Novelty seeking is related to individual risk preference and brain activation associated with risk prediction during decision making

Novelty seeking (NS) is a personality trait reflecting excitement in response to novel stimuli. High NS is usually a predictor of risky behaviour such as drug abuse. However, the relationships between NS and risk-related cognitive processes, including individual risk preference and the brain activation associated with risk prediction, remain elusive. In this fMRI study, participants completed the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire to measure NS and performed a probabilistic decision making task. Using a mathematical model, we estimated individual risk preference. Brain regions associated with risk prediction were determined via fMRI. The NS score showed a positive correlation with risk preference and a negative correlation with the activation elicited by risk prediction in the right posterior insula (r-PI), left anterior insula (l-AI), right striatum (r-striatum) and supplementary motor area (SMA). Within these brain regions, only the activation associated with risk prediction in the r-PI showed a correlation with NS after controlling for the effect of risk preference. Resting-state functional connectivity between the r-PI and r-striatum/l-AI was negatively correlated with NS. Our results suggest that high NS may be associated with less aversion to risk and that the r-PI plays an important role in relating risk prediction to NS.