This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing theresources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject andinvestigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source,and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed isfor the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator.People respond differently to financial and economic risk -- some strictly avoid it while others tolerate or even seek it. Differences in how strongly people avoid or seek risk have major impacts on personal savings rates, investment strategies, insurance decisions, educational choices, business tactics and many other facets of life. These differences affect individual well being and can cause different outcomes in national financial markets. Past research into the differences between people with high and low degrees of economic risk avoidance only looks at differences in subjects' current income or wealth or differences in subjects' age, gender or other demographic characteristics. The proposed research will provide a deeper understanding of individual differences in subjects' risk avoidance by employing a method from cognitive neuroscience (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and molecular genetics (polymorphism screenings). The research design first measures the degree of economic risk avoidance of subjects using standard methods from experimental economics. Each subject then submits a blood sample that is then used to screen for common variations (polymorphisms) in a set of genes that have previously been identified as having possible associations with psychological measurements of risk avoidance (anxiety and novelty seeking). Finally, a matched subset of subjects with high and low degree of economic risk avoidance will participate in two functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) sessions. The fMRI sessions will allow us to test for differences in neural activity between subjects with high and low degrees of economic risk avoidance. Statistical methods will be used to test for associations between genetic variations, neural activity and economic risk avoidance.
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