Sleep deprivation alters effort discounting but not delay discounting of monetary rewards.

PubMed

Libedinsky, Camilo; Massar, Stijn A A; Ling, Aiqing; Chee, Weiyan; Huettel, Scott A; Chee, Michael W L

2013-06-01

To determine whether sleep deprivation would affect the discounting of delayed rewards, of rewards entailing the expense of effort, or both. We measured rates of two types of reward discounting under conditions of rested wakefulness (RW) and sleep deprivation (SD). Delay discounting was defined as the willingness to accept smaller monetary rewards sooner rather than larger monetary rewards later. Effort discounting was defined as the willingness to accept smaller rewards that require less effort to obtain (e.g., typing a small number of letter strings backward) over larger but more effortful rewards (e.g., typing more letter strings to receive the reward). The first two experiments used a crossover design in which one session was conducted after a normal night of sleep (RW), and the other after a night without sleep (SD). The first experiment evaluated only temporal discounting whereas the second evaluated temporal and effort discounting. In the second experiment, the discounting tasks were repeatedly administered prior to the state comparisons to minimize the effects of order and/or repeated testing. In a third experiment, participants were studied only once in a between-subject evaluation of discounting across states. The study took place in a research laboratory. Seventy-seven healthy young adult participants: 20 in Experiment 1, 27 in Experiment 2, and 30 in Experiment 3. N/A. Sleep deprivation elicited increased effort discounting but did not affect delay discounting. The dissociable effects of sleep deprivation on two forms of discounting behavior suggest that they may have differing underlying neural mechanisms.

Event-related EEG responses to anticipation and delivery of monetary and social reward.

PubMed

Flores, Amanda; Münte, Thomas F; Doñamayor, Nuria

2015-07-01

Monetary and a social incentive delay tasks were used to characterize reward anticipation and delivery with electroencephalography. During reward anticipation, N1, P2 and P3 components were modulated by both prospective reward value and incentive type (monetary or social), suggesting distinctive allocation of attentional and motivational resources depending not only on whether rewards or non-rewards were cued, but also on the monetary and social nature of the prospective outcomes. In the delivery phase, P2, FRN and P3 components were also modulated by levels of reward value and incentive type, illustrating how distinctive affective and cognitive processes were attached to the different outcomes. Our findings imply that neural processing of both reward anticipation and delivery can be specific to incentive type, which might have implications for basic as well as translational research. These results are discussed in the light of previous electrophysiological and neuroimaging work using similar tasks. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The effects of monetary and social rewards on task performance in children and adolescents: liking is not enough.

PubMed

Demurie, Ellen; Roeyers, Herbert; Baeyens, Dieter; Sonuga-Barke, Edmund

2012-12-01

The current study compared the effects of reward anticipation on task performance in children and adolescents (8-16 years old) using monetary and various social rewards. Eighty-five typically developing children undertook the Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) task. Of these 44 also undertook the Social Incentive Delay (SID-basic) task where social reward was operationalized as a smiling face and spoken compliments. Forty-one children participated in the SID-plus where points were added to a pictogram with written compliments. In a preparatory validation study participants were asked howmuch they liked the SID-basic rewards.Results showed that there was an effect of reward size on accuracy and RT in both the MID task and SID-plus, but not SID-basic. Subjective value of the SID-basic rewards was rated higher with hypothesized increasing reward intensity. In conclusion, although the social rewards in SID-basic were liked by children andadolescents in the validation study, they had no effect on the behaviour. Only when points were added (SID-plus), anticipated social reward affected task performance. Thus our results highlight (i) the difference between likeability andreinforcing quality and (ii) the need for a quantifiable element to rewards for themto be reinforcing for children. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Delay discounting as emotional processing: an electrophysiological study.

PubMed

Blackburn, Marianna; Mason, Liam; Hoeksma, Marco; Zandstra, Elizabeth H; El-Deredy, Wael

2012-01-01

Both theoretical models and functional imaging studies implicate the involvement of emotions within the delay discounting process. However, defining this role has been difficult to establish with neuroimaging techniques given the automaticity of emotional responses. To address this, the current study examined electrophysiological correlates involved in the detection and evaluation of immediate and delayed monetary outcomes. Our results showed that modulation of both early and later ERP components previously associated with affective stimuli processing are sensitive to the signalling of delayed rewards. Together with behavioural reaction times that favoured immediacy, we demonstrated, for the first time, that time delays modify the incentive value of monetary rewards via mechanisms of emotional bias and selective visual attention. Furthermore, our data are consistent with the hypothesis that delayed and thus intangible rewards are perceived less saliently, and rely on emotion as a common currency within decision making. This study provides a new approach to delay discounting and highlights a potential novel route through which delay discounting may be investigated.

The rewarding value of good motor performance in the context of monetary incentives.

PubMed

Lutz, Kai; Pedroni, Andreas; Nadig, Karin; Luechinger, Roger; Jäncke, Lutz

2012-07-01

Whether an agent receives positive task feedback or a monetary reward, neural activity in their striatum increases. In the latter case striatal activity reflects extrinsic reward processing, while in the former, striatal activity reflects the intrinsically rewarding effects of performing well. There can be a "hidden cost of reward", which is a detrimental effect of extrinsic on intrinsic reward value. This raises the question how these two types of reward interact. To address this, we applied a monetary incentive delay task: in all trials participants received feedback depending on their performance. In half of the trials they could additionally receive monetary reward if they performed well. This resulted in high performance trials, which were monetarily rewarded and high performance trials that were not. This made it possible to dissociate the neural correlates of performance feedback from the neural correlates of monetary reward that comes with high performance. Performance feedback alone elicits activation increases in the ventral striatum. This activation increases due to additional monetary reward. Neural response in the dorsal striatum on the other hand is only significantly increased by feedback when a monetary incentive is present. The quality of performance does not significantly influence dorsal striatum activity. In conclusion, our results indicate that the dorsal striatum is primarily sensitive to optional or actually received external rewards, whereas the ventral striatum may be coding intrinsic reward due to positive performance feedback. Thus the ventral striatum is suggested to be involved in the processing of intrinsically motivated behavior. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quantifying familial influences on brain activation during the monetary incentive delay task: an adolescent monozygotic twin study.

PubMed

Silverman, Merav H; Krueger, Robert F; Iacono, William G; Malone, Stephen M; Hunt, Ruskin H; Thomas, Kathleen M

2014-12-01

Although altered brain activation during reward tasks has been found in a number of heritable psychiatric disorders and health outcomes, the familial nature of reward-related brain activation remains unexplored. In this study, we investigated the degree to which the magnitude of mesocorticolimbic reward system signal intensities in anticipation of reward during the monetary incentive delay (MID) task was similar within 46 pairs of adolescent, monozygotic twins. Significant within-pair correlations in brain activation during anticipation of gain were found in one third of the 18 reward-related regions investigated. These regions were the right nucleus accumbens, left and right posterior caudate, right anterior caudate, left insula, and anterior cingulate cortex. This serves as evidence for a shared familial contribution to individual differences in reward related brain activity in certain key reward processing regions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Orbitofrontal reward sensitivity and impulsivity in adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

PubMed

Wilbertz, Gregor; van Elst, Ludger Tebartz; Delgado, Mauricio R; Maier, Simon; Feige, Bernd; Philipsen, Alexandra; Blechert, Jens

2012-03-01

Impulsivity symptoms of adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) such as increased risk taking have been linked with impaired reward processing. Previous studies have focused on reward anticipation or on rewarded executive functioning tasks and have described a striatal hyporesponsiveness and orbitofrontal alterations in adult and adolescent ADHD. Passive reward delivery and its link to behavioral impulsivity are less well understood. To study this crucial aspect of reward processing we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) combined with electrodermal assessment in male and female adult ADHD patients (N=28) and matched healthy control participants (N=28) during delivery of monetary and non-monetary rewards. Further, two behavioral tasks assessed risky decision making (game of dice task) and delay discounting. Results indicated that both groups activated ventral and dorsal striatum and the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) in response to high-incentive (i.e. monetary) rewards. A similar, albeit less strong activation pattern was found for low-incentive (i.e. non-monetary) rewards. Group differences emerged when comparing high and low incentive rewards directly: activation in the mOFC coded for the motivational change in reward delivery in healthy controls, but not ADHD patients. Additionally, this dysfunctional mOFC activity in patients correlated with risky decision making and delay discounting and was paralleled by physiological arousal. Together, these results suggest that the mOFC codes reward value and type in healthy individuals whereas this function is deficient in ADHD. The brain-behavior correlations suggest that this deficit might be related to behavioral impulsivity. Reward value processing difficulties in ADHD should be considered when assessing reward anticipation and emotional learning in research and applied settings. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Independent functional connectivity networks underpin food and monetary reward sensitivity in excess weight.

PubMed

Verdejo-Román, Juan; Fornito, Alex; Soriano-Mas, Carles; Vilar-López, Raquel; Verdejo-García, Antonio

2017-02-01

Overvaluation of palatable food is a primary driver of obesity, and is associated with brain regions of the reward system. However, it remains unclear if this network is specialized in food reward, or generally involved in reward processing. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to characterize functional connectivity during processing of food and monetary rewards. Thirty-nine adults with excess weight and 37 adults with normal weight performed the Willingness to Pay for Food task and the Monetary Incentive Delay task in the fMRI scanner. A data-driven graph approach was applied to compare whole-brain, task-related functional connectivity between groups. Excess weight was associated with decreased functional connectivity during the processing of food rewards in a network involving primarily frontal and striatal areas, and increased functional connectivity during the processing of monetary rewards in a network involving principally frontal and parietal areas. These two networks were topologically and anatomically distinct, and were independently associated with BMI. The processing of food and monetary rewards involve segregated neural networks, and both are altered in individuals with excess weight. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Brain reward system's alterations in response to food and monetary stimuli in overweight and obese individuals.

PubMed

Verdejo-Román, Juan; Vilar-López, Raquel; Navas, Juan F; Soriano-Mas, Carles; Verdejo-García, Antonio

2017-02-01

The brain's reward system is crucial to understand obesity in modern society, as increased neural responsivity to reward can fuel the unhealthy food choices that are driving the growing obesity epidemic. Brain's reward system responsivity to food and monetary rewards in individuals with excessive weight (overweight and obese) versus normal weight controls, along with the relationship between this responsivity and body mass index (BMI) were tested. The sample comprised 21 adults with obesity (BMI > 30), 21 with overweight (BMI between 25 and 30), and 39 with normal weight (BMI < 25). Participants underwent a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) session while performing two tasks that involve the processing of food (Willing to Pay) and monetary rewards (Monetary Incentive Delay). Neural activations within the brain reward system were compared across the three groups. Curve fit analyses were conducted to establish the association between BMI and brain reward system's response. Individuals with obesity had greater food-evoked responsivity in the dorsal and ventral striatum compared with overweight and normal weight groups. There was an inverted U-shape association between BMI and monetary-evoked responsivity in the ventral striatum, medial frontal cortex, and amygdala; that is, individuals with BMIs between 27 and 32 had greater responsivity to monetary stimuli. Obesity is associated with greater food-evoked responsivity in the ventral and dorsal striatum, and overweight is associated with greater monetary-evoked responsivity in the ventral striatum, the amygdala, and the medial frontal cortex. Findings suggest differential reactivity of the brain's reward system to food versus monetary rewards in obesity and overweight. Hum Brain Mapp 38:666-677, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Enhanced Neural Responses to Imagined Primary Rewards Predict Reduced Monetary Temporal Discounting.

PubMed

Hakimi, Shabnam; Hare, Todd A

2015-09-23

The pervasive tendency to discount the value of future rewards varies considerably across individuals and has important implications for health and well-being. Here, we used fMRI with human participants to examine whether an individual's neural representation of an imagined primary reward predicts the degree to which the value of delayed monetary payments is discounted. Because future rewards can never be experienced at the time of choice, imagining or simulating the benefits of a future reward may play a critical role in decisions between alternatives with either immediate or delayed benefits. We found that enhanced ventromedial prefrontal cortex response during imagined primary reward receipt was correlated with reduced discounting in a separate monetary intertemporal choice task. Furthermore, activity in enhanced ventromedial prefrontal cortex during reward imagination predicted temporal discounting behavior both between- and within-individual decision makers with 62% and 73% mean balanced accuracy, respectively. These results suggest that the quality of reward imagination may impact the degree to which future outcomes are discounted. Significance statement: We report a novel test of the hypothesis that an important factor influencing the discount rate for future rewards is the quality with which they are imagined or estimated in the present. Previous work has shown that temporal discounting is linked to individual characteristics ranging from general intelligence to the propensity for addiction. We demonstrate that individual differences in a neurobiological measure of primary reward imagination are significantly correlated with discounting rates for future monetary payments. Moreover, our neurobiological measure of imagination can be used to accurately predict choice behavior both between and within individuals. These results suggest that improving reward imagination may be a useful therapeutic target for individuals whose high discount rates promote detrimental behaviors. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/3513103-07$15.00/0.

An initial study of neural responses to monetary incentives as related to treatment outcome in cocaine dependence.

PubMed

Jia, Zhiru; Worhunsky, Patrick D; Carroll, Kathleen M; Rounsaville, Bruce J; Stevens, Michael C; Pearlson, Godfrey D; Potenza, Marc N

2011-09-15

Although cocaine dependence (CD) involves abnormalities in drug-related, reward-based decision making, it is not well understood whether these abnormalities generalize to nondrug-related cues and rewards and how neural functions underlying reward processing in cocaine abusers relate to treatment outcome. Twenty CD patients before treatment and 20 matched healthy control (HC) subjects participated in functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing a monetary incentive delay task. Outcomes through 8 weeks were assessed via percent cocaine-negative urine toxicology, self-reported cocaine abstinence, and treatment retention. Among the whole sample, anticipation of working for monetary reward (i.e., reward anticipation) was associated with activation in the ventral striatum (VS), medial frontal gyrus, thalamus, right subcallosal gyrus, right insula, and left amygdala. Cocaine dependence compared with HC participants exhibited greater activation during notification of rewarding outcome (i.e., reward receipt) in left and right VS, right caudate, and right insula. In CD participants during reward anticipation, activation in left and right thalamus and right caudate correlated negatively with percent cocaine-negative urine toxicology, activation in thalamus bilaterally correlated negatively with self-reported abstinence measures, and activation in left amygdala and parahippocampal gyrus correlated negatively with treatment retention. During reward notification, activation in right thalamus, right VS, and left culmen correlated negatively with abstinence and with urine toxicology. These findings suggest that in treatment-seeking CD participants, corticolimbic reward circuitry is relatively overactivated during monetary incentive delay task performance and specific regional activations related to reward processing may predict aspects of treatment outcome and represent important targets for treatment development in CD. Copyright © 2011 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Elevated striatal reactivity across monetary and social rewards in bipolar I disorder.

PubMed

Dutra, Sunny J; Cunningham, William A; Kober, Hedy; Gruber, June

2015-11-01

Bipolar disorder (BD) is associated with increased reactivity to rewards and heightened positive affectivity. It is less clear to what extent this heightened reward sensitivity is evident across contexts and what the associated neural mechanisms might be. The present investigation used both a monetary and social incentive delay task among adults with remitted BD Type I (n = 24) and a healthy nonpsychiatric control group (HC; n = 25) using fMRI. Both whole-brain and region-of-interest analyses revealed elevated reactivity to reward receipt in the striatum, a region implicated in incentive sensitivity, in the BD group. Post hoc analyses revealed that greater striatal reactivity to reward receipt, across monetary and social reward tasks, predicted decreased self-reported positive affect when anticipating subsequent rewards in the HC but not in the BD group. Results point toward elevated striatal reactivity to reward receipt as a potential neural mechanism of persistent reward pursuit in BD. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Temporal discounting of monetary rewards in children and adolescents with ADHD and autism spectrum disorders.

PubMed

Demurie, Ellen; Roeyers, Herbert; Baeyens, Dieter; Sonuga-Barke, Edmund

2012-11-01

It has been difficult to differentiate attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in terms of some aspects of their cognitive profile. While both show deficits in executive functions, it has been suggested that they may differ in their response to monetary reward. For instance, children with ADHD prefer small immediate over large delayed rewards more than typically developing controls. One explanation for this is that they discount the value of rewards to a higher degree as they are moved into the future. The current study investigated whether children with ADHD can be differentiated from those with ASD in terms of reward discounting. Thirty-nine children (8-16 y) with ADHD, 34 children with ASD and 46 typically developing controls performed a hypothetical monetary temporal discounting task. Participants were instructed to make repeated choices between small variable rewards (0, 5, 10, 20, 30€) delivered immediately and large rewards delivered after a variable delay. Children with ADHD but not ASD discounted future rewards at a higher rate than typically developing controls. These data confirm steeper discounting of future rewards in ADHD and add to a small but growing literature showing that the psychological profile of ADHD can be distinguished from that of ASD in terms of disrupted motivational processes. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Domain independence and stability in young and older adults' discounting of delayed rewards

PubMed Central

Jimura, Koji; Myerson, Joel; Hilgard, Joseph; Keighley, Julia; Braver, Todd S.; Green, Leonard

2011-01-01

Individual discounting rates for different types of delayed reward are typically assumed to reflect a single, underlying trait of impulsivity. Recently, we showed that discounting rates are orders of magnitude steeper for directly consumable liquid rewards than for monetary rewards (Jimura et al. 2009), raising the question of whether discounting rates for different types of reward covary at the individual level. Accordingly, the present study examined the relation between discounting of hypothetical money and real liquid rewards in young adults (Experiment 1) and older adults (Experiment 2). At the group level, young adults discounted monetary rewards more steeply than the older adults, but the reverse pattern was observed with liquid rewards. At the individual level, the rates at which young and older participants discounted each reward type were stable over a two- to fifteen-week interval (rs >.70), but there was no significant correlation between the rates at which they discounted the two reward types. These results suggest that although similar decision-making processes may underlie the discounting of different types of rewards, the rates at which individuals discount money and directly consumable rewards may reflect separate, stable traits, rather than a single trait of impulsivity. PMID:21550384

Anticipatory reward processing in addicted populations: a focus on the monetary incentive delay task.

