Submission 567
Nutritional Modulation of Risky Decision Making
SymposiumTalk-01
Presented by: Tibor Stöffel
In our daily lives, we often have to make decisions in the face of uncertainty. When decisions involve the risk of potential losses, individuals typically weigh losses more heavily than equivalently sized gains – termed loss aversion.
Prior research has indicated that the catecholamines dopamine and noradrenaline, as well as serotonin, play key roles in this process. Since neurotransmitter synthesis depends on dietary precursors, we hypothesized that our daily nutrition would influence loss aversion. Specifically, by varying the macronutrient composition of a single meal, it is possible to modulate circulating levels of large neutral amino acids (LNAAs) such as tyrosine and tryptophan – precursors for catecholamines and serotonin, respectively – and thereby influence neurocognitive functioning.
To test this hypothesis, we collected behavioral data, neuroimaging data, and blood samples from 43 participants (20 female) across two sessions spaced one week apart. In each session, participants consumed one of two isocaloric breakfasts that differed in macronutrient composition (high vs. low carbohydrate-to-protein ratio), designed to shift the balance of tryptophan or tyrosine relative to other LNAAs. Three hours post-meal, participants completed a monetary gambling task with varying potential gains and losses.
We applied a drift diffusion model that dissects loss aversion into multiple computational markers. Our analyses revealed a tyrosine-dependent shift in the starting point bias of the decision process towards accepting the gambles. This suggests that the macronutrient composition of a single meal can influence risky decision-making, adding to growing evidence that nutrition can modulate cognitive processes by altering neurotransmitter precursor availability.