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Intro to Psychology
Risk-takers are smarter according to new study
In a recent study using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), images taken of the brains of young men revealed major differences in what is called
“white matter” between two separate groups of participants. The University of Turku in
Finland under the direction of SINTEF claims young men that make quick decisions in risky situations have a highly developed neural network and are “smarter” than low risktakers.
First each participant was given a personality test to assess the risk-taking propensity and susceptibility to peer influence. By doing this the researcher was able to separate the 17 right-handed, 18-19 year old males into two groups, high and low risk takers. The two groups reported to the Department of Radiology of the Turku University
Hospital for two practice sessions. During the sessions they were shows a driving game with sets of 20 stop-light intersections. They learned how to play the game and then reported back for four testing sessions in an MRI scanner. The first two sessions were performed under a non-competition social setting and the last two sessions by surprise were under social pressure of a peer competition situation.
Measurements were taken of the participants at each moment that decisionmaking took place wether to stop at the yellow light or try and make it through. Results showed that high risk-takers didn't hesitate for long before they made the decision. Low risk-takers found themselves hesitating and thinking about possible outcomes and the consequences of those decisions. Differences in the neural network or “white matter” were discovered in the two groups as well. High risk-takers were found to have more

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Intro to Psychology
“superhighways” or connections across the different areas of the brain that allowed them to make quick decisions while driving rather than those who hesitated.
The researcher believes that the young men that are risk takers and seek out challenges are eager to experience learning; thus their brains know they have the physical and mental skills to take on the risks. He says these brain functions promote and contribute to the development of a robust neural network. He found that peer competition increased the outcome-related activation of risky decisions from the prefrontal cortex in the low risk-takers. When under peer pressure, the anticipation of a reward for risky decisions can sometimes lead to failure during the learning process, with tragic consequences.
I liked that the examiner used two different social situations during the same experiment. He was able to manipulate two individual variables without them interfering with each other. By doing this he found the differences in the neural networks of risk takers verses the safe drivers, and the differences between the same groups under social pressure.
I would have liked it if the researcher had done a second round of testing on different participants or more participants. After there were seven subjects excluded from the data because lost interest in the driving game, there were only 27 subjects to collect data from. The participants that were once divided into two groups were regrouped for data analysis because there was a discrepancy in the risk-taking behavior between the questionnaire results and the actual task performance. I believe there is

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Intro to Psychology more research to be done here before the researcher can claim that risk-takers are smarter than non-risk takers.
Works Cited
SINTEF. "Risk-takers are smarter, according to a new study." ScienceDaily.
ScienceDaily, 30 November 2015. .