Some people seem to live life on the edge. From bungee jumping to walking a tightrope high above a city street, these so-called daredevils put their lives on the line—often with a high degree of recklessness. One of the most legendary daredevils was Evel Knievel. On New Year’s Eve Day, 1967, he jumped his motorcycle 151 feet over the fountains at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Thousands watched live as he missed the landing and took a torturous trip over asphalt and concrete. Everyone across the country was talking about it, speculating that he would probably die, and if he did survive he would never walk again. Knievel spent 29 days in the hospital, close to death at times. When he emerged, he announced that he would not only walk again, but his next great feat would be to jump across the Grand Canyon. Whether it was over cars, fountains or canyons, Knievel continued to jump, not knowing whether he’d live or die, until March of 1981. The millions who watched, either live or on television, had to be wondering: Why does he do it?
Reason can’t explain why risk takers keep coming back for more, but researchers at Vanderbilt University in Nashville and Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City think there may be a biological explanation. It involves the neurotransmitter, dopamine. Commonly associated with the pleasure center of the brain, dopamine provides feelings of enjoyment and reinforcement to motivate a person to perform certain activities such as eating and sex. This same mechanism is also responsible for the craving connected with chemical addiction as well as the “high†we feel when we do something daring. Previous studies in rats have shown that animals that tend to explore and take more risks in a new environment also tend to have fewer dopamine-regulating receptors, which monitor levels of the neurotransmitter and signal the brain cells to stop producing it when there’s enough.
To find out if the same is true in people, David Zald, a professor of psychology and psychiatry at Vanderbilt, studied the brains of 34 men and women. He gave them a questionnaire to access their thrill-seeking tendencies, and then scanned their brains using a technique called positron emission tomography to find out how many dopamine receptors the participants had. The researchers found that, in the risk taker’s brain, there appear to be fewer dopamine-inhibiting receptors—meaning a greater saturation of the chemical. This overabundance of dopamine predisposes them to keep taking risks, whether it’s spending too much money, drinking too much, driving too fast or even taking drugs.
“This is one of those situations where the data came out essentially perfectly,†Zald says. “The results were exactly as we predicted they would be, based on the animal data.†The findings support Zald’s theory that, because their brains are not able to inhibit the neurotransmitter adequately, risk takers get an unusually big hit of dopamine each time they have a novel experience. That dopamine rush makes them feel good, so they continue with the same risky behavior or new behaviors, searching for that next high.
These findings may also help researchers find more effective treatments for addiction. If Zald’s findings are validated by future studies, medicines designed to replace the function of dopamine-inhibiting receptors could help bring dopamine levels down to normal and weaken their addiction. “We think a person who finds novelty and excitement more rewarding does so because he gets more dopamine release, or more of a boost,†says Zald. “But it’s one of the big controversies in the field of addiction research now.†Some experts believe that addicts suffer from a deficit of dopamine and self-medicate with drugs, while others think addicts’ brains make adequate amounts of dopamine but aren’t able to break it down and regulate it properly.
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