PubMed

Balodis, Iris M; Potenza, Marc N

2015-03-01

Advances in brain imaging techniques have allowed neurobiological research to temporally analyze signals coding for the anticipation of reward. In addicted populations, both hyporesponsiveness and hyperresponsiveness of brain regions (e.g., ventral striatum) implicated in drug effects and reward system processing have been reported during anticipation of generalized reward. We discuss the current state of knowledge of reward processing in addictive disorders from a widely used and validated task: the monetary incentive delay task. Only studies applying the monetary incentive delay task in addicted and at-risk adult populations are reviewed, with a focus on anticipatory processing and striatal regions activated during task performance as well as the relationship of these regions with individual difference (e.g., impulsivity) and treatment outcome variables. We further review drug influences in challenge studies as a means to examine acute influences on reward processing in abstinent, recreationally using, and addicted populations. Generalized reward processing in addicted and at-risk populations is often characterized by divergent anticipatory signaling in the ventral striatum. Although methodologic and task variations may underlie some discrepant findings, anticipatory signaling in the ventral striatum may also be influenced by smoking status, drug metabolites, and treatment status in addicted populations. Divergent results across abstinent, recreationally using, and addicted populations demonstrate complexities in interpreting findings. Future studies would benefit from focusing on characterizing how impulsivity and other addiction-related features relate to anticipatory striatal signaling over time. Additionally, identifying how anticipatory signals recover or adjust after protracted abstinence will be important in understanding recovery processes. Copyright © 2015 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Domain independence and stability in young and older adults' discounting of delayed rewards.

PubMed

Jimura, Koji; Myerson, Joel; Hilgard, Joseph; Keighley, Julia; Braver, Todd S; Green, Leonard

2011-07-01

Individual discounting rates for different types of delayed reward are typically assumed to reflect a single, underlying trait of impulsivity. Recently, we showed that discounting rates are orders of magnitude steeper for directly consumable liquid rewards than for monetary rewards (Jimura et al., 2009), raising the question of whether discounting rates for different types of reward covary at the individual level. Accordingly, the present study examined the relation between discounting of hypothetical money and real liquid rewards in young adults (Experiment 1) and older adults (Experiment 2). At the group level, young adults discounted monetary rewards more steeply than the older adults, but there was no significant age difference with respect to liquid rewards. At the individual level, the rates at which young and older participants discounted each reward type were stable over a two- to fifteen-week interval (rs>70), but there was no significant correlation between the rates at which they discounted the two reward types. These results suggest that although similar decision-making processes may underlie the discounting of different types of rewards, the rates at which individuals discount money and directly consumable rewards may reflect separate, stable traits, rather than a single trait of impulsivity. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Real and hypothetical rewards

PubMed Central

Locey, Matthew L.; Jones, Bryan A.; Rachlin, Howard

2012-01-01

Laboratory studies of choice and decision making among real monetary rewards typically use smaller real rewards than those common in real life. When laboratory rewards are large, they are almost always hypothetical. In applying laboratory results meaningfully to real-life situations, it is important to know the extent to which choices among hypothetical rewards correspond to choices among real rewards and whether variation of the magnitude of hypothetical rewards affects behavior in meaningful ways. The present study compared real and hypothetical monetary rewards in two experiments. In Experiment 1, participants played a temporal discounting game that incorporates the logic of a repeated prisoner’s-dilemma (PD) type game versus tit-for-tat; choice of one alternative (“defection” in PD terminology) resulted in a small-immediate reward; choice of the other alternative (“cooperation” in PD terminology) resulted in a larger reward delayed until the following trial. The larger-delayed reward was greater for half of the groups than for the other half. Rewards also differed in type across groups: multiples of real nickels, hypothetical nickels or hypothetical hundred-dollar bills. All groups significantly increased choice of the larger delayed reward over the 40 trials of the experiment. Over the last 10 trials, cooperation was significantly higher when the difference between larger and smaller hypothetical rewards was greater. Reward type (real or hypothetical) made no significant difference in cooperation. In Experiment 2, real and hypothetical rewards were compared in social discounting – the decrease in value to the giver of a reward as social distance increases to the receiver of the reward. Social discount rates were well described by a hyperbolic function. Discounting rates for real and hypothetical rewards did not significantly differ. These results add to the evidence that results of experiments with hypothetical rewards validly apply in everyday life. PMID:22582110

Altered neural processing of reward and punishment in adolescents with Major Depressive Disorder.

PubMed

Landes, I; Bakos, S; Kohls, G; Bartling, J; Schulte-Körne, G; Greimel, E

2018-05-01

Altered reward and punishment function has been suggested as an important vulnerability factor for the development of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Prior ERP studies found evidence for neurophysiological dysfunctions in reinforcement processes in adults with MDD. To date, only few ERP studies have examined the neural underpinnings of reinforcement processing in adolescents diagnosed with MDD. The present event-related potential (ERP) study aimed to investigate neurophysiological mechanisms of anticipation and consumption of reward and punishment in adolescents with MDD in one comprehensive paradigm. During ERP recording, 25 adolescents with MDD and 29 healthy controls (12-17 years) completed a Monetary Incentive Delay Task comprising both a monetary reward and a monetary punishment condition. During anticipation, the cue-P3 signaling attentional allocation was recorded. During consumption, the feedback-P3 and Reward Positivity (RewP) were recorded to capture attentional allocation and outcome evaluation, respectively. Compared to controls, adolescents with MDD showed prolonged cue-P3 latencies to reward cues. Furthermore, unlike controls, adolescents with MDD displayed shorter feedback-P3 latencies in the reward versus punishment condition. RewPs did not differ between groups. It remains unanswered whether the observed alterations in adolescent MDD represent a state or trait. Delayed neural processing of reward cues corresponds to the clinical presentation of adolescent MDD with reduced motivational tendencies to obtain rewards. Relatively shorter feedback-P3 latencies in the reward versus punishment condition could indicate a high salience of performance-contingent reward. Frequent exposure of negatively biased adolescents with MDD to performance-contingent rewards might constitute a promising intervention approach. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Differential patterns of nucleus accumbens activation during anticipation of monetary and social reward in young and older adults

PubMed Central

Salama, Aallaa; Gründer, Gerhard; Spreckelmeyer, Katja N.

2014-01-01

Recent studies have reported inconsistent results regarding the loss of reward sensitivity in the aging brain. Although such an age effect might be due to a decline of physiological processes, it may also be a consequence of age-related changes in motivational preference for different rewards. Here, we examined whether the age effects on neural correlates of reward anticipation are modulated by the type of expected reward. Functional magnetic resonance images were acquired in 24 older (60–78 years) and 24 young participants (20–28 years) while they performed an incentive delay task offering monetary or social rewards. Anticipation of either reward type recruited brain structures associated with reward, including the nucleus accumbens (NAcc). Region of interest analysis revealed an interaction effect of reward type and age group in the right NAcc: enhanced activation to cues of social reward was detected in the older subsample while enhanced activation to cues of monetary reward was detected in the younger subsample. Our results suggest that neural sensitivity to reward-predicting cues does not generally decrease with age. Rather, neural responses in the NAcc appear to be modulated by the type of reward, presumably reflecting age-related changes in motivational value attributed to different types of reward. PMID:23547243

Syntax for calculation of discounting indices from the monetary choice questionnaire and probability discounting questionnaire.

PubMed

Gray, Joshua C; Amlung, Michael T; Palmer, Abraham A; MacKillop, James

2016-09-01

The 27-item Monetary Choice Questionnaire (MCQ; Kirby, Petry, & Bickel, 1999) and 30-item Probability Discounting Questionnaire (PDQ; Madden, Petry, & Johnson, 2009) are widely used, validated measures of preferences for immediate versus delayed rewards and guaranteed versus risky rewards, respectively. The MCQ measures delayed discounting by asking individuals to choose between rewards available immediately and larger rewards available after a delay. The PDQ measures probability discounting by asking individuals to choose between guaranteed rewards and a chance at winning larger rewards. Numerous studies have implicated these measures in addiction and other health behaviors. Unlike typical self-report measures, the MCQ and PDQ generate inferred hyperbolic temporal and probability discounting functions by comparing choice preferences to arrays of functions to which the individual items are preconfigured. This article provides R and SPSS syntax for processing the MCQ and PDQ. Specifically, for the MCQ, the syntax generates k values, consistency of the inferred k, and immediate choice ratios; for the PDQ, the syntax generates h indices, consistency of the inferred h, and risky choice ratios. The syntax is intended to increase the accessibility of these measures, expedite the data processing, and reduce risk for error. © 2016 Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Reward circuitry in resilience to severe trauma: An fMRI investigation of resilient special forces soldiers

PubMed Central

Vythilingam, Meena; Nelson, Eric E.; Scaramozza, Matthew; Waldeck, Tracy; Hazlett, Gary; Southwick, Steven M.; Pine, Daniel S.; Drevets, Wayne; Charney, Dennis S.; Ernst, Monique

2008-01-01

Enhanced brain reward function could contribute to resilience to trauma. Reward circuitry in active duty, resilient special forces (SF) soldiers was evaluated using fMRI during a monetary incentive delay task. Findings in this group of resilient individuals revealed unique patterns of activation during expectation of reward in the subgenual prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens area; regions pivotal to reward processes. PMID:19243926

Risk-Taking and the Feedback Negativity Response to Loss among At-Risk Adolescents

PubMed Central

Crowley, Michael J.; Wu, Jia; Crutcher, Clifford; Bailey, Christopher A.; Lejuez, C.W.; Mayes, Linda C.

2009-01-01

Event-related brain potentials were examined in 32 adolescents (50% female) from a high-risk sample, who were exposed to cocaine and other drugs prenatally. Adolescents were selected for extreme high- or low-risk behavior on the Balloon Analog Risk Task, a measure of real-world risk-taking propensity. The feedback error-related negativity (fERN), an event-related potential (ERP) that occurs when an expected reward does not occur, was examined in a game in which choices lead to monetary gains and losses with feedback delayed 1 or 2 s. The fERN was clearly visible in the fronto-central scalp region in this adolescent sample. Feedback type, feedback delay, risk status, and sex were all associated with fERN variability. Monetary feedback also elicited a P300-like component, moderated by delay and sex. Delaying reward feedback may provide a means for studying complementary functioning of dopamine and norepinephrine systems. PMID:19372694

Discounting of Delayed Food Rewards in Pigeons and Rats: Is There a Magnitude Effect

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Green, Leonard; Myerson, Joel; Holt, Daniel D.; Slavin, John R.; Estle, Sara J.

2004-01-01

Temporal discounting refers to the decrease in the present, subjective value of a reward as the time to its receipt increases. Results from humans have shown that a hyperbola-like function describes the form of the discounting function when choices involve hypothetical monetary rewards. In addition, magnitude effects have been reported in which…

Changes in reward-induced brain activation in opiate addicts.

PubMed

Martin-Soelch, C; Chevalley, A F; Künig, G; Missimer, J; Magyar, S; Mino, A; Schultz, W; Leenders, K L

2001-10-01

Many studies indicate a role of the cerebral dopaminergic reward system in addiction. Motivated by these findings, we examined in opiate addicts whether brain regions involved in the reward circuitry also react to human prototypical rewards. We measured regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) with H(2)(15)O positron emission tomography (PET) during a visuo-spatial recognition task with delayed response in control subjects and in opiate addicts participating in a methadone program. Three conditions were defined by the types of feedback: nonsense feedback; nonmonetary reinforcement; or monetary reward, received by the subjects for a correct response. We found in the control subjects rCBF increases in regions associated with the meso-striatal and meso-corticolimbic circuits in response to both monetary reward and nonmonetary reinforcement. In opiate addicts, these regions were activated only in response to monetary reward. Furthermore, nonmonetary reinforcement elicited rCBF increases in limbic regions of the opiate addicts that were not activated in the control subjects. Because psychoactive drugs serve as rewards and directly affect regions of the dopaminergic system like the striatum, we conclude that the differences in rCBF increases between controls and addicts can be attributed to an adaptive consequence of the addiction process.

Endogenous cortisol levels are associated with an imbalanced striatal sensitivity to monetary versus non-monetary cues in pathological gamblers

PubMed Central

Li, Yansong; Sescousse, Guillaume; Dreher, Jean-Claude

2014-01-01

Pathological gambling is a behavioral addiction characterized by a chronic failure to resist the urge to gamble. It shares many similarities with drug addiction. Glucocorticoid hormones including cortisol are thought to play a key role in the vulnerability to addictive behaviors, by acting on the mesolimbic reward pathway. Based on our previous report of an imbalanced sensitivity to monetary versus non-monetary incentives in the ventral striatum of pathological gamblers (PGs), we investigated whether this imbalance was mediated by individual differences in endogenous cortisol levels. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and examined the relationship between cortisol levels and the neural responses to monetary versus non-monetary cues, while PGs and healthy controls were engaged in an incentive delay task manipulating both monetary and erotic rewards. We found a positive correlation between cortisol levels and ventral striatal responses to monetary versus erotic cues in PGs, but not in healthy controls. This indicates that the ventral striatum is a key region where cortisol modulates incentive motivation for gambling versus non-gambling related stimuli in PGs. Our results extend the proposed role of glucocorticoid hormones in drug addiction to behavioral addiction, and help understand the impact of cortisol on reward incentive processing in PGs. PMID:24723862

Social and monetary reward processing in autism spectrum disorders

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Social motivation theory suggests that deficits in social reward processing underlie social impairments in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, the extent to which abnormalities in reward processing generalize to other classes of stimuli remains unresolved. The aim of the current study was to examine if reward processing abnormalities in ASD are specific to social stimuli or can be generalized to other classes of reward. Additionally, we sought to examine the results in the light of behavioral impairments in ASD. Methods Participants performed adapted versions of the social and monetary incentive delay tasks. Data from 21 unmedicated right-handed male participants with ASD and 21 age- and IQ-matched controls were analyzed using a factorial design to examine the blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) response during the anticipation and receipt of both reward types. Results Behaviorally, the ASD group showed less of a reduction in reaction time (RT) for rewarded compared to unrewarded trials than the control group. In terms of the fMRI results, there were no significant group differences in reward circuitry during reward anticipation. During the receipt of rewards, there was a significant interaction between group and reward type in the left dorsal striatum (DS). The ASD group showed reduced activity in the DS compared to controls for social rewards but not monetary rewards and decreased activation for social rewards compared to monetary rewards. Controls showed no significant difference between the two reward types. Increased activation in the DS during social reward processing was associated with faster response times for rewarded trials, compared to unrewarded trials, in both groups. This is in line with behavioral results indicating that the ASD group showed less of a reduction in RT for rewarded compared to unrewarded trials. Additionally, de-activation to social rewards was associated with increased repetitive behavior in ASD. Conclusions In line with social motivation theory, the ASD group showed reduced activation, compared to controls, during the receipt of social rewards in the DS. Groups did not differ significantly during the processing of monetary rewards. BOLD activation in the DS, during social reward processing, was associated with behavioral impairments in ASD. PMID:23014171

Social and monetary reward processing in autism spectrum disorders.

PubMed

Delmonte, Sonja; Balsters, Joshua H; McGrath, Jane; Fitzgerald, Jacqueline; Brennan, Sean; Fagan, Andrew J; Gallagher, Louise

2012-09-26

Social motivation theory suggests that deficits in social reward processing underlie social impairments in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, the extent to which abnormalities in reward processing generalize to other classes of stimuli remains unresolved. The aim of the current study was to examine if reward processing abnormalities in ASD are specific to social stimuli or can be generalized to other classes of reward. Additionally, we sought to examine the results in the light of behavioral impairments in ASD. Participants performed adapted versions of the social and monetary incentive delay tasks. Data from 21 unmedicated right-handed male participants with ASD and 21 age- and IQ-matched controls were analyzed using a factorial design to examine the blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) response during the anticipation and receipt of both reward types. Behaviorally, the ASD group showed less of a reduction in reaction time (RT) for rewarded compared to unrewarded trials than the control group. In terms of the fMRI results, there were no significant group differences in reward circuitry during reward anticipation. During the receipt of rewards, there was a significant interaction between group and reward type in the left dorsal striatum (DS). The ASD group showed reduced activity in the DS compared to controls for social rewards but not monetary rewards and decreased activation for social rewards compared to monetary rewards. Controls showed no significant difference between the two reward types. Increased activation in the DS during social reward processing was associated with faster response times for rewarded trials, compared to unrewarded trials, in both groups. This is in line with behavioral results indicating that the ASD group showed less of a reduction in RT for rewarded compared to unrewarded trials. Additionally, de-activation to social rewards was associated with increased repetitive behavior in ASD. In line with social motivation theory, the ASD group showed reduced activation, compared to controls, during the receipt of social rewards in the DS. Groups did not differ significantly during the processing of monetary rewards. BOLD activation in the DS, during social reward processing, was associated with behavioral impairments in ASD.

Differential patterns of nucleus accumbens activation during anticipation of monetary and social reward in young and older adults.

