A pair of brain-imaging studies suggest researchers may be able to predict how likely young adults are to develop problem drinking or engage in risky sexual behavior in response to stress.
The new research is part of the ongoing Duke Neurogenetics Study (DNS), which began in 2010 to better understand how interactions between the brain, genome and environment shape risky behaviors that can predict mental illnesses including depression, anxiety, and addiction.
"By knowing the biology that predicts risk, we hope to eventually change the biology -- or at least meet that biology with other forces to stem the risk," said the senior author of both studies, Ahmad Hariri, professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University.
In both studies, the team used non-invasive functional MRI imaging to measure the activity of two brain areas that help shape opposing behaviors crucial for survival: the reward-seeking ventral striatum and the threat-assessing amygdala.
In a 2012 sample of 200 DNS participants, Hariri's group showed that having both an overactive ventral striatum and an underactive amygdala was associated with problem drinking in response to stress.
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