeking is associated with behavioral and neural insensitivity to increased negative outcome during decision-making under uncertainty, which may lead to greater risky behavior in these individuals when facing potential loss.
Keywords: Balloon Analogue Risk Task; Feedback-related negativity; Sensation seeking.