PubMed

Rademacher, Lena; Salama, Aallaa; Gründer, Gerhard; Spreckelmeyer, Katja N

2014-06-01

Recent studies have reported inconsistent results regarding the loss of reward sensitivity in the aging brain. Although such an age effect might be due to a decline of physiological processes, it may also be a consequence of age-related changes in motivational preference for different rewards. Here, we examined whether the age effects on neural correlates of reward anticipation are modulated by the type of expected reward. Functional magnetic resonance images were acquired in 24 older (60-78 years) and 24 young participants (20-28 years) while they performed an incentive delay task offering monetary or social rewards. Anticipation of either reward type recruited brain structures associated with reward, including the nucleus accumbens (NAcc). Region of interest analysis revealed an interaction effect of reward type and age group in the right NAcc: enhanced activation to cues of social reward was detected in the older subsample while enhanced activation to cues of monetary reward was detected in the younger subsample. Our results suggest that neural sensitivity to reward-predicting cues does not generally decrease with age. Rather, neural responses in the NAcc appear to be modulated by the type of reward, presumably reflecting age-related changes in motivational value attributed to different types of reward. © The Author (2013). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Gender-specific modulation of neural mechanisms underlying social reward processing by Autism Quotient

PubMed Central

Barman, Adriana; Richter, Sylvia; Soch, Joram; Deibele, Anna; Richter, Anni; Assmann, Anne; Wüstenberg, Torsten; Walter, Henrik; Seidenbecher, Constanze I.

2015-01-01

Autism spectrum disorder refers to a neurodevelopmental condition primarily characterized by deficits in social cognition and behavior. Subclinically, autistic features are supposed to be present in healthy humans and can be quantified using the Autism Quotient (AQ). Here, we investigated a potential relationship between AQ and neural correlates of social and monetary reward processing, using functional magnetic resonance imaging in young, healthy participants. In an incentive delay task with either monetary or social reward, reward anticipation elicited increased ventral striatal activation, which was more pronounced during monetary reward anticipation. Anticipation of social reward elicited activation in the default mode network (DMN), a network previously implicated in social processing. Social reward feedback was associated with bilateral amygdala and fusiform face area activation. The relationship between AQ and neural correlates of social reward processing varied in a gender-dependent manner. In women and, to a lesser extent in men, higher AQ was associated with increased posterior DMN activation during social reward anticipation. During feedback, we observed a negative correlation of AQ and right amygdala activation in men only. Our results suggest that social reward processing might constitute an endophenotype for autism-related traits in healthy humans that manifests in a gender-specific way. PMID:25944965

Heroin addicts have higher discount rates for delayed rewards than non-drug-using controls.

PubMed

Kirby, K N; Petry, N M; Bickel, W K

1999-03-01

Fifty-six heroin addicts and 60 age-matched controls were offered choices between monetary rewards ($11-$80) available immediately and larger rewards ($25-$85) available after delays ranging from 1 week to 6 months. Participants had a 1-in-6 chance of winning a reward that they chose on one randomly selected trial. Delay-discounting rates were estimated from the pattern of participants' choices. The discounting model of impulsiveness (Ainslie, 1975) implies that delay-discounting rates are positively correlated with impulsiveness. On average, heroin addicts' discount rates were twice those of controls (p = .004), and discount rates were positively correlated with impulsivity as measured by self-report questionnaires (p < .05). The results lend external validity to the delay-discounting rate as a measure of impulsiveness, a characteristic associated with substance abuse.

Neural dissociation of food- and money-related reward processing using an abstract incentive delay task.

PubMed

Simon, Joe J; Skunde, Mandy; Wu, Mudan; Schnell, Knut; Herpertz, Sabine C; Bendszus, Martin; Herzog, Wolfgang; Friederich, Hans-Christoph

2015-08-01

Food is an innate reward stimulus related to energy homeostasis and survival, whereas money is considered a more general reward stimulus that gains a rewarding value through learning experiences. Although the underlying neural processing for both modalities of reward has been investigated independently from one another, a more detailed investigation of neural similarities and/or differences between food and monetary reward is still missing. Here, we investigated the neural processing of food compared with monetary-related rewards in 27 healthy, normal-weight women using functional magnetic resonance imaging. We developed a task distinguishing between the anticipation and the receipt of either abstract food or monetary reward. Both tasks activated the ventral striatum during the expectation of a reward. Compared with money, greater food-related activations were observed in prefrontal, parietal and central midline structures during the anticipation and lateral orbitofrontal cortex (lOFC) during the receipt of food reward. Furthermore, during the receipt of food reward, brain activation in the secondary taste cortex was positively related to the body mass index. These results indicate that food-dependent activations encompass to a greater extent brain regions involved in self-control and self-reflection during the anticipation and phylogenetically older parts of the lOFC during the receipt of reward. © The Author (2014). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The anticipation and outcome phases of reward and loss processing: A neuroimaging meta-analysis of the monetary incentive delay task.

PubMed

Oldham, Stuart; Murawski, Carsten; Fornito, Alex; Youssef, George; Yücel, Murat; Lorenzetti, Valentina

2018-04-25

The processing of rewards and losses are crucial to everyday functioning. Considerable interest has been attached to investigating the anticipation and outcome phases of reward and loss processing, but results to date have been inconsistent. It is unclear if anticipation and outcome of a reward or loss recruit similar or distinct brain regions. In particular, while the striatum has widely been found to be active when anticipating a reward, whether it activates in response to the anticipation of losses as well remains ambiguous. Furthermore, concerning the orbitofrontal/ventromedial prefrontal regions, activation is often observed during reward receipt. However, it is unclear if this area is active during reward anticipation as well. We ran an Activation Likelihood Estimation meta-analysis of 50 fMRI studies, which used the Monetary Incentive Delay Task (MIDT), to identify which brain regions are implicated in the anticipation of rewards, anticipation of losses, and the receipt of reward. Anticipating rewards and losses recruits overlapping areas including the striatum, insula, amygdala and thalamus, suggesting that a generalised neural system initiates motivational processes independent of valence. The orbitofrontal/ventromedial prefrontal regions were recruited only during the reward outcome, likely representing the value of the reward received. Our findings help to clarify the neural substrates of the different phases of reward and loss processing, and advance neurobiological models of these processes. © 2018 The Authors Human Brain Mapping Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Parabolic discounting of monetary rewards by physical effort.

PubMed

Hartmann, Matthias N; Hager, Oliver M; Tobler, Philippe N; Kaiser, Stefan

2013-11-01

When humans and other animals make decisions in their natural environments prospective rewards have to be weighed against costs. It is well established that increasing costs lead to devaluation or discounting of reward. While our knowledge about discount functions for time and probability costs is quite advanced, little is known about how physical effort discounts reward. In the present study we compared three different models in a binary choice task in which human participants had to squeeze a handgrip to earn monetary rewards: a linear, a hyperbolic, and a parabolic model. On the group as well as the individual level, the concave parabolic model explained most variance of the choice data, thus contrasting with the typical hyperbolic discounting of reward value by delay. Research on effort discounting is not only important to basic science but also holds the potential to quantify aberrant motivational states in neuropsychiatric disorders. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Distinct processing of social and monetary rewards in late adolescents with trait anhedonia.

PubMed

Chan, Raymond C K; Li, Zhi; Li, Ke; Zeng, Ya-Wei; Xie, Wei-Zhen; Yan, Chao; Cheung, Eric F C; Jin, Zhen

2016-03-01

Anticipatory and consummatory dissociation of hedonic experience may manifest as trait anhedonia in healthy and clinical populations. It is still unclear whether the underlying neural mechanisms of the monetary-based and affect-based incentive delay paradigms are distinct from each other. The present study aimed to examine the similarities and differences between the Affect Incentive Delay (AID) and the Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) imaging paradigms in relation to brain activations. We administered the AID and the MID imaging tasks to 28 adolescent participants. A cue signaling the type of forthcoming feedback (reward or punishment) was displayed to the participants, followed by a target-hit task with corresponding reward or punishment. The striatal and limbic regions were activated during the anticipatory phase of MID, while there was no brain activation during the anticipatory phase of AID. In the consummatory phase, the MID task activated the medial frontal cortex, while the AID task activated the frontal and dorsal limbic regions. We further found that the anhedonic group exhibited significant hypoactivation than the nonanhedonic group at the left pulvinar, the left claustrum and the left insula to positive cues in the anticipatory phase of the AID task. The results suggest that the AID and the MID tasks have unique activation patterns. Our findings also suggest that the AID task may be more sensitive in detecting anhedonia in people with trait anhedonia. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Differences in delay discounting between smokers and nonsmokers remain when both rewards are delayed

PubMed Central

Mitchell, Suzanne H.; Wilson, Vanessa B.

2013-01-01

Rationale When offered a choice between a small monetary reward available immediately (SmallNow) versus a larger reward available after a delay (LargeLater), smokers select the SmallNow alternative more than nonsmokers. That is, smokers discount the value of the LargeLater reward more than nonsmokers. Objectives To investigate whether this group difference was due to smokers overweighing the value of rewards available immediately compared with nonsmokers, we examined whether the group difference was also seen when both alternatives were delayed, i.e., when choosing between a SmallSoon reward and a LargeLater reward. Methods In Experiment 1, smokers and nonsmokers completed a task including SmallNow versus LargeLater choices and SmallSoon versus LargeLater choices. In Experiment 2, smokers and nonsmokers completed the same task but with hypothetical choices. Results Analyses using hyperbolic and double exponential (β-δ) models replicate prior findings that smokers discount the LargeLater reward more than nonsmokers when the smaller reward is available immediately. The smoker-nonsmoker difference was also seen when the smaller reward was slightly delayed, though this effect was primarily driven by heightened discounting in male smokers. However, for potentially real rewards only, this smoker-nonsmoker difference was significantly reduced when the smaller reward was delayed. Conclusions The smoker-nonsmoker difference in discounting is not confined to situations involving immediate rewards. Differences associated with potentially real vs. hypothetical rewards and gender underscore the complexity of the smoking-delay discounting relationship. PMID:21983917

Concave utility, transaction costs, and risk in measuring discounting of delayed rewards.

PubMed

Kirby, Kris N; Santiesteban, Mariana

2003-01-01

Research has consistently found that the decline in the present values of delayed rewards as delay increases is better fit by hyperbolic than by exponential delay-discounting functions. However, concave utility, transaction costs, and risk each could produce hyperbolic-looking data, even when the underlying discounting function is exponential. In Experiments 1 (N = 45) and 2 (N = 103), participants placed bids indicating their present values of real future monetary rewards in computer-based 2nd-price auctions. Both experiments suggest that utility is not sufficiently concave to account for the superior fit of hyperbolic functions. Experiment 2 provided no evidence that the effects of transaction costs and risk are large enough to account for the superior fit of hyperbolic functions.

Increased neural responses to reward in adolescents and young adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and their unaffected siblings.

PubMed

von Rhein, Daniel; Cools, Roshan; Zwiers, Marcel P; van der Schaaf, Marieke; Franke, Barbara; Luman, Marjolein; Oosterlaan, Jaap; Heslenfeld, Dirk J; Hoekstra, Pieter J; Hartman, Catharina A; Faraone, Stephen V; van Rooij, Daan; van Dongen, Eelco V; Lojowska, Maria; Mennes, Maarten; Buitelaar, Jan

2015-05-01

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a heritable neuropsychiatric disorder associated with abnormal reward processing. Limited and inconsistent data exist about the neural mechanisms underlying this abnormality. Furthermore, it is not known whether reward processing is abnormal in unaffected siblings of participants with ADHD. We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate brain responses during reward anticipation and receipt with an adapted monetary incentive delay task in a large sample of adolescents and young adults with ADHD (n = 150), their unaffected siblings (n = 92), and control participants (n = 108), all of the same age. Participants with ADHD showed, relative to control participants, increased responses in the anterior cingulate, anterior frontal cortex, and cerebellum during reward anticipation, and in the orbitofrontal, occipital cortex and ventral striatum. Responses of unaffected siblings were increased in these regions as well, except for the cerebellum during anticipation and ventral striatum during receipt. ADHD in adolescents and young adults is associated with enhanced neural responses in frontostriatal circuitry to anticipation and receipt of reward. The findings support models emphasizing aberrant reward processing in ADHD, and suggest that processing of reward is subject to familial influences. Future studies using standard monetary incentive delay task parameters are needed to replicate our findings. Copyright © 2015 American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Abnormal Reward System Activation in Mania

PubMed Central

Abler, Birgit; Greenhouse, Ian; Ongur, Dost; Walter, Henrik; Heckers, Stephan

2008-01-01

Transmission of reward signals is a function of dopamine, a neurotransmitter known to be involved in the mechanism of psychosis. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we investigated how expectation and receipt of monetary rewards modulate brain activation in patients with bipolar mania and schizophrenia. We studied 12 acutely manic patients with a history of bipolar disorder, 12 patients with a current episode of schizoaffective disorder or schizophrenia and 12 healthy subjects. All patients were treated with dopamine antagonists at the time of the study. Subjects performed a delayed incentive paradigm with monetary reward in the scanner that allowed for investigating effects of expectation, receipt, and omission of rewards. Patients with schizophrenia and healthy control subjects showed the expected activation of dopaminergic brain areas, that is, ventral tegmentum activation upon expectation of monetary rewards and nucleus accumbens activation during receipt vs omission of rewards. In manic patients, however, we did not find a similar pattern of brain activation and the differential signal in the nucleus accumbens upon receipt vs omission of rewards was significantly lower compared to the healthy control subjects. Our findings provide evidence for abnormal function of the dopamine system during receipt or omission of expected rewards in bipolar disorder. These deficits in prediction error processing in acute mania may help to explain symptoms of disinhibition and abnormal goal pursuit regulation. PMID:17987058

Willing to Wait: Elevated Reward-Processing EEG Activity Associated with a Greater Preference for Larger-But-Delayed Rewards

PubMed Central

Pornpattananangkul, Narun; Nusslock, Robin

2016-01-01

While almost everyone discounts the value of future rewards over immediate rewards, people differ in their so-called delay-discounting. One of the several factors that may explain individual differences in delay-discounting is reward-processing. To study individual-differences in reward-processing, however, one needs to consider the heterogeneity of neural-activity at each reward-processing stage. Here using EEG, we separated reward-related neural activity into distinct reward-anticipation and reward-outcome stages using time-frequency characteristics. Thirty-seven individuals completed a behavioral delay-discounting task. Reward-processing EEG activity was assessed using a separate reward-learning task, called a reward time-estimation task. During this task, participants were instructed to estimate time duration and were provided performance feedback on a trial-by-trial basis. Participants received monetary-reward for accurate-performance on Reward trials, but not on No-Reward trials. Reward trials, relative to No-Reward trials, enhanced EEG activity during both reward-anticipation stage (including, cued-locked delta power during cue-evaluation and pre-feedback alpha suppression during feedback-anticipation) and at the reward-outcome stage (including, feedback-locked delta, theta and beta power). Moreover, all of these EEG indices correlated with behavioral performance in the time-estimation task, suggesting their essential roles in learning and adjusting performance to maximize winnings in a reward-learning situation. Importantly, enhanced EEG power during Reward trials for 1) pre-feedback alpha suppression, 2) feedback-locked theta and 3) feedback-locked beta was associated with a greater preference for larger-but-delayed rewards. Results highlight the association between a stronger preference toward larger-but-delayed rewards and enhanced reward-processing. Moreover, our reward-processing EEG indices detail the specific stages of reward-processing where these associations occur. PMID:27477630

Deficient neural activity subserving decision-making during reward waiting time in intertemporal choice in adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

PubMed

Todokoro, Ayako; Tanaka, Saori C; Kawakubo, Yuki; Yahata, Noriaki; Ishii-Takahashi, Ayaka; Nishimura, Yukika; Kano, Yukiko; Ohtake, Fumio; Kasai, Kiyoto

2018-04-24

Impulsivity, which significantly affects social adaptation, is an important target behavioral characteristic in interventions for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Typically, people are willing to wait longer to acquire greater rewards. Impulsivity in ADHD may be associated with brain dysfunction in decision-making involving waiting behavior under such situations. We tested the hypothesis that brain circuitry during a period of waiting (i.e., prior to the acquisition of reward) is altered in adults with ADHD. The participants included 14 medication-free adults with ADHD and 16 healthy controls matched for age, sex, IQ, and handedness. The behavioral task had participants choose between a delayed, larger monetary reward and an immediate, smaller monetary reward, where the reward waiting time actually occurred during functional magnetic resonance imaging measurement. We tested for group differences in the contrast values of blood-oxygen-level dependent signals associated with the length of waiting time, calculated using the parametric modulation method. While the two groups did not differ in the time discounting rate, the delay-sensitive contrast values were significantly lower in the caudate and visual cortex in individuals with ADHD. The higher impulsivity scores were significantly associated with lower delay-sensitive contrast values in the caudate and visual cortex. These results suggest that deficient neural activity affects decision-making involving reward waiting time during intertemporal choice tasks, and provide an explanation for the basis of impulsivity in adult ADHD. © 2018 The Author. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences © 2018 Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Drinking status but not acute alcohol consumption influences delay discounting.

