From Caltech
While many distraught loved ones might think that their failed high-roller partners may have lost their minds along with the family grocery money on bad bets, researchers in the Rose City say they at least can tell what part of the brain deals with the fear of fumbling away money. That powerful function, which attracts the interest of economists as well as as Vegas croupiers and maybe these days investment bankers and government regulators, turns out to be located in the amygdala, the two, almond-shaped clusters of tissue in the medial temporal lobes. The amygdala, which also has been linked to depression, anxiety and autism, registers rapid emotional reactions. In rare instances in some individuals, it is destroyed by genetic disease. And by studying volunteers with this condition, presenting them with various gambling and risk scenarios, researchers say that, compared with control subjects, those without amygdalas showed no aversion to losing money.
Fear of losing money tracked to amygdala, a key part of brain
Comments