Risk_Task-Gamble_task

Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART)

The Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) is a computerized measure of risk taking behavior. 
The BART models real-world risk behavior through the conceptual frame of balancing the potential 
for reward versus loss. In the task, the participant is presented with a balloon and offered the 
chance to earn money by pumping the balloon up by clicking a button. Each click causes the balloon 
to incrementally inflate and money to be added to a counter up until some threshold, at which point 
the balloon is over inflated and explodes. Thus, each pump confers greater risk, but also greater 
potential reward. If the participant chooses to cash-out prior to the balloon exploding then they 
collect the money earned for that trail, but if balloon explodes earnings for that trial are lost. 
Participants are not informed about the balloons breakpoints; the absence of this information allows for 
testing both participants' initial responses to the task and changes in responding as they gain experience 
with the task contingencies. Risk taking is a related, but phenomenologically distinct process from impulsivity.




Mixed-gambles task

Subjects were presented with mixed (gain/loss) gambles, and decided whether they would accept each gamble.  
No outcomes of these gambles were presented during scanning, 
but after the scan three gambles were selected at random and played for real money.