PubMed

Adams, Sally; Attwood, Angela S; Munafò, Marcus R

2017-09-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the following: (a) the effects of acute alcohol on delay discounting; (b) the effects of drinking status on delayed discounting; and (c) whether these effects differ according to reward type (alcohol vs. money). Heavy and light social alcohol users (n = 96) were randomized to receive either an acute dose of alcohol at 0.4 or 0.6 g/kg or placebo in a between-subjects, double-blind design. Delay discounting of alcohol and monetary rewards was measured using a hyperbolic model, with higher scores indicative of greater delay discounting. ANOVA of discount scores indicated a main effect of reward type, where all participants had higher discount scores for alcohol versus money rewards. A main effect of drinking status was also observed, where heavier drinkers had higher discount scores compared with lighter drinkers. We did not observe a main effect of acute alcohol use on delay discounting or the hypothesized interactions between acute alcohol use and drinking status with reward type. Our data suggest that heavier drinkers discount the value of delayed rewards more steeply than lighter drinkers. Delay discounting may therefore be a promising marker of heavy alcohol consumption in social drinkers. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Temporal framing and the hidden-zero effect: rate-dependent outcomes on delay discounting.

PubMed

Naudé, Gideon P; Kaplan, Brent A; Reed, Derek D; Henley, Amy J; DiGennaro Reed, Florence D

2018-05-01

Recent research suggests that presenting time intervals as units (e.g., days) or as specific dates, can modulate the degree to which humans discount delayed outcomes. Another framing effect involves explicitly stating that choosing a smaller-sooner reward is mutually exclusive to receiving a larger-later reward, thus presenting choices as an extended sequence. In Experiment 1, participants (N = 201) recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk completed the Monetary Choice Questionnaire in a 2 (delay framing) by 2 (zero framing) design. Regression suggested a main effect of delay, but not zero, framing after accounting for other demographic variables and manipulations. We observed a rate-dependent effect for the date-framing group, such that those with initially steep discounting exhibited greater sensitivity to the manipulation than those with initially shallow discounting. Subsequent analyses suggest these effects cannot be explained by regression to the mean. Experiment 2 addressed the possibility that the null effect of zero framing was due to within-subject exposure to the hidden- and explicit-zero conditions. A new Amazon Mechanical Turk sample completed the Monetary Choice Questionnaire in either hidden- or explicit-zero formats. Analyses revealed a main effect of reward magnitude, but not zero framing, suggesting potential limitations to the generality of the hidden-zero effect. © 2018 Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Perceived stress predicts altered reward and loss feedback processing in medial prefrontal cortex

PubMed Central

Treadway, Michael T.; Buckholtz, Joshua W.; Zald, David H.

2013-01-01

Stress is a significant risk factor for the development of psychopathology, particularly symptoms related to reward processing. Importantly, individuals display marked variation in how they perceive and cope with stressful events, and such differences are strongly linked to risk for developing psychiatric symptoms following stress exposure. However, many questions remain regarding the neural architecture that underlies inter-subject variability in perceptions of stressors. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) paradigm, we examined the effects of self-reported perceived stress levels on neural activity during reward anticipation and feedback in a sample of healthy individuals. We found that subjects reporting more uncontrollable and overwhelming stressors displayed blunted neural responses in medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) following feedback related to monetary gains as well monetary losses. This is consistent with preclinical models that implicate the mPFC as a key site of vulnerability to the noxious effects of uncontrollable stressors. Our data help translate these findings to humans, and elucidate some of the neural mechanisms that may underlie stress-linked risk for developing reward-related psychiatric symptoms. PMID:23730277

Intranasal oxytocin enhances neural processing of monetary reward and loss in post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatized controls.

PubMed

Nawijn, Laura; van Zuiden, Mirjam; Koch, Saskia B J; Frijling, Jessie L; Veltman, Dick J; Olff, Miranda

2016-04-01

Anhedonia is a significant clinical problem in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD patients show reduced motivational approach behavior, which may underlie anhedonic symptoms. Oxytocin administration is known to increase reward sensitivity and approach behavior. We therefore investigated whether oxytocin administration affected neural responses during motivational processing in PTSD patients and trauma-exposed controls. 35 police officers with PTSD (21 males) and 37 trauma-exposed police officers without PTSD (19 males) were included in a within-subjects, randomized, placebo-controlled fMRI study. Neural responses during anticipation of monetary reward and loss were investigated with a monetary incentive delay task (MID) after placebo and oxytocin (40 IU) administration. Oxytocin increased neural responses during reward and loss anticipation in PTSD patients and controls in the striatum, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and insula, key regions in the reward pathway. Although PTSD patients did not differ from controls in motivational processing under placebo, anhedonia severity in PTSD patients was negatively related to reward responsiveness in the ventral striatum. Furthermore, oxytocin effects on reward processing in the ventral striatum were positively associated with anhedonia. Oxytocin administration increased reward pathway sensitivity during reward and loss anticipation in PTSD patients and trauma-exposed controls. Thus, oxytocin administration may increase motivation for goal-directed approach behavior in PTSD patients and controls, providing evidence for a neurobiological pathway through which oxytocin could potentially increase motivation and reward sensitivity in PTSD patients. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

BOLD responses in reward regions to hypothetical and imaginary monetary rewards

PubMed Central

Miyapuram, Krishna P.; Tobler, Philippe N.; Gregorios-Pippas, Lucy; Schultz, Wolfram

2015-01-01

Monetary rewards are uniquely human. Because money is easy to quantify and present visually, it is the reward of choice for most fMRI studies, even though it cannot be handed over to participants inside the scanner. A typical fMRI study requires hundreds of trials and thus small amounts of monetary rewards per trial (e.g. 5p) if all trials are to be treated equally. However, small payoffs can have detrimental effects on performance due to their limited buying power. Hypothetical monetary rewards can overcome the limitations of smaller monetary rewards but it is less well known whether predictors of hypothetical rewards activate reward regions. In two experiments, visual stimuli were associated with hypothetical monetary rewards. In Experiment 1, we used stimuli predicting either visually presented or imagined hypothetical monetary rewards, together with non-rewarding control pictures. Activations to reward predictive stimuli occurred in reward regions, namely the medial orbitofrontal cortex and midbrain. In Experiment 2, we parametrically varied the amount of visually presented hypothetical monetary reward keeping constant the amount of actually received reward. Graded activation in midbrain was observed to stimuli predicting increasing hypothetical rewards. The results demonstrate the efficacy of using hypothetical monetary rewards in fMRI studies. PMID:21985912

BOLD responses in reward regions to hypothetical and imaginary monetary rewards.

PubMed

Miyapuram, Krishna P; Tobler, Philippe N; Gregorios-Pippas, Lucy; Schultz, Wolfram

2012-01-16

Monetary rewards are uniquely human. Because money is easy to quantify and present visually, it is the reward of choice for most fMRI studies, even though it cannot be handed over to participants inside the scanner. A typical fMRI study requires hundreds of trials and thus small amounts of monetary rewards per trial (e.g. 5p) if all trials are to be treated equally. However, small payoffs can have detrimental effects on performance due to their limited buying power. Hypothetical monetary rewards can overcome the limitations of smaller monetary rewards but it is less well known whether predictors of hypothetical rewards activate reward regions. In two experiments, visual stimuli were associated with hypothetical monetary rewards. In Experiment 1, we used stimuli predicting either visually presented or imagined hypothetical monetary rewards, together with non-rewarding control pictures. Activations to reward predictive stimuli occurred in reward regions, namely the medial orbitofrontal cortex and midbrain. In Experiment 2, we parametrically varied the amount of visually presented hypothetical monetary reward keeping constant the amount of actually received reward. Graded activation in midbrain was observed to stimuli predicting increasing hypothetical rewards. The results demonstrate the efficacy of using hypothetical monetary rewards in fMRI studies. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Willing to wait: Elevated reward-processing EEG activity associated with a greater preference for larger-but-delayed rewards.

PubMed

Pornpattananangkul, Narun; Nusslock, Robin

2016-10-01

While almost everyone discounts the value of future rewards over immediate rewards, people differ in their so-called delay-discounting. One of the several factors that may explain individual differences in delay-discounting is reward-processing. To study individual-differences in reward-processing, however, one needs to consider the heterogeneity of neural-activity at each reward-processing stage. Here using EEG, we separated reward-related neural activity into distinct reward-anticipation and reward-outcome stages using time-frequency characteristics. Thirty-seven individuals first completed a behavioral delay-discounting task. Then reward-processing EEG activity was assessed using a separate reward-learning task, called a reward time-estimation task. During this EEG task, participants were instructed to estimate time duration and were provided performance feedback on a trial-by-trial basis. Participants received monetary-reward for accurate-performance on Reward trials, but not on No-Reward trials. Reward trials, relative to No-Reward trials, enhanced EEG activity during both reward-anticipation (including, cued-locked delta power during cue-evaluation and pre-feedback alpha suppression during feedback-anticipation) and reward-outcome (including, feedback-locked delta, theta and beta power) stages. Moreover, all of these EEG indices correlated with behavioral performance in the time-estimation task, suggesting their essential roles in learning and adjusting performance to maximize winnings in a reward-learning situation. Importantly, enhanced EEG power during Reward trials, as reflected by stronger 1) pre-feedback alpha suppression, 2) feedback-locked theta and 3) feedback-locked beta, was associated with a greater preference for larger-but-delayed rewards in a separate, behavioral delay-discounting task. Results highlight the association between a stronger preference toward larger-but-delayed rewards and enhanced reward-processing. Moreover, our reward-processing EEG indices detail the specific stages of reward-processing where these associations occur. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Childhood ADHD and Delayed Reinforcement: A Direct Comparison of Performance on Hypothetical and Real-Time Delay Tasks.

PubMed

Yu, Xue; Sonuga-Barke, Edmund

2016-07-28

Individuals with ADHD have been shown to prefer smaller sooner over larger later rewards. This has been explained in terms of abnormally steeper discounting of the value of delayed reinforcers. Evidence for this comes from different experimental paradigms. In some, participants experience delay in the laboratory (real-time delay tasks; R-TD), in others they imagine the delay to reinforcers (hypothetical delay tasks; HD). We directly contrasted the performance of 7- to 12-year-old children with ADHD (n = 23) and matched controls (n = 23) on R-TD and HD tasks with monetary rewards. Children with ADHD displayed steeper temporal discounting on the R-TD, but not the HD tasks. These findings suggest that the experience of waiting prior to the delivery of rewards is an important determinant of heightened temporal discounting in ADHD-a finding consistent with models that emphasize the aversive nature of delay for children. © The Author(s) 2016.

Modeling the effect of reward amount on probability discounting.

PubMed

Myerson, Joel; Green, Leonard; Morris, Joshua

2011-03-01

The present study with college students examined the effect of amount on the discounting of probabilistic monetary rewards. A hyperboloid function accurately described the discounting of hypothetical rewards ranging in amount from $20 to $10,000,000. The degree of discounting increased continuously with amount of probabilistic reward. This effect of amount was not due to changes in the rate parameter of the discounting function, but rather was due to increases in the exponent. These results stand in contrast to those observed with the discounting of delayed monetary rewards, in which the degree of discounting decreases with reward amount due to amount-dependent decreases in the rate parameter. Taken together, this pattern of results suggests that delay and probability discounting reflect different underlying mechanisms. That is, the fact that the exponent in the delay discounting function is independent of amount is consistent with a psychophysical scaling interpretation, whereas the finding that the exponent of the probability-discounting function is amount-dependent is inconsistent with such an interpretation. Instead, the present results are consistent with the idea that the probability-discounting function is itself the product of a value function and a weighting function. This idea was first suggested by Kahneman and Tversky (1979), although their prospect theory does not predict amount effects like those observed. The effect of amount on probability discounting was parsimoniously incorporated into our hyperboloid discounting function by assuming that the exponent was proportional to the amount raised to a power. The amount-dependent exponent of the probability-discounting function may be viewed as reflecting the effect of amount on the weighting of the probability with which the reward will be received.

Altering impulsive decision making with an acceptance-based procedure.

PubMed

Morrison, Kate L; Madden, Gregory J; Odum, Amy L; Friedel, Jonathan E; Twohig, Michael P

2014-09-01

Delay discounting is one facet of impulsive decision making and involves subjectively devaluing a delayed outcome. Steeply discounting delayed rewards is correlated with substance abuse and other problematic behaviors. To the extent that steep delay discounting underlies these clinical disorders, it would be advantageous to find psychosocial avenues for reducing delay discounting. Acceptance-based interventions may prove useful as they may help to decrease the distress that arises while waiting for a delayed outcome. The current study was conducted to determine if a 60-90 minute acceptance-based training would change delay discounting rates among 30 undergraduate university students in comparison to a waitlist control. Measures given at pre- and posttraining included a hypothetical monetary delay discounting task, the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ-II), and the Distress Tolerance Scale. Those assigned to the treatment group decreased their discounting of delayed money, but not distress intolerance or psychological inflexibility when compared to the waitlist control group. After the waiting period, the control group received the intervention. Combining all participants' pre- to posttreatment data, the acceptance-based treatment significantly decreased discounting of monetary rewards and increased distress tolerance. The difference in AAQ-II approached significance. Acceptance-based treatments may be a worthwhile option for decreasing delay discounting rates and, consequently, affecting the choices that underlie addiction and other problematic behaviors. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Diminished fronto-striatal activity during processing of monetary rewards and losses in pathological gambling

PubMed Central

Balodis, Iris M.; Kober, Hedy; Worhunsky, Patrick D.; Stevens, Michael C.; Pearlson, Godfrey D.; Potenza, Marc N.

2012-01-01

Background Mesocorticolimbic neurocircuitry and impulsivity have both been implicated in pathological gambling (PG) and in reward processing. However, the neural underpinnings of specific phases of reward and loss processing in PG and their relationships to impulsivity remain only partially understood. The present functional magnetic resonance imaging study examined brain activity associated with different phases of reward and loss processing in PG. Given an inverse relationship between ventral striatal recruitment during anticipation of monetary rewards and impulsivity in alcohol dependence, the current study explored whether a similar association might also be present in PG. Methods Fourteen adults with PG and 14 control comparison (CC) participants performed the Monetary Incentive Delay Task (MIDT) to identify brain activation changes associated with reward/loss prospect, reward/loss anticipation and reward/loss notification. Impulsivity was assessed separately using the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale. Results Relative to the CC group, the PG group exhibited significantly reduced activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, insula and ventral striatum during several phases, including the prospect and anticipation phases of both gain and losses. Activity in the ventral striatum correlated inversely with levels of impulsivity in PG participants, consistent with prior findings in alcohol dependence. Conclusions Relatively decreased activity in cortico-striatal neurocircuitry during multiple phases of reward processing suggests consistent alterations in neurocircuitry underlying incentive valuation and loss prediction. Together with findings in alcohol dependence, these results suggest that impulsive tendencies in addictions may be reflected in diminished ventral striatal activations to reward anticipation and may represent targets for treatment development in addictions. PMID:22336565

Diminished frontostriatal activity during processing of monetary rewards and losses in pathological gambling.

PubMed

Balodis, Iris M; Kober, Hedy; Worhunsky, Patrick D; Stevens, Michael C; Pearlson, Godfrey D; Potenza, Marc N

2012-04-15

Mesocorticolimbic neurocircuitry and impulsivity have both been implicated in pathological gambling (PG) and in reward processing. However, the neural underpinnings of specific phases of reward and loss processing in PG and their relationships to impulsivity remain only partially understood. The present functional magnetic resonance imaging study examined brain activity associated with different phases of reward and loss processing in PG. Given an inverse relationship between ventral striatal recruitment during anticipation of monetary rewards and impulsivity in alcohol dependence, the current study explored whether a similar association might also be present in PG. Fourteen adults with PG and 14 control comparison participants performed the Monetary Incentive Delay Task to identify brain activation changes associated with reward/loss prospect, reward/loss anticipation, and reward/loss notification. Impulsivity was assessed separately using the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale. Relative to the control comparison group, the PG group exhibited significantly reduced activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, insula, and ventral striatum during several phases, including the prospect and anticipation phases of both gains and losses. Activity in the ventral striatum correlated inversely with levels of impulsivity in PG participants, consistent with prior findings in alcohol dependence. Relatively decreased activity in corticostriatal neurocircuitry during multiple phases of reward processing suggests consistent alterations in neurocircuitry underlying incentive valuation and loss prediction. Together with findings in alcohol dependence, these results suggest that impulsive tendencies in addictions may be reflected in diminished ventral striatal activations to reward anticipation and may represent targets for treatment development in addictions. Copyright © 2012 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Lower neighborhood quality in adolescence predicts higher mesolimbic sensitivity to reward anticipation in adulthood

PubMed Central

Gonzalez, Marlen Z.; Allen, Joseph P.; Coan, James A.

2016-01-01

Life history theory suggests that adult reward sensitivity should be best explained by childhood, but not current, socioeconomic conditions. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, 83 participants from a larger longitudinal sample completed the monetary incentive delay (MID) task in adulthood (~25 years old). Parent-reports of neighborhood quality and parental SES were collected when participants were 13 years of age. Current income level was collected concurrently with scanning. Lower adolescent neighborhood quality, but neither lower current income nor parental SES, was associated with heightened sensitivity to the anticipation of monetary gain in putative mesolimbic reward areas. Lower adolescent neighborhood quality was also associated with heightened sensitivity to the anticipation of monetary loss activation in visuo-motor areas. Lower current income was associated with heightened sensitivity to anticipated loss in occipital areas and the operculum. We tested whether externalizing behaviors in childhood or adulthood could better account for neighborhood quality findings, but they did not. Findings suggest that neighborhood ecology in adolescence is associated with greater neural reward sensitivity in adulthood above the influence of parental SES or current income and not mediated through impulsivity and externalizing behaviors. PMID:27838595

Real and hypothetical monetary rewards modulate risk taking in the brain.

