Sensation Seeking and Reward Processing

Participants either scorin high or low on sensation seeking performed a two choice reward  decision making task durung event related potentials were recorded (Zheng and Liu, 2015). Participants scoring low on sensation seeking were found to be risk averse. In contrast, participants scoring high on sensation seeking exhibited a neutral decision making pattern. The SPN component was found to be enlarged while making risky decisions. This effect vanished in high sensation seekers in risk neutral trials as compared to the low scoring sensation seekers. The FRN appeared in low sensation seekers, but was reduced in high sensation seekers. There was also a diminished P300 component found in high sensation seekers.