Risk takers seek thrills to compensate for less responsive brain

Researchers have found that impulsive characters are less able to react to dopamine, a substance produced naturally in the brain which triggers feelings of wellbeing and reward.

They believe that this means that these individuals must take bigger risks in order to achieve the same feelings of excitement that others get regularly.

novelty seekers have less of a particular type of dopamine receptor, which may lead them to seek out novel and exciting experiences

"We've found that the density of these dopamine autoreceptors is inversely related to an individual's interest in and desire for novel experiences,"

Previous research has shown that individuals differ in both their number of dopamine receptors and the amount of dopamine they produce, and that these differences may play a critical role in addiction.

Dopamine has long been known to play an important role in how we experience rewards from a variety of natural sources