PubMed

Xu, Sihua; Pan, Yu; Wang, You; Spaeth, Andrea M; Qu, Zhe; Rao, Hengyi

2016-07-07

Both real and hypothetical monetary rewards are widely used as reinforcers in risk taking and decision making studies. However, whether real and hypothetical monetary rewards modulate risk taking and decision making in the same manner remains controversial. In this study, we used event-related potentials (ERP) with a balloon analogue risk task (BART) paradigm to examine the effects of real and hypothetical monetary rewards on risk taking in the brain. Behavioral data showed reduced risk taking after negative feedback (money loss) during the BART with real rewards compared to those with hypothetical rewards, suggesting increased loss aversion with real monetary rewards. The ERP data demonstrated a larger feedback-related negativity (FRN) in response to money loss during risk taking with real rewards compared to those with hypothetical rewards, which may reflect greater prediction error or regret emotion after real monetary losses. These findings demonstrate differential effects of real versus hypothetical monetary rewards on risk taking behavior and brain activity, suggesting a caution when drawing conclusions about real choices from hypothetical studies of intended behavior, especially when large rewards are used. The results have implications for future utility of real and hypothetical monetary rewards in studies of risk taking and decision making.

Altered prefrontal correlates of monetary anticipation and outcome in chronic pain.

PubMed

Martucci, Katherine T; Borg, Nicholas; MacNiven, Kelly H; Knutson, Brian; Mackey, Sean C

2018-04-04

Chronic pain may alter both affect- and value-related behaviors, which represents a potentially treatable aspect of chronic pain experience. Current understanding of how chronic pain influences the function of brain reward systems, however, is limited. Using a monetary incentive delay task and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we measured neural correlates of reward anticipation and outcomes in female participants with the chronic pain condition of fibromyalgia (N = 17) and age-matched, pain-free, female controls (N = 15). We hypothesized that patients would demonstrate lower positive arousal, as well as altered reward anticipation and outcome activity within corticostriatal circuits implicated in reward processing. Patients demonstrated lower arousal ratings as compared with controls, but no group differences were observed for valence, positive arousal, or negative arousal ratings. Group fMRI analyses were conducted to determine predetermined region of interest, nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), responses to potential gains, potential losses, reward outcomes, and punishment outcomes. Compared with controls, patients demonstrated similar, although slightly reduced, NAcc activity during gain anticipation. Conversely, patients demonstrated dramatically reduced mPFC activity during gain anticipation-possibly related to lower estimated reward probabilities. Further, patients demonstrated normal mPFC activity to reward outcomes, but dramatically heightened mPFC activity to no-loss (nonpunishment) outcomes. In parallel to NAcc and mPFC responses, patients demonstrated slightly reduced activity during reward anticipation in other brain regions, which included the ventral tegmental area, anterior cingulate cortex, and anterior insular cortex. Together, these results implicate altered corticostriatal processing of monetary rewards in chronic pain.

The neuroeconomics of nicotine dependence: a preliminary functional magnetic resonance imaging study of delay discounting of monetary and cigarette rewards in smokers.

PubMed

MacKillop, James; Amlung, Michael T; Wier, Lauren M; David, Sean P; Ray, Lara A; Bickel, Warren K; Sweet, Lawrence H

2012-04-30

Neuroeconomics integrates behavioral economics and cognitive neuroscience to understand the neurobiological basis for normative and maladaptive decision making. Delay discounting is a behavioral economic index of impulsivity that reflects capacity to delay gratification and has been consistently associated with nicotine dependence. This preliminary study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine delay discounting for money and cigarette rewards in 13 nicotine dependent adults. Significant differences between preferences for smaller immediate rewards and larger delayed rewards were evident in a number of regions of interest (ROIs), including the medial prefrontal cortex, anterior insular cortex, middle temporal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, and cingulate gyrus. Significant differences between money and cigarette rewards were generally lateralized, with cigarette choices associated with left hemisphere activation and money choices associated with right hemisphere activation. Specific ROI differences included the posterior parietal cortex, medial and middle frontal gyrus, ventral striatum, temporoparietal cortex, and angular gyrus. Impulsivity as measured by behavioral choices was significantly associated with both individual ROIs and a combined ROI model. These findings provide initial evidence in support of applying a neuroeconomic approach to understanding nicotine dependence. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A comparison of the electrocortical response to monetary and social reward

PubMed Central

Distefano, Amanda; Jackson, Felicia; Levinson, Amanda R; Infantolino, Zachary P; Jarcho, Johanna M; Nelson, Brady D

2018-01-01

Abstract Affective science research on reward processing has primarily focused on monetary rewards. There has been a growing interest in evaluating the neural basis of social decision-making and reward processing. The present study employed a within-subject design and compared the reward positivity (RewP), an event-related potential component that is present following favorable feedback and absent or reduced following unfavorable feedback, during monetary and social reward tasks. Specifically, 114 participants (75 females) completed a monetary reward task and a novel social reward task that were matched on trial structure, timing, and feedback stimuli in a counterbalanced order. Results indicated that the monetary and social RewP were of similar magnitude, positively correlated and demonstrated comparable psychometric properties, including reliability and dependability. Across both the monetary and social tasks, women demonstrated a greater RewP compared with men. This study provides a novel methodological approach toward examining the electrocortical response to social reward that is comparable to monetary reward. PMID:29373743

Reduced Sensitivity to Sooner Reward During Intertemporal Decision-Making Following Insula Damage in Humans

PubMed Central

Sellitto, Manuela; Ciaramelli, Elisa; Mattioli, Flavia; di Pellegrino, Giuseppe

2016-01-01

During intertemporal choice, humans tend to prefer small-sooner rewards over larger-delayed rewards, reflecting temporal discounting (TD) of delayed outcomes. Functional neuroimaging (fMRI) evidence has implicated the insular cortex in time-sensitive decisions, yet it is not clear whether activity in this brain region is crucial for, or merely associated with, TD behavior. Here, patients with damage to the insula (Insular patients), control patients with lesions outside the insula, and healthy individuals chose between smaller-sooner and larger-later monetary rewards. Insular patients were less sensitive to sooner rewards than were the control groups, exhibiting reduced TD. A Voxel-based Lesion-Symptom Mapping (VLSM) analysis confirmed a statistically significant association between insular damage and reduced TD. These results indicate that the insular cortex is crucial for intertemporal choice. We suggest that he insula may be necessary to anticipate the bodily/emotional effects of receiving rewards at different delays, influencing the computation of their incentive value. Devoid of such input, insular patients’ choices would be governed by a heuristic of quantity, allowing patients to wait for larger options. PMID:26793084

Components of reward-driven attentional capture.

PubMed

Sha, Li Z; Jiang, Yuhong V

2016-02-01

Recent research reported that task-irrelevant colors captured attention if these colors previously served as search targets and received high monetary reward. We showed that both monetary reward and value-independent mechanisms influenced selective attention. Participants searched for two potential target colors among distractor colors in the training phase. Subsequently, they searched for a shape singleton in a testing phase. Experiment 1 found that participants were slower in the testing phase if a distractor of a previous target color was present rather than absent. Such slowing was observed even when no monetary reward was used during training. Experiment 2 associated monetary rewards with the target colors during the training phase. Participants were faster finding the target associated with higher monetary reward. However, reward training did not yield value-dependent attentional capture in the testing phase. Attentional capture by the previous target colors was not significantly greater for the previously high-reward color than the previously low or no-reward color. These findings revealed both the power and limitations of monetary reward on attention. Although monetary reward can increase attentional priority for the high-reward target during training, subsequent attentional capture effects may not be reward-based, but reflect, in part, attentional capture by previous targets.

Weekly Energy Drink Use Is Positively Associated with Delay Discounting and Risk Behavior in a Nationwide Sample of Young Adults

PubMed Central

Sweeney, Mary M.; Johnson, Patrick S.; Johnson, Matthew W.; Griffiths, Roland R.

2016-01-01

Background: Energy drink use is associated with increased risk behavior among adolescents and college students. This study examined this relationship in a nationwide sample of young adults and also examined relations between energy drink use and delay discounting. Methods: Participants were 874 U.S. adults 18–28 years of age with past 30-day consumption of caffeine and alcohol. Participants completed an online survey of energy drink use, drug use, sexual activity, alcohol misuse (alcohol use disorders identification test [AUDIT]), sensation seeking (four-item Brief Sensation Seeking Scale [BSSS-4]), and delay discounting of monetary rewards and condom use. Results: Over one-third of participants (n = 303) reported consuming energy drinks at least once per week. Weekly energy drink users were more likely than less-than-weekly energy drink users to report a recent history of risk behaviors, including cigarette smoking (56% vs. 28%, p < 0.0001), illicit stimulant use (22% vs. 6%, p < 0.0001), and unprotected sex (63% vs. 45%, p < 0.0001). Covariate-adjusted analyses found that weekly energy drink users did not have significantly higher BSSS-4 scores (3.5 vs. 3.1, p = 0.098), but they had higher mean AUDIT scores (8.0 vs. 4.8, p < 0.0001), and they more steeply discounted delayed monetary rewards. Although weekly energy drink users did not show steeper discounting of delayed condom use, they showed a lower likelihood of using a condom when one was immediately available. Conclusions: This study extends findings that energy drink use is associated with risk behavior, and it is the first study to show that energy drink use is associated with monetary delay discounting. PMID:26989563

Weekly Energy Drink Use Is Positively Associated with Delay Discounting and Risk Behavior in a Nationwide Sample of Young Adults.

PubMed

Meredith, Steven E; Sweeney, Mary M; Johnson, Patrick S; Johnson, Matthew W; Griffiths, Roland R

2016-03-01

Background: Energy drink use is associated with increased risk behavior among adolescents and college students. This study examined this relationship in a nationwide sample of young adults and also examined relations between energy drink use and delay discounting. Methods: Participants were 874 U.S. adults 18-28 years of age with past 30-day consumption of caffeine and alcohol. Participants completed an online survey of energy drink use, drug use, sexual activity, alcohol misuse (alcohol use disorders identification test [AUDIT]), sensation seeking (four-item Brief Sensation Seeking Scale [BSSS-4]), and delay discounting of monetary rewards and condom use. Results: Over one-third of participants ( n  = 303) reported consuming energy drinks at least once per week. Weekly energy drink users were more likely than less-than-weekly energy drink users to report a recent history of risk behaviors, including cigarette smoking (56% vs. 28%, p  < 0.0001), illicit stimulant use (22% vs. 6%, p  < 0.0001), and unprotected sex (63% vs. 45%, p  < 0.0001). Covariate-adjusted analyses found that weekly energy drink users did not have significantly higher BSSS-4 scores (3.5 vs. 3.1, p  = 0.098), but they had higher mean AUDIT scores (8.0 vs. 4.8, p  < 0.0001), and they more steeply discounted delayed monetary rewards. Although weekly energy drink users did not show steeper discounting of delayed condom use, they showed a lower likelihood of using a condom when one was immediately available. Conclusions: This study extends findings that energy drink use is associated with risk behavior, and it is the first study to show that energy drink use is associated with monetary delay discounting.

Anticipatory Reward Processing in Addicted Populations: A Focus on the Monetary Incentive Delay Task

PubMed Central

Balodis, Iris M.; Potenza, Marc N.

2014-01-01

Advances in brain imaging techniques have allowed neurobiological research to temporally analyze signals coding for the anticipation of rewards. In addicted populations, both hypo- and hyper-responsiveness of brain regions (e.g., ventral striatum) implicated in drug effects and reward system processing have been reported during anticipation of generalized reward. Here, we discuss the current state of knowledge of reward processing in addictive disorders from a widely used and validated task: the Monetary Incentive Delay Task (MIDT). The current paper constrains review to those studies applying the MIDT in addicted and at-risk adult populations, with a focus on anticipatory processing and striatal regions activated during task performance, as well as the relationship of these regions with individual difference (e.g., impulsivity) and treatment outcome variables. We further review drug influences in challenge studies as a means to examine acute influences on reward processing in abstinent, recreationally using and addicted populations. Here, we discuss that generalized reward processing in addicted and at-risk populations is often characterized by divergent anticipatory signaling in the ventral striatum. Although methodological/task variations may underlie some discrepant findings, anticipatory signaling in the ventral striatum may also be influenced by smoking status, drug metabolites and treatment status in addicted populations. Divergent results across abstinent, recreationally using and addicted populations demonstrate complexities in interpreting findings. Future studies will benefit from focusing on characterizing how impulsivity and other addiction-related features relate to anticipatory striatal signaling over time. Additionally, identifying how anticipatory signals recover/adjust following protracted abstinence will be important in understanding recovery processes. PMID:25481621

Capacity to Delay Reward Differentiates Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder

PubMed Central

Pinto, Anthony; Steinglass, Joanna E.; Greene, Ashley L.; Weber, Elke U.; Simpson, H. Blair

2013-01-01

Background Although the relationship between obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and obsessive compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) has long been debated, clinical samples of OCD (without OCPD) and OCPD (without OCD) have never been systematically compared. We studied whether individuals with OCD, OCPD, or both conditions differ on symptomatology, functioning, and a measure of self-control: the capacity to delay reward. Methods 25 OCD, 25 OCPD, 25 comorbid OCD+OCPD, and 25 healthy controls (HC) completed clinical assessments and a validated intertemporal choice task that measures capacity to forego small immediate rewards for larger delayed rewards. Results OCD and OCPD subjects both showed impairment in psychosocial functioning and quality of life, as well as compulsive behavior, but only subjects with OCD reported obsessions. Individuals with OCPD, with or without comorbid OCD, discounted the value of delayed monetary rewards significantly less than OCD and HC. This excessive capacity to delay reward discriminates OCPD from OCD, and is associated with perfectionism and rigidity. Conclusions OCD and OCPD are both impairing disorders marked by compulsive behaviors, but they can be differentiated by the presence of obsessions in OCD and by excessive capacity to delay reward in OCPD. That individuals with OCPD show less temporal discounting (suggestive of excessive self-control) whereas prior studies have shown that individuals with substance use disorders show greater discounting (suggestive of impulsivity) supports the premise that this component of self-control lies on a continuum in which both extremes (impulsivity and overcontrol) contribute to psychopathology. PMID:24199665

Imbalance in the sensitivity to different types of rewards in pathological gambling.

PubMed

Sescousse, Guillaume; Barbalat, Guillaume; Domenech, Philippe; Dreher, Jean-Claude

2013-08-01

Pathological gambling is an addictive disorder characterized by a persistent and compulsive desire to engage in gambling activities. This maladaptive behaviour has been suggested to result from a decreased sensitivity to experienced rewards, regardless of reward type. Alternatively, pathological gambling might reflect an imbalance in the sensitivity to monetary versus non-monetary incentives. To directly test these two hypotheses, we examined how the brain reward circuit of pathological gamblers responds to different types of rewards. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we compared the brain responses of 18 pathological gamblers and 20 healthy control subjects while they engaged in a simple incentive task manipulating both monetary and visual erotic rewards. During reward anticipation, the ventral striatum of pathological gamblers showed a differential response to monetary versus erotic cues, essentially driven by a blunted reactivity to cues predicting erotic stimuli. This differential response correlated with the severity of gambling symptoms and was paralleled by a reduced behavioural motivation for erotic rewards. During reward outcome, a posterior orbitofrontal cortex region, responding to erotic rewards in both groups, was further recruited by monetary gains in pathological gamblers but not in control subjects. Moreover, while ventral striatal activity correlated with subjective ratings assigned to monetary and erotic rewards in control subjects, it only correlated with erotic ratings in gamblers. Our results point to a differential sensitivity to monetary versus non-monetary rewards in pathological gambling, both at the motivational and hedonic levels. Such an imbalance might create a bias towards monetary rewards, potentially promoting addictive gambling behaviour.

Delay discounting of oral morphine and sweetened juice rewards in dependent and non-dependent rats.

PubMed

Harvey-Lewis, Colin; Perdrizet, Johnna; Franklin, Keith B J

2014-07-01

Opioid-dependent humans are reported to show accelerated delay discounting of opioid rewards when compared to monetary rewards. It has been suggested that this may reflect a difference in discounting of consumable and non-consumable goods not specific to dependent individuals. Here, we evaluate the discounting of similar morphine and non-morphine oral rewards in dependent and non-dependent rats We first tested the analgesic and rewarding effects of our morphine solution. In a second experiment, we assigned rats randomly to either dependent or non-dependent groups that, 30 min after daily testing, received 30 mg/kg subcutaneous dose of morphine, or saline, respectively. Delay discounting of drug-free reward was examined prior to initiation of the dosing regimen. We tested discounting of the morphine reward in half the rats and retested the discounting of the drug-free reward in the other half. All tests were run 22.5 h after the daily maintenance dose. Rats preferred the morphine cocktail to the drug-free solution and consumed enough to induce significant analgesia. The control quinine solution did not produce these effects. Dependent rats discounted morphine rewards more rapidly than before dependence and when compared to discounting drug-free rewards. In non-dependent rats both reward types were discounted similarly. These results show that morphine dependence increases impulsiveness specifically towards a drug reward while morphine experience without dependence does not.

Robust changes in reward circuitry during reward loss in current and former cocaine users during performance of a monetary incentive delay task.

