NeuroImage (Apr 2020)

Test-retest reliability of brain responses to risk-taking during the balloon analogue risk task

  • Xiong Li,
  • Yu Pan,
  • Zhuo Fang,
  • Hui Lei,
  • Xiaocui Zhang,
  • Hui Shi,
  • Ning Ma,
  • Philip Raine,
  • Reagan Wetherill,
  • Junghoon J. Kim,
  • Yan Wan,
  • Hengyi Rao

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 209
p. 116495

Abstract

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The Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) provides a reliable and ecologically valid model for the assessment of individual risk-taking propensity and is frequently used in neuroimaging and developmental research. Although the test-retest reliability of risk-taking behavior during the BART is well established, the reliability of brain activation patterns in response to risk-taking during the BART remains elusive. In this study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and evaluated the test-retest reliability of brain responses in 34 healthy adults during a modified BART by calculating the intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and Dice’s similarity coefficients (DSC). Analyses revealed that risk-induced brain activation patterns showed good test-retest reliability (median ICC ​= ​0.62) and moderate to high spatial consistency, while brain activation patterns associated with win or loss outcomes only had poor to fair reliability (median ICC ​= ​0.33 for win and 0.42 for loss). These findings have important implications for future utility of the BART in fMRI to examine brain responses to risk-taking and decision-making.

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