Genetic underpinnings of risky behaviour relate to altered neuroanatomy

Gökhan Aydogan, Remi Daviet, Richard Karlsson Linnér, Todd A. Hare, Joseph W. Kable, Henry R. Kranzler, Reagan R. Wetherill, Christian C. Ruff, Philipp D. Koellinger and Gideon Nave ()
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Gökhan Aydogan: University of Zurich
Richard Karlsson Linnér: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Todd A. Hare: University of Zurich
Joseph W. Kable: University of Pennsylvania
Henry R. Kranzler: University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Reagan R. Wetherill: University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Christian C. Ruff: University of Zurich
Philipp D. Koellinger: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Gideon Nave: University of Pennsylvania

Nature Human Behaviour, 2021, vol. 5, issue 6, 787-794

Abstract: Abstract Previous research points to the heritability of risk-taking behaviour. However, evidence on how genetic dispositions are translated into risky behaviour is scarce. Here, we report a genetically informed neuroimaging study of real-world risky behaviour across the domains of drinking, smoking, driving and sexual behaviour in a European sample from the UK Biobank (N = 12,675). We find negative associations between risky behaviour and grey-matter volume in distinct brain regions, including amygdala, ventral striatum, hypothalamus and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). These effects are replicated in an independent sample recruited from the same population (N = 13,004). Polygenic risk scores for risky behaviour, derived from a genome-wide association study in an independent sample (N = 297,025), are inversely associated with grey-matter volume in dlPFC, putamen and hypothalamus. This relation mediates roughly 2.2% of the association between genes and behaviour. Our results highlight distinct heritable neuroanatomical features as manifestations of the genetic propensity for risk taking.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41562-020-01027-y

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