PubMed

Patel, Krishna T; Stevens, Michael C; Meda, Shashwath A; Muska, Christine; Thomas, Andre D; Potenza, Marc N; Pearlson, Godfrey D

2013-10-01

Abnormal function in reward circuitry in cocaine addiction could predate drug use as a risk factor, follow drug use as a consequence of substance-induced alterations, or both. We used a functional magnetic resonance imaging monetary incentive delay task (MIDT) to investigate reward-loss neural response differences among 42 current cocaine users, 35 former cocaine users, and 47 healthy subjects who also completed psychological measures and tasks related to impulsivity and reward. We found various reward processing-related group differences in several MIDT phases. Across task phases we found a control > current user > former user activation pattern, except for loss outcome, where former compared with current cocaine users activated ventral tegmental area more robustly. We also found regional prefrontal activation differences during loss anticipation between cocaine-using groups. Both groups of cocaine users scored higher than control subjects on impulsivity, compulsivity and reward-punishment sensitivity factors. In addition, impulsivity-related factors correlated positively with activation in amygdala and negatively with anterior cingulate activation during loss anticipation. Compared with healthy subjects, both former and current users displayed abnormal brain activation patterns during MIDT performance. Both cocaine groups differed similarly from healthy subjects, but differences between former and current users were localized to the ventral tegmental area during loss outcome and to prefrontal regions during loss anticipation, suggesting that long-term cocaine abstinence does not normalize most reward circuit abnormalities. Elevated impulsivity-related factors that relate to loss processing in current and former users suggest that these tendencies and relationships may pre-exist cocaine addiction. © 2013 Society of Biological Psychiatry.

Clarifying the Relationship between Impulsive Delay Discounting and Nicotine Dependence

PubMed Central

Amlung, Michael; MacKillop, James

2014-01-01

Impulsive delayed reward discounting (DRD) has been linked to nicotine dependence, but with some inconsistency. This may be related to the considerable variability in the literature with regard to the DRD assessments used, particularly in the case of reward magnitudes assessed. In addition, previous studies have often not considered concurrent substance use when examining the relationship between DRD and nicotine dependence. The current study sought to further clarify the relationship between DRD and nicotine dependence by characterizing DRD across diverse reward magnitudes and incorporating other substance use. Daily smokers (N = 933) were assessed for DRD preferences across nine reward magnitudes (delayed reward range: $2.50–$850), comorbid substance use, and relevant demographic variables (age, education, income). A significant large effect size magnitude effect was found for DRD, reflecting steeper discounting for smaller delayed rewards, but significant correlations across magnitudes also suggested similar relative levels of discounting. Principal components analysis (PCA) was used to generate a single latent index of discounting across all magnitudes that accounted for 67% of the total variance. In both correlation and regression analyses, steeper composite DRD was significantly associated with nicotine dependence severity. This relationship remained statistically significant after incorporating demographic variables and alcohol and illicit drug use. These findings provide evidence of a specific link between impulsive DRD and nicotine dependence, and reveal that this association is robust across a broad range of monetary rewards. The study also demonstrates the utility of using PCA to generate latent indices of delay discounting across multiple magnitudes of delayed reward. PMID:24841186

Teasing apart the anticipatory and consummatory processing of monetary incentives: An event-related potential study of reward dynamics.

PubMed

Novak, Keisha D; Foti, Dan

2015-11-01

The monetary incentive delay (MID) task has been widely used in fMRI studies to investigate the neural networks involved in anticipatory and consummatory reward processing. Previous efforts to adapt the MID task for use with ERPs, however, have had limited success. Here, we sought to further decompose reward dynamics using a comprehensive set of anticipatory (cue-N2, cue-P3, contingent negative variation [CNV]) and consummatory ERPs (feedback negativity [FN], feedback P3 [fb-P3]). ERP data was recorded during adapted versions of the MID task across two experiments. Unlike previous studies, monetary incentive cues modulated the cue-N2, cue-P3, and CNV; however, cue-related ERPs and the CNV were uncorrelated with one another, indicating distinct anticipatory subprocesses. With regard to consummatory processing, FN amplitude primarily tracked outcome valence (reward vs. nonreward), whereas fb-P3 amplitude primarily tracked outcome salience (uncertain vs. certain). Independent modulation of the cue-P3 and fb-P3 was observed, indicating that these two P3 responses may uniquely capture the allocation of attention during anticipatory and consummatory reward processing, respectively. Overall, across two samples, consistent evidence of both anticipatory and consummatory ERP activity was observed on an adapted version of the MID paradigm, demonstrating for the first time how these ERP components may be integrated with one another to more fully characterize the time course of reward processing. This ERP-MID paradigm is well suited to parsing reward dynamics, and can be applied to both healthy and clinical populations. © 2015 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Cortisol alters reward processing in the human brain.

PubMed

Kinner, Valerie L; Wolf, Oliver T; Merz, Christian J

2016-08-01

Dysfunctional reward processing is known to play a central role for the development of psychiatric disorders. Glucocorticoids that are secreted in response to stress have been shown to attenuate reward sensitivity and thereby might promote the onset of psychopathology. However, the underlying neurobiological mechanisms mediating stress hormone effects on reward processing as well as potential sex differences remain elusive. In this neuroimaging study, we administered 30mg cortisol or a placebo to 30 men and 30 women and subsequently tested them in the Monetary Incentive Delay Task. Cortisol attenuated anticipatory neural responses to a verbal and a monetary reward in the left pallidum and the right anterior parahippocampal gyrus. Furthermore, in men, activation in the amygdala, the precuneus, the anterior cingulate, and in hippocampal regions was reduced under cortisol, whereas in cortisol-treated women a signal increase was observed in these regions. Behavioral performance also indicated that reward learning in men is impaired under high cortisol concentrations, while it is augmented in women. These findings illustrate that the stress hormone cortisol substantially diminishes reward anticipation and provide first evidence that cortisol effects on the neural reward system are sensitive to sex differences, which might translate into different vulnerabilities for psychiatric disorders. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Successful inhibitory control over an immediate reward is associated with attentional disengagement in visual processing areas.

PubMed

O'Connor, David A; Rossiter, Sarah; Yücel, Murat; Lubman, Dan I; Hester, Robert

2012-09-01

We examined the neural basis of the capacity to resist an immediately rewarding stimulus in order to obtain a larger delayed reward. This was investigated with a Go/No-go task employing No-go targets that provided two types of reward outcomes. These were contingent on inhibitory control performance: failure to inhibit Reward No-go targets provided a small monetary reward with immediate feedback; while successful inhibitory control resulted in larger rewards with delayed feedback based on the highest number of consecutive inhibitions. We observed faster Go trial responses with maintained levels of inhibition accuracy during the Reward No-go condition compared to a neutral No-go condition. Comparisons between conditions of BOLD activity showed successful inhibitory control over rewarding No-Go targets was associated with hypoactivity in regions previously associated with regulating emotion and inhibitory control, including insula and right inferior frontal gyrus. In addition, regions previously associated with visual processing centers that are modulated as a function of visual attention, namely the left fusiform and right superior temporal gyri, were hypoactive. These findings suggest a role for attentional disengagement as an aid to withholding response over a rewarding stimulus and are consistent with the notion that gratification can be delayed by directing attention away from immediate rewards. Crown Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Abstinence duration modulates striatal functioning during monetary reward processing in cocaine patients.

PubMed

Bustamante, Juan-Carlos; Barrós-Loscertales, Alfonso; Costumero, Víctor; Fuentes-Claramonte, Paola; Rosell-Negre, Patricia; Ventura-Campos, Noelia; Llopis, Juan-José; Ávila, César

2014-09-01

Pre-clinical and clinical studies in cocaine addiction highlight alterations in the striatal dopaminergic reward system that subserve maintenance of cocaine use. Using an instrumental conditioning paradigm with monetary reinforcement, we studied striatal functional alterations in long-term abstinent cocaine-dependent patients and striatal functioning as a function of abstinence and treatment duration. Eighteen patients and 20 controls underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging during a Monetary Incentive Delay task. Region of interest analyses based on masks of the dorsal and ventral striatum were conducted to test between-group differences and the functional effects in the cocaine group of time (in months) with no more than two lapses from the first time patients visited the clinical service to seek treatment at the scanning time (duration of treatment), and the functional effects of the number of months with no lapses or relapses at the scanning session time (length of abstinence). We applied a voxel-wise and a cluster-wise FWE-corrected level (pFWE) at a threshold of P < 0.05. The patient group showed lower activation in the right caudate during reward anticipation than the control group. The regression analyses in the patients group revealed a positive correlation between duration of treatment and brain activity in the left caudate during reward anticipation. Likewise, length of abstinence negatively correlated with brain activity in the bilateral nucleus accumbens during monetary outcome processing. In conclusion, caudate and nucleus accumbens show a different brain response pattern to non-drug rewards during cocaine addiction, which can be modulated by treatment success. © 2013 The Authors, Addiction Biology © 2013 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Reward positivity: Reward prediction error or salience prediction error?

PubMed

Heydari, Sepideh; Holroyd, Clay B

2016-08-01

The reward positivity is a component of the human ERP elicited by feedback stimuli in trial-and-error learning and guessing tasks. A prominent theory holds that the reward positivity reflects a reward prediction error signal that is sensitive to outcome valence, being larger for unexpected positive events relative to unexpected negative events (Holroyd & Coles, 2002). Although the theory has found substantial empirical support, most of these studies have utilized either monetary or performance feedback to test the hypothesis. However, in apparent contradiction to the theory, a recent study found that unexpected physical punishments also elicit the reward positivity (Talmi, Atkinson, & El-Deredy, 2013). The authors of this report argued that the reward positivity reflects a salience prediction error rather than a reward prediction error. To investigate this finding further, in the present study participants navigated a virtual T maze and received feedback on each trial under two conditions. In a reward condition, the feedback indicated that they would either receive a monetary reward or not and in a punishment condition the feedback indicated that they would receive a small shock or not. We found that the feedback stimuli elicited a typical reward positivity in the reward condition and an apparently delayed reward positivity in the punishment condition. Importantly, this signal was more positive to the stimuli that predicted the omission of a possible punishment relative to stimuli that predicted a forthcoming punishment, which is inconsistent with the salience hypothesis. © 2016 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Motivational effects on the processing of delayed intentions in the anterior prefrontal cortex.

PubMed

Bruening, Jovita; Ludwig, Vera U; Paschke, Lena M; Walter, Henrik; Stelzel, Christine

2018-05-15

Delaying intentions bears the risk of interference from distracting activities during the delay interval. Motivation can increase intention retrieval success but little is known about the underlying brain mechanisms. Here, we investigated whether motivational incentives (monetary reward) modulate the processing of delayed intentions in the anterior prefrontal cortex (aPFC), known to be crucial for intention processing. Using a mixed blocked and event-related functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging design, we specifically tested whether reward affects intention processing in the aPFC in a transient or in a sustained manner and whether this is related to individual differences in retrieval success. We found a generalized effect of reward on both correct intention retrieval and ongoing task performance. Fronto-parietal regions including bilateral lateral aPFC showed sustained activity increases in rewarded compared to non-rewarded blocks as well as transient reward-related activity during the storage phase. Additionally, individual differences in reward-related performance benefits were related to the degree of transient signal increases in right lateral aPFC, specifically during intention encoding. This suggests that the ability to integrate motivational relevance into the encoding of future intentions is crucial for successful intention retrieval in addition to general increases in processing effort. Bilateral aPFC is central to these motivation-cognition interactions. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Capacity to delay reward differentiates obsessive-compulsive disorder and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.

PubMed

Pinto, Anthony; Steinglass, Joanna E; Greene, Ashley L; Weber, Elke U; Simpson, H Blair

2014-04-15

Although the relationship between obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) has long been debated, clinical samples of OCD (without OCPD) and OCPD (without OCD) have never been systematically compared. We studied whether individuals with OCD, OCPD, or both conditions differ on symptomatology, functioning, and a measure of self-control: the capacity to delay reward. Twenty-five OCD, 25 OCPD, 25 comorbid OCD + OCPD, and 25 healthy control subjects completed clinical assessments and a validated intertemporal choice task that measures capacity to forego small immediate rewards for larger delayed rewards. OCD and OCPD subjects both showed impairment in psychosocial functioning and quality of life, as well as compulsive behavior, but only subjects with OCD reported obsessions. Individuals with OCPD, with or without comorbid OCD, discounted the value of delayed monetary rewards significantly less than OCD and healthy control subjects. This excessive capacity to delay reward discriminates OCPD from OCD and is associated with perfectionism and rigidity. OCD and OCPD are both impairing disorders marked by compulsive behaviors, but they can be differentiated by the presence of obsessions in OCD and by excessive capacity to delay reward in OCPD. That individuals with OCPD show less temporal discounting (suggestive of excessive self-control), whereas prior studies have shown that individuals with substance use disorders show greater discounting (suggestive of impulsivity), supports the premise that this component of self-control lies on a continuum in which both extremes (impulsivity and overcontrol) contribute to psychopathology. © 2013 Society of Biological Psychiatry Published by Society of Biological Psychiatry All rights reserved.

THC reduces the anticipatory nucleus accumbens response to reward in subjects with a nicotine addiction

PubMed Central

Jansma, J M; van Hell, H H; Vanderschuren, L J M J; Bossong, M G; Jager, G; Kahn, R S; Ramsey, N F

2013-01-01

Recent evidence has implicated the endocannabinoid (eCB) system in nicotine addiction. The eCB system also has an important role in reward mechanisms, and nicotine addiction has been associated with aberrant reward processing. Motivated by this evidence, we tested the hypothesis that eCB modulation of reward processing is altered in subjects with a nicotine addiction (NAD). For this purpose, we compared reward-related activity in NAD with healthy controls (HC) in a pharmacological magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study using Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) administration to challenge the eCB system. Eleven HC and 10 NAD participated in a 3-T functional MRI (fMRI) study with a double-blind, cross-over, placebo-controlled design, using a Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) paradigm with three reward levels. Reward activity in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and caudate putamen during anticipation and feedback of reward was compared after THC and placebo. fMRI results indicated a significant reduction of reward anticipation activity in the NAcc in NAD after THC administration, which was not present in HC. This is indicated by a significant group by drug by reward interaction. Our data show that THC significantly reduces the NAcc response to monetary reward anticipation in NAD. These results suggest that nicotine addiction is associated with altered eCB modulation of reward processing in the NAcc. This study adds important human data to existing evidence implicating the eCB system in nicotine addiction. PMID:23443360

Behavioral Economic Predictors of Overweight Children's Weight Loss

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Best, John R.; Theim, Kelly R.; Gredysa, Dana M.; Stein, Richard I.; Welch, R. Robinson; Saelens, Brian E.; Perri, Michael G.; Schechtman, Kenneth B.; Epstein, Leonard H.; Wilfley, Denise E.

2012-01-01

Objective: Our goal was to determine whether behavioral economic constructs--including impulsivity (i.e., steep discounting of delayed food and monetary rewards), the relative reinforcing value of food (RRV[subscript food]), and environmental enrichment (i.e., the presence of alternatives to unhealthy foods in the home and neighborhood…

Monetary reward magnitude effects on behavior and brain function during goal-directed behavior.

PubMed

Rosell-Negre, P; Bustamante, J C; Fuentes-Claramonte, P; Costumero, V; Benabarre, S; Barrós-Loscertales, A

2017-08-01

Reward may modulate the cognitive processes required for goal achievement, while individual differences in personality may affect reward modulation. Our aim was to test how different monetary reward magnitudes modulate brain activation and performance during goal-directed behavior, and whether individual differences in reward sensitivity affect this modulation. For this purpose, we scanned 37 subjects with a parametric design in which we varied the magnitude of monetary rewards (€0, €0.01, €0.5, €1 or €1.5) in a blocked fashion while participants performed an interference counting-Stroop condition. The results showed that the brain activity of left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the striatum were modulated by increasing and decreasing reward magnitudes, respectively. Behavioral performance improved as the magnitude of monetary reward increased while comparing the non reward (€0) condition to any other reward condition, or the lower €0.01 to any other reward condition, and this improvement was related with individual differences in reward sensitivity. In conclusion, the locus of influence of monetary incentives overlaps the activity of the regions commonly involved in cognitive control.

Effects of Motivation: Rewarding Hackers for Undetected Attacks Cause Analysts to Perform Poorly.

PubMed

Maqbool, Zahid; Makhijani, Nidhi; Pammi, V S Chandrasekhar; Dutt, Varun

2017-05-01

The aim of this study was to determine how monetary motivations influence decision making of humans performing as security analysts and hackers in a cybersecurity game. Cyberattacks are increasing at an alarming rate. As cyberattacks often cause damage to existing cyber infrastructures, it is important to understand how monetary rewards may influence decision making of hackers and analysts in the cyber world. Currently, only limited attention has been given to this area. In an experiment, participants were randomly assigned to three between-subjects conditions ( n = 26 for each condition): equal payoff, where the magnitude of monetary rewards for hackers and defenders was the same; rewarding hacker, where the magnitude of monetary reward for hacker's successful attack was 10 times the reward for analyst's successful defense; and rewarding analyst, where the magnitude of monetary reward for analyst's successful defense was 10 times the reward for hacker's successful attack. In all conditions, half of the participants were human hackers playing against Nash analysts and half were human analysts playing against Nash hackers. Results revealed that monetary rewards for human hackers and analysts caused a decrease in attack and defend actions compared with the baseline. Furthermore, rewarding human hackers for undetected attacks made analysts deviate significantly from their optimal behavior. If hackers are rewarded for their undetected attack actions, then this causes analysts to deviate from optimal defend proportions. Thus, analysts need to be trained not become overenthusiastic in defending networks. Applications of our results are to networks where the influence of monetary rewards may cause information theft and system damage.

Oxytocin curbs calorie intake via food-specific increases in the activity of brain areas that process reward and establish cognitive control.

