A team of researchers has found a link between grey matter and risk aversion.
According to Dr Agnieszka Tymula, an economist at the University of Sydney, the latest study provides a biomarker that can indicate an individual's risk tolerance in money matters.
The researchers found that grey matter volume of a region in the right posterior parietal cortex was associated with a person's risk taking behavior. People with high level of grey matter in this region had lower aversion to risks.
"Individual risk attitudes are correlated with the grey matter volume in the posterior parietal cortex suggesting existence of an anatomical biomarker for financial risk-attitude," said Dr Tymula in a news release.
The researchers believe that a person's risk taking habits can be assessed via brain scans. However, Tymula has warned people from making a causal link between grey matter and risk aversion.
She further said that more research is needed to establish a cause and effect relationship between structural changes in the brain and risk taking behavior. Also, the researchers aren't sure whether these changes lead to alterations in an individual's risk choices or whether these changes are a result of past behavior,
The study also shows why old people are less likely to become cautious, while spending money than young people.
"The findings fit nicely with our previous findings on risk attitude and ageing. In our Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2013 paper we found that as people age they become more risk averse," she said in a news release. "From other work we know that cortex thins substantially as we age. It is possible that changes in risk attitude over lifespan are caused by thinning of the cortex."
The study is published in the Journal of Neuroscience.
The grey matter in the brain is responsible for information processing. Previous research has shown that people with low levels of grey matter are more likely to be sensitive to pain.