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Association of degree of loss aversion and grey matter volume in superior frontal gyrus by voxel-based morphometry

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Abstract

Loss-aversion behaviors reflect individuals’ personal preference bias when they meet uncertainties and measure the potential gains and losses of the uncertain situations before making a decision. Such behaviors are common and well documented in daily life; one example is irrational financial investments. The exact neural mechanisms for these loss-aversion behaviors have been widely discussed. In this study, we explored the neural mechanisms of loss-aversion behaviors by using voxel-based morphometry of brain regions based on two datasets. In the behavioral analysis, the degree of individual behavioral loss aversion was measured. Voxel-based morphometry analysis revealed positive correlations between the degree of individual behavioral loss aversion and grey matter volume in the superior frontal gyrus, which may be crucial neural structures for individual loss-aversion behaviors.

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Funding

This work partially supported by the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC) for Excellent Young Scholars (11322108), NSFC (11271383), free application projects from the SYSU-CMU ShunDe International Joint Research Institute, Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (15lgpy07), The Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province (2017A010101030), and The Engineering and Technology Research Center of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes (GCZX_A1306).

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  1. Ce Li and Xue-Qin Wang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. International School of Business and Finance, Sun Yat-Sen University, Zhuhai, 519082, Guangdong, China

    Ce Li

  2. Department of Statistical Science, School of Mathematics, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, Guangdong, China

    Xue-Qin Wang & Can-Hong Wen

  3. Department of Statistics and Finance, School of Management, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, Anhui, China

    Can-Hong Wen

  4. Department of Physics and Computer Applications, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, 515041, Guangdong, China

    Hai-zhu Tan

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  1. Ce Li
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  2. Xue-Qin Wang
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Contributions

Haizhu Tan and Ce Li wrote the paper. Ce Li and Xue-Qin Wang analyzed the data. Can-Hong Wen was the advisor for the statistical analysis.

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Correspondence to Can-Hong Wen or Hai-zhu Tan.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Li, C., Wang, XQ., Wen, CH. et al. Association of degree of loss aversion and grey matter volume in superior frontal gyrus by voxel-based morphometry. Brain Imaging and Behavior 14, 89–99 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-018-9962-5

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