PubMed

Spetter, Maartje S; Feld, Gordon B; Thienel, Matthias; Preissl, Hubert; Hege, Maike A; Hallschmid, Manfred

2018-02-09

The hypothalamic neurohormone oxytocin decreases food intake via largely unexplored mechanisms. We investigated the central nervous mediation of oxytocin's hypophagic effect in comparison to its impact on the processing of generalized rewards. Fifteen fasted normal-weight, young men received intranasal oxytocin (24 IU) or placebo before functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) measurements of brain activity during exposure to food stimuli and a monetary incentive delay task (MID). Subsequently, ad-libitum breakfast intake was assessed. Oxytocin compared to placebo increased activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, supplementary motor area, anterior cingulate, and ventrolateral prefrontal cortices in response to high- vs. low-calorie food images in the fasted state, and reduced calorie intake by 12%. During anticipation of monetary rewards, oxytocin compared to placebo augmented striatal, orbitofrontal and insular activity without altering MID performance. We conclude that during the anticipation of generalized rewards, oxytocin stimulates dopaminergic reward-processing circuits. In contrast, oxytocin restrains food intake by enhancing the activity of brain regions that exert cognitive control, while concomitantly increasing the activity of structures that process food reward value. This pattern points towards a specific role of oxytocin in the regulation of eating behaviour in humans that might be of relevance for potential clinical applications.

Differential effects of social and non-social reward on response inhibition in children and adolescents.

PubMed

Kohls, Gregor; Peltzer, Judith; Herpertz-Dahlmann, Beate; Konrad, Kerstin

2009-07-01

An important issue in the field of clinical and developmental psychopathology is whether cognitive control processes, such as response inhibition, can be specifically enhanced by motivation. To determine whether non-social (i.e. monetary) and social (i.e. positive facial expressions) rewards are able to differentially improve response inhibition accuracy in typically developing children and adolescents, an 'incentive' go/no-go task was applied with reward contingencies for successful inhibition. In addition, the impact of children's personality traits (such as reward seeking and empathy) on monetary and social reward responsiveness was assessed in 65 boys, ages 8 to 12 years. All subjects were tested twice: At baseline, inhibitory control was assessed without reward, and then subjects were pseudorandomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions, including (1) social reward only, (2) monetary reward only, (3) mixed social and monetary reward, or (4) a retest condition without reward. Both social and non-social reward significantly improved task performance, although larger effects were observed for monetary reward. The higher the children scored on reward seeking scales, the larger was their improvement in response inhibition, but only if monetary reward was used. In addition, there was a tendency for an association between empathic skills and benefits from social reward. These data suggest that social incentives do not have an equally strong reinforcing value as compared to financial incentives. However, different personality traits seem to determine to what extent a child profits from different types of reward. Clinical implications regarding probable hyposensitivity to social reward in subjects with autism and dysregulated reward-seeking behaviour in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are discussed.

Hunger does not motivate reward in women remitted from anorexia nervosa

PubMed Central

Wierenga, Christina E.; Bischoff-Grethe, Amanda; Melrose, A. James; Irvine, Zoe; Torres, Laura; Bailer, Ursula F.; Simmons, Alan; Fudge, Julie L.; McClure, Samuel M.; Ely, Alice; Kaye, Walter H.

2014-01-01

Background Hunger enhances sensitivity to reward, yet individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) are not motivated to eat when starved. This study examined whether diminished response to reward could underlie food restriction in AN by investigating brain response to rewards during hunger and satiated states. Methods Using a delay discounting monetary decision task known to discriminate brain regions contributing to processing of immediate rewards and cognitive control important for decision making regarding future rewards, we compared 23 adults remitted from AN (to reduce the confounding effects of starvation [RAN]) to 17 healthy women (CW). Monetary rewards were used because the rewarding value of food may be confounded by anxiety in AN. Results Interactions of group (RAN, CW) × visit (hunger, satiety) revealed that, for CW, hunger significantly increased activation in reward salience circuitry (ventral striatum, dorsal caudate, anterior cingulate cortex) during processing of immediate reward, whereas satiety increased activation in cognitive control circuitry (ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, insula) during decision-making. In contrast, brain response in reward and cognitive neurocircuitry did not differ during hunger and satiety in RAN. A main effect of group revealed elevated response in the middle frontal gyrus for RAN. Conclusions RAN failed to increase activation of reward valuation circuitry when hungry and showed elevated response in cognitive control circuitry independent of metabolic state. Decreased sensitivity to hunger’s motivational drive may explain AN individuals’ ability to restrict food when emaciated. Moreover, difficulties in valuating emotional salience may contribute to inabilities to appreciate the risks inherent in this deadly disorder. PMID:25481622

Consolidation power of extrinsic rewards: reward cues enhance long-term memory for irrelevant past events.

PubMed

Murayama, Kou; Kitagami, Shinji

2014-02-01

Recent research suggests that extrinsic rewards promote memory consolidation through dopaminergic modulation processes. However, no conclusive behavioral evidence exists given that the influence of extrinsic reward on attention and motivation during encoding and consolidation processes are inherently confounded. The present study provides behavioral evidence that extrinsic rewards (i.e., monetary incentives) enhance human memory consolidation independently of attention and motivation. Participants saw neutral pictures, followed by a reward or control cue in an unrelated context. Our results (and a direct replication study) demonstrated that the reward cue predicted a retrograde enhancement of memory for the preceding neutral pictures. This retrograde effect was observed only after a delay, not immediately upon testing. An additional experiment showed that emotional arousal or unconscious resource mobilization cannot explain the retrograde enhancement effect. These results provide support for the notion that the dopaminergic memory consolidation effect can result from extrinsic reward.

Alterations of monetary reward and punishment processing in chronic cannabis users: an FMRI study.

PubMed

Enzi, Björn; Lissek, Silke; Edel, Marc-Andreas; Tegenthoff, Martin; Nicolas, Volkmar; Scherbaum, Norbert; Juckel, Georg; Roser, Patrik

2015-01-01

Alterations in reward and punishment processing have been reported in adults suffering from long-term cannabis use. However, previous findings regarding the chronic effects of cannabis on reward and punishment processing have been inconsistent. In the present study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to reveal the neural correlates of reward and punishment processing in long-term cannabis users (n = 15) and in healthy control subjects (n = 15) with no history of drug abuse. For this purpose, we used the well-established Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) task, a reliable experimental paradigm that allows the differentiation between anticipatory and consummatory aspects of reward and punishment processing. Regarding the gain anticipation period, no significant group differences were observed. In the left caudate and the left inferior frontal gyrus, cannabis users were - in contrast to healthy controls - not able to differentiate between the conditions feedback of reward and control. In addition, cannabis users showed stronger activations in the left caudate and the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus following feedback of no punishment as compared to healthy controls. We interpreted these deficits in dorsal striatal functioning as altered stimulus-reward or action-contingent learning in cannabis users. In addition, the enhanced lateral prefrontal activation in cannabis users that is related to non-punishing feedback may reflect a deficit in emotion regulation or cognitive reappraisal in these subjects.

Alterations of Monetary Reward and Punishment Processing in Chronic Cannabis Users: An fMRI Study

PubMed Central

Enzi, Björn; Lissek, Silke; Edel, Marc-Andreas; Tegenthoff, Martin; Nicolas, Volkmar; Scherbaum, Norbert; Juckel, Georg; Roser, Patrik

2015-01-01

Alterations in reward and punishment processing have been reported in adults suffering from long-term cannabis use. However, previous findings regarding the chronic effects of cannabis on reward and punishment processing have been inconsistent. In the present study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to reveal the neural correlates of reward and punishment processing in long-term cannabis users (n = 15) and in healthy control subjects (n = 15) with no history of drug abuse. For this purpose, we used the well-established Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) task, a reliable experimental paradigm that allows the differentiation between anticipatory and consummatory aspects of reward and punishment processing. Regarding the gain anticipation period, no significant group differences were observed. In the left caudate and the left inferior frontal gyrus, cannabis users were – in contrast to healthy controls – not able to differentiate between the conditions feedback of reward and control. In addition, cannabis users showed stronger activations in the left caudate and the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus following feedback of no punishment as compared to healthy controls. We interpreted these deficits in dorsal striatal functioning as altered stimulus-reward or action-contingent learning in cannabis users. In addition, the enhanced lateral prefrontal activation in cannabis users that is related to non-punishing feedback may reflect a deficit in emotion regulation or cognitive reappraisal in these subjects. PMID:25799565

Neural alterations of fronto-striatal circuitry during reward anticipation in euthymic bipolar disorder.

PubMed

Schreiter, S; Spengler, S; Willert, A; Mohnke, S; Herold, D; Erk, S; Romanczuk-Seiferth, N; Quinlivan, E; Hindi-Attar, C; Banzhaf, C; Wackerhagen, C; Romund, L; Garbusow, M; Stamm, T; Heinz, A; Walter, H; Bermpohl, F

2016-11-01

Bipolar disorder (BD), with the hallmark symptoms of elevated and depressed mood, is thought to be characterized by underlying alterations in reward-processing networks. However, to date the neural circuitry underlying abnormal responses during reward processing in BD remains largely unexplored. The aim of this study was to investigate whether euthymic BD is characterized by aberrant ventral striatal (VS) activation patterns and altered connectivity with the prefrontal cortex in response to monetary gains and losses. During functional magnetic resonance imaging 20 euthymic BD patients and 20 age-, gender- and intelligence quotient-matched healthy controls completed a monetary incentive delay paradigm, to examine neural processing of reward and loss anticipation. A priori defined regions of interest (ROIs) included the VS and the anterior prefrontal cortex (aPFC). Psychophysiological interactions (PPIs) between these ROIs were estimated and tested for group differences for reward and loss anticipation separately. BD participants, relative to healthy controls, displayed decreased activation selectively in the left and right VS during anticipation of reward, but not during loss anticipation. PPI analyses showed decreased functional connectivity between the left VS and aPFC in BD patients compared with healthy controls during reward anticipation. This is the first study showing decreased VS activity and aberrant connectivity in the reward-processing circuitry in euthymic, medicated BD patients during reward anticipation. Our findings contrast with research supporting a reward hypersensitivity model of BD, and add to the body of literature suggesting that blunted activation of reward processing circuits may be a vulnerability factor for mood disorders.

Reward Anticipation in Ventral Striatum and Individual Sensitivity to Reward: A Pilot Study of a Child-Friendly fMRI Task.

PubMed

van Hulst, Branko M; de Zeeuw, Patrick; Lupas, Kellina; Bos, Dienke J; Neggers, Sebastiaan F W; Durston, Sarah

2015-01-01

Reward processing has been implicated in developmental disorders. However, the classic task to probe reward anticipation, the monetary incentive delay task, has an abstract coding of reward and no storyline and may therefore be less appropriate for use with developmental populations. We modified the task to create a version appropriate for use with children. We investigated whether this child-friendly version could elicit ventral striatal activation during reward anticipation in typically developing children and young adolescents (aged 9.5-14.5). In addition, we tested whether our performance-based measure of reward sensitivity was associated with anticipatory activity in ventral striatum. Reward anticipation was related to activity in bilateral ventral striatum. Moreover, we found an association between individual reward sensitivity and activity in ventral striatum. We conclude that this task assesses ventral striatal activity in a child-friendly paradigm. The combination with a performance-based measure of reward sensitivity potentially makes the task a powerful tool for developmental imaging studies of reward processing.

Can Pornography be Addictive? An fMRI Study of Men Seeking Treatment for Problematic Pornography Use.

PubMed

Gola, Mateusz; Wordecha, Małgorzata; Sescousse, Guillaume; Lew-Starowicz, Michał; Kossowski, Bartosz; Wypych, Marek; Makeig, Scott; Potenza, Marc N; Marchewka, Artur

2017-09-01

Pornography consumption is highly prevalent, particularly among young adult males. For some individuals, problematic pornography use (PPU) is a reason for seeking treatment. Despite the pervasiveness of pornography, PPU appears under-investigated, including with respect to the underlying neural mechanisms. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined ventral striatal responses to erotic and monetary stimuli, disentangling cue-related 'wanting' from reward-related 'liking' among 28 heterosexual males seeking treatment for PPU and 24 heterosexual males without PPU. Subjects engaged in an incentive delay task in the scanner, in which they received erotic or monetary rewards preceded by predictive cues. Blood-oxygen-level-dependent responses to erotic and monetary cues were analyzed and examined with respect to self-reported data on sexual activity collected over the 2 preceding months. Men with and without PPU differed in their striatal responses to cues predicting erotic pictures but not in their responses to erotic pictures. PPU subjects when compared with control subjects showed increased activation of ventral striatum specifically for cues predicting erotic pictures but not for cues predicting monetary gains. Relative sensitivity to cues predicting erotic pictures vs monetary gains was significantly related to the increased behavioral motivation to view erotic images (suggestive of higher 'wanting'), severity of PPU, amount of pornography use per week, and number of weekly masturbations. Our findings suggest that, similar to what is observed in substance and gambling addictions, the neural and behavioral mechanisms associated with the anticipatory processing of cues specifically predicting erotic rewards relate importantly to clinically relevant features of PPU. These findings suggest that PPU may represent a behavioral addiction and that interventions helpful in targeting behavioral and substance addictions warrant consideration for adaptation and use in helping men with PPU.

Individual differences in sensitivity to reward and punishment and neural activity during reward and avoidance learning

PubMed Central

Yoon, HeungSik; Kim, Hackjin; Hamann, Stephan

2015-01-01

In this functional neuroimaging study, we investigated neural activations during the process of learning to gain monetary rewards and to avoid monetary loss, and how these activations are modulated by individual differences in reward and punishment sensitivity. Healthy young volunteers performed a reinforcement learning task where they chose one of two fractal stimuli associated with monetary gain (reward trials) or avoidance of monetary loss (avoidance trials). Trait sensitivity to reward and punishment was assessed using the behavioral inhibition/activation scales (BIS/BAS). Functional neuroimaging results showed activation of the striatum during the anticipation and reception periods of reward trials. During avoidance trials, activation of the dorsal striatum and prefrontal regions was found. As expected, individual differences in reward sensitivity were positively associated with activation in the left and right ventral striatum during reward reception. Individual differences in sensitivity to punishment were negatively associated with activation in the left dorsal striatum during avoidance anticipation and also with activation in the right lateral orbitofrontal cortex during receiving monetary loss. These results suggest that learning to attain reward and learning to avoid loss are dependent on separable sets of neural regions whose activity is modulated by trait sensitivity to reward or punishment. PMID:25680989

Neural Correlates of Impaired Reward-Effort Integration in Remitted Bulimia Nervosa.

PubMed

Mueller, Stefanie Verena; Morishima, Yosuke; Schwab, Simon; Wiest, Roland; Federspiel, Andrea; Hasler, Gregor

2018-03-01

The integration of reward magnitudes and effort costs is required for an effective behavioral guidance. This reward-effort integration was reported to be dependent on dopaminergic neurotransmission. As bulimia nervosa has been associated with a dysregulated dopamine system and catecholamine depletion led to reward-processing deficits in remitted bulimia nervosa, the purpose of this study was to identify the role of catecholamine dysfunction and its relation to behavioral and neural reward-effort integration in bulimia nervosa. To investigate the interaction between catecholamine functioning and behavioral, and neural responses directly, 17 remitted bulimic (rBN) and 21 healthy individuals (HC) received alpha-methyl-paratyrosine (AMPT) over 24 h to achieve catecholamine depletion in a randomized, crossover study design. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and the monetary incentive delay (MID) task to assess reward-effort integration in relation to catecholaminergic neurotransmission at the behavioral and neural level. AMPT reduced the ability to integrate rewards and efforts effectively in HC participants. In contrast, in rBN participants, the reduced reward-effort integration was associated with illness duration in the sham condition and unrelated to catecholamine depletion. Regarding neural activation, AMPT decreased the reward anticipation-related neural activation in the anteroventral striatum. This decrease was associated with the AMPT-induced reduction of monetary earning in HC in contrast to rBN participants. Our findings contributed to the theory of a desensitized dopaminergic system in bulimia nervosa. A disrupted processing of reward magnitudes and effort costs might increase the probability of maintenance of bulimic symptoms.

Stress and reward processing in bipolar disorder: an fMRI study

PubMed Central

Berghorst, Lisa H; Kumar, Poornima; Greve, Doug N; Deckersbach, Thilo; Ongur, Dost; Dutra, Sunny; Pizzagalli, Diego A

2016-01-01

Objectives A link between negative life stress and the onset of mood episodes in bipolar disorder (BD) has been established, but processes underlying such a link remain unclear. Growing evidence suggests that stress can negatively affect reward processing and related neurobiological substrates, indicating that a dysregulated reward system may provide a partial explanation. The aim of this study was to test the impact of stress on reward-related neural functioning in BD. Methods Thirteen euthymic or mildly depressed individuals with BD and 15 controls performed a Monetary Incentive Delay task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging during no-stress and stress (negative psychosocial stressor involving poor performance feedback and threat of monetary deductions) conditions. Results In hypothesis-driven region-of- interest-based analyses, a significant group by condition interaction emerged in the amygdala during reward anticipation. Relative to controls, while anticipating a potential reward, subjects with BD were characterized by amygdalar hyperactivation in the no-stress condition but hypoactivation during stress. Moreover, relative to controls, subjects with BD had significantly larger amygdala volumes. After controlling for structural differences, the effects of stress on amygdalar function remained, whereas groups no longer differed during the no-stress condition. During reward consumption, a group by condition interaction emerged in the putamen due to increased putamen activation to rewards in participants with BD during stress, but an opposite pattern in controls. Conclusions Overall, findings highlight possible impairments in using reward-predicting cues to adaptively engage in goal-directed actions in BD, combined with stress-induced hypersensitivity to reward consumption. Potential clinical implications are discussed. PMID:27870507

Interaction between COMT Val(158)Met polymorphism and childhood adversity affects reward processing in adulthood.

PubMed

Boecker-Schlier, Regina; Holz, Nathalie E; Buchmann, Arlette F; Blomeyer, Dorothea; Plichta, Michael M; Jennen-Steinmetz, Christine; Wolf, Isabella; Baumeister, Sarah; Treutlein, Jens; Rietschel, Marcella; Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas; Banaschewski, Tobias; Brandeis, Daniel; Laucht, Manfred

2016-05-15

Accumulating evidence suggests that altered dopamine transmission may increase the risk of mental disorders such as ADHD, schizophrenia or depression, possibly mediated by reward system dysfunction. This study aimed to clarify the impact of the COMT Val(158)Met polymorphism in interaction with environmental variation (G×E) on neuronal activity during reward processing. 168 healthy young adults from a prospective study conducted over 25years participated in a monetary incentive delay task measured with simultaneous EEG-fMRI. DNA was genotyped for COMT, and childhood family adversity (CFA) up to age 11 was assessed by a standardized parent interview. At reward delivery, a G×E revealed that fMRI activation for win vs. no-win trials in reward-related regions increased with the level of CFA in Met homozygotes as compared to Val/Met heterozygotes and Val homozygotes, who showed no significant effect. During the anticipation of monetary vs. verbal rewards, activation decreased with the level of CFA, which was also observed for EEG, in which the CNV declined with the level of CFA. These results identify convergent genetic and environmental effects on reward processing in a prospective study. Moreover, G×E effects during reward delivery suggest that stress during childhood is associated with higher reward sensitivity and reduced efficiency in processing rewarding stimuli in genetically at-risk individuals. Together with previous evidence, these results begin to define a specific system mediating interacting effects of early environmental and genetic risk factors, which may be targeted by early intervention and prevention. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

42 CFR 420.410 - Establishment of a program to collect suggestions for improving Medicare program efficiency and...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... for improving Medicare program efficiency and to reward suggesters for monetary savings. 420.410... Program Efficiency and to Reward Suggesters for Monetary Savings § 420.410 Establishment of a program to collect suggestions for improving Medicare program efficiency and to reward suggesters for monetary...

42 CFR 420.410 - Establishment of a program to collect suggestions for improving Medicare program efficiency and...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... for improving Medicare program efficiency and to reward suggesters for monetary savings. 420.410... Program Efficiency and to Reward Suggesters for Monetary Savings § 420.410 Establishment of a program to collect suggestions for improving Medicare program efficiency and to reward suggesters for monetary...

Texting while driving, executive function, and impulsivity in college students.

PubMed

Hayashi, Yusuke; Rivera, Esteban A; Modico, James G; Foreman, Anne M; Wirth, Oliver

2017-05-01

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the cognitive processes underlying texting while driving. A sample of 120 college students completed a survey to assess how frequently they send and read a text message while driving. Based on this information, students were assigned to one of two groups: 20 students who frequently text while driving and 20 matched-control students who infrequently text while driving but were similar in gender, age, years of education, and years driving. The groups were compared on the extent to which they differed in self-reported measures of executive function and impulsivity. The groups were also compared on a behavioral measure of impulsivity: the extent to which they discounted hypothetical monetary rewards as a function of the delay. For this measure, the students made repeated choices between smaller monetary rewards available immediately and larger rewards available after delays ranging from 1 week to 6 months. The results show that the group of students who frequently text while driving showed (a) significantly lower levels of executive function and (b) higher levels of self-reported impulsivity, although the groups did not differ significantly on the behavioral measure of impulsivity. These results support a general conclusion that drivers with lower levels of executive function and higher levels of impulsivity are more likely to text while driving. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hunger does not motivate reward in women remitted from anorexia nervosa.

PubMed

Wierenga, Christina E; Bischoff-Grethe, Amanda; Melrose, A James; Irvine, Zoe; Torres, Laura; Bailer, Ursula F; Simmons, Alan; Fudge, Julie L; McClure, Samuel M; Ely, Alice; Kaye, Walter H

2015-04-01

Hunger enhances sensitivity to reward, yet individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) are not motivated to eat when starved. This study investigated brain response to rewards during hunger and satiated states to examine whether diminished response to reward could underlie food restriction in AN. Using a delay discounting monetary decision task known to discriminate brain regions contributing to processing of immediate rewards and cognitive control important for decision making regarding future rewards, we compared 23 women remitted from AN (RAN group; to reduce the confounding effects of starvation) with 17 healthy comparison women (CW group). Monetary rewards were used because the rewarding value of food may be confounded by anxiety in AN. Interactions of Group (RAN, CW) × Visit (hunger, satiety) revealed that, for the CW group, hunger significantly increased activation in reward salience circuitry (ventral striatum, dorsal caudate, anterior cingulate cortex) during processing of immediate reward, whereas satiety increased activation in cognitive control circuitry (ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, insula) during decision making. In contrast, brain response in reward and cognitive neurocircuitry did not differ during hunger and satiety in the RAN group. A main effect of group revealed elevated response in the middle frontal gyrus for the RAN group compared with the CW group. Women remitted from AN failed to increase activation of reward valuation circuitry when hungry and showed elevated response in cognitive control circuitry independent of metabolic state. Decreased sensitivity to the motivational drive of hunger may explain the ability of individuals with AN to restrict food when emaciated. Difficulties in valuating emotional salience may contribute to inabilities to appreciate the risks inherent in this disorder. Copyright © 2015 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Dissociated effects of anticipating smoking versus monetary reward in the caudate as a function of smoking abstinence.

PubMed

Sweitzer, Maggie M; Geier, Charles F; Joel, Danielle L; McGurrin, Patrick; Denlinger, Rachel L; Forbes, Erika E; Donny, Eric C

2014-11-01

Theories of addiction suggest that chronic smoking may be associated with both hypersensitivity to smoking and related cues and hyposensitivity to alternative reinforcers. However, neural responses to smoking and nonsmoking rewards are rarely evaluated within the same paradigm, leaving the extent to which both processes operate simultaneously uncertain. Behavioral evidence and theoretical models suggest that dysregulated reward processing may be more pronounced during deprivation from nicotine, but neuroimaging evidence on the effects of deprivation on reward processing is limited. The current study examined the impact of deprivation from smoking on neural processing of both smoking and monetary rewards. Two separate functional magnetic resonance imaging scans were performed in 38 daily smokers, one after smoking without restriction and one following 24 hours of abstinence. A rewarded guessing task was conducted during each scan to evaluate striatal blood oxygen level-dependent response during anticipation of both smoking and monetary rewards. A significant reward type by abstinence interaction was observed in the bilateral caudate and medial prefrontal cortex during reward anticipation. The blood oxygen level-dependent response to anticipation of smoking reward was significantly higher and anticipation of monetary rewards was significantly lower during abstinence compared with nonabstinence. Attenuation of monetary reward-related activation during abstinence was significantly correlated with abstinence-induced increases in craving and withdrawal. These results provide the first direct evidence of dissociated effects of smoking versus monetary rewards as a function of abstinence. The findings suggest an important neural pathway that may underlie the choice to smoke in lieu of alternative reinforcement during a quit attempt. © 2013 Society of Biological Psychiatry Published by Society of Biological Psychiatry All rights reserved.

Neural activation to monetary reward is associated with amphetamine reward sensitivity.

PubMed

Crane, Natania A; Gorka, Stephanie M; Weafer, Jessica; Langenecker, Scott A; de Wit, Harriet; Phan, K Luan

2018-03-14

One known risk factor for drug use and abuse is sensitivity to rewarding effects of drugs. It is not known whether this risk factor extends to sensitivity to non-drug rewards. In this study with healthy young adults, we examined the association between sensitivity to the subjective rewarding effects of amphetamine and a neural indicator of anticipation of monetary reward. We hypothesized that greater euphorigenic response to amphetamine would be associated with greater neural activation to anticipation of monetary reward (Win > Loss). Healthy participants (N = 61) completed four laboratory sessions in which they received d-amphetamine (20 mg) and placebo in alternating order, providing self-report measures of euphoria and stimulation at regular intervals. At a separate visit 1-3 weeks later, participants completed the guessing reward task (GRT) during fMRI in a drug-free state. Participants reporting greater euphoria after amphetamine also exhibited greater neural activation during monetary reward anticipation in mesolimbic reward regions, including the bilateral caudate and putamen. This is the first study to show a relationship between neural correlates of monetary reward and sensitivity to the subjective rewarding effects of amphetamine in humans. These findings support growing evidence that sensitivity to reward in general is a risk factor for drug use and abuse, and suggest that sensitivity of drug-induced euphoria may reflect a general sensitivity to rewards. This may be an index of vulnerability for drug use or abuse.

Processing of social and monetary rewards in the human striatum.

PubMed

Izuma, Keise; Saito, Daisuke N; Sadato, Norihiro

2008-04-24

Despite an increasing focus on the neural basis of human decision making in neuroscience, relatively little attention has been paid to decision making in social settings. Moreover, although human social decision making has been explored in a social psychology context, few neural explanations for the observed findings have been considered. To bridge this gap and improve models of human social decision making, we investigated whether acquiring a good reputation, which is an important incentive in human social behaviors, activates the same reward circuitry as monetary rewards. In total, 19 subjects participated in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments involving monetary and social rewards. The acquisition of one's good reputation robustly activated reward-related brain areas, notably the striatum, and these overlapped with the areas activated by monetary rewards. Our findings support the idea of a "common neural currency" for rewards and represent an important first step toward a neural explanation for complex human social behaviors.

Reward Promotes Self-Face Processing: An Event-Related Potential Study

PubMed Central

Zhan, Youlong; Chen, Jie; Xiao, Xiao; Li, Jin; Yang, Zilu; Fan, Wei; Zhong, Yiping

2016-01-01

The present study adopted a reward-priming paradigm to investigate whether and how monetary reward cues affected self-face processing. Event-related potentials were recorded during judgments of head orientation of target faces (self, friend, and stranger), with performance associated with a monetary reward. The results showed self-faces elicited larger N2 mean amplitudes than other-faces, and mean N2 amplitudes increased after monetary reward as compared with no reward cue. Moreover, an interaction effect between cue type and face type was observed for the P3 component, suggesting that both self-faces and friend-faces elicited larger P3 mean amplitudes than stranger-faces after no reward cue, with no significant difference between self-faces and friend-faces under this condition. However, self-faces elicited larger P3 mean amplitudes than friend-faces when monetary reward cues were provided. Interestingly, the enhancement of reward on friend-faces processing was observed at late positive potentials (LPP; 450–600 ms), suggesting that the LPP difference between friend-faces and stranger-faces was enhanced with monetary reward cues. Thus, we found that the enhancement effect of reward on self-relevant processing occurred at the later stages, but not at the early stage. These findings suggest that the activation of the reward expectations can enhance self-face processing, yielding a robust and sustained modulation over their overlapped brain areas where reward and self-relevant processing mechanisms may operate together. PMID:27242637

Individual differences in sensitivity to reward and punishment and neural activity during reward and avoidance learning.

PubMed

Kim, Sang Hee; Yoon, HeungSik; Kim, Hackjin; Hamann, Stephan

2015-09-01

In this functional neuroimaging study, we investigated neural activations during the process of learning to gain monetary rewards and to avoid monetary loss, and how these activations are modulated by individual differences in reward and punishment sensitivity. Healthy young volunteers performed a reinforcement learning task where they chose one of two fractal stimuli associated with monetary gain (reward trials) or avoidance of monetary loss (avoidance trials). Trait sensitivity to reward and punishment was assessed using the behavioral inhibition/activation scales (BIS/BAS). Functional neuroimaging results showed activation of the striatum during the anticipation and reception periods of reward trials. During avoidance trials, activation of the dorsal striatum and prefrontal regions was found. As expected, individual differences in reward sensitivity were positively associated with activation in the left and right ventral striatum during reward reception. Individual differences in sensitivity to punishment were negatively associated with activation in the left dorsal striatum during avoidance anticipation and also with activation in the right lateral orbitofrontal cortex during receiving monetary loss. These results suggest that learning to attain reward and learning to avoid loss are dependent on separable sets of neural regions whose activity is modulated by trait sensitivity to reward or punishment. © The Author (2015). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Heaven can wait. How religion modulates temporal discounting.

PubMed

Paglieri, Fabio; Borghi, Anna M; Colzato, Lorenza S; Hommel, Bernhard; Scorolli, Claudia

2013-11-01

Evidence suggests that religious systems have specific effects on attentional and action control processes. The present study investigated whether religions also modulate choices that involve higher-order knowledge and the delay of gratification in particular. We tested Dutch Calvinists, Italian Catholics, and Atheists from both countries/cultures using an intertemporal choice task where participants could choose between a small immediate and a larger delayed monetary reward. Based on the Calvinist theory of predestination and the Catholic concept of a cycle of sin-confession-expiation, we predicted a reduced delay tolerance, i.e., higher discount rate, for Italian Catholics than for Dutch Calvinists, and intermediate rates for the two atheist groups. Analyses of discount rates support our hypotheses. We also found a magnitude effect on temporal discounting and faster responses for large than for small rewards across religions and countries/cultures. We conclude that temporal discounting is specifically modulated by religious upbringing rather than by generic cultural differences.

Neural markers of social and monetary rewards in children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder.

PubMed

Gonzalez-Gadea, Maria Luz; Sigman, Mariano; Rattazzi, Alexia; Lavin, Claudio; Rivera-Rei, Alvaro; Marino, Julian; Manes, Facundo; Ibanez, Agustin

2016-07-28

Recent theories of decision making propose a shared value-related brain mechanism for encoding monetary and social rewards. We tested this model in children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and control children. We monitored participants' brain dynamics using high density-electroencephalography while they played a monetary and social reward tasks. Control children exhibited a feedback Error-Related Negativity (fERN) modulation and Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) source activation during both tasks. Remarkably, although cooperation resulted in greater losses for the participants, the betrayal options generated greater fERN responses. ADHD subjects exhibited an absence of fERN modulation and reduced ACC activation during both tasks. ASD subjects exhibited normal fERN modulation during monetary choices and inverted fERN/ACC responses in social options than did controls. These results suggest that in neurotypicals, monetary losses and observed disloyal social decisions induced similar activity in the brain value system. In ADHD children, difficulties in reward processing affected early brain signatures of monetary and social decisions. Conversely, ASD children showed intact neural markers of value-related monetary mechanisms, but no brain modulation by prosociality in the social task. These results offer insight into the typical and atypical developments of neural correlates of monetary and social reward processing.

Social and monetary reward learning engage overlapping neural substrates.

PubMed

Lin, Alice; Adolphs, Ralph; Rangel, Antonio

2012-03-01

Learning to make choices that yield rewarding outcomes requires the computation of three distinct signals: stimulus values that are used to guide choices at the time of decision making, experienced utility signals that are used to evaluate the outcomes of those decisions and prediction errors that are used to update the values assigned to stimuli during reward learning. Here we investigated whether monetary and social rewards involve overlapping neural substrates during these computations. Subjects engaged in two probabilistic reward learning tasks that were identical except that rewards were either social (pictures of smiling or angry people) or monetary (gaining or losing money). We found substantial overlap between the two types of rewards for all components of the learning process: a common area of ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) correlated with stimulus value at the time of choice and another common area of vmPFC correlated with reward magnitude and common areas in the striatum correlated with prediction errors. Taken together, the findings support the hypothesis that shared anatomical substrates are involved in the computation of both monetary and social rewards. © The Author (2011). Published by Oxford University Press.

Acute D3 Antagonist GSK598809 Selectively Enhances Neural Response During Monetary Reward Anticipation in Drug and Alcohol Dependence

PubMed Central

Murphy, Anna; Nestor, Liam J; McGonigle, John; Paterson, Louise; Boyapati, Venkataramana; Ersche, Karen D; Flechais, Remy; Kuchibatla, Shankar; Metastasio, Antonio; Orban, Csaba; Passetti, Filippo; Reed, Laurence; Smith, Dana; Suckling, John; Taylor, Eleanor; Robbins, Trevor W; Lingford-Hughes, Anne; Nutt, David J; Deakin, John FW; Elliott, Rebecca

2017-01-01

Evidence suggests that disturbances in neurobiological mechanisms of reward and inhibitory control maintain addiction and provoke relapse during abstinence. Abnormalities within the dopamine system may contribute to these disturbances and pharmacologically targeting the D3 dopamine receptor (DRD3) is therefore of significant clinical interest. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the acute effects of the DRD3 antagonist GSK598809 on anticipatory reward processing, using the monetary incentive delay task (MIDT), and response inhibition using the Go/No-Go task (GNGT). A double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design approach was used in abstinent alcohol dependent, abstinent poly-drug dependent and healthy control volunteers. For the MIDT, there was evidence of blunted ventral striatal response to reward in the poly-drug-dependent group under placebo. GSK598809 normalized ventral striatal reward response and enhanced response in the DRD3-rich regions of the ventral pallidum and substantia nigra. Exploratory investigations suggested that the effects of GSK598809 were mainly driven by those with primary dependence on alcohol but not on opiates. Taken together, these findings suggest that GSK598809 may remediate reward deficits in substance dependence. For the GNGT, enhanced response in the inferior frontal cortex of the poly-drug group was found. However, there were no effects of GSK598809 on the neural network underlying response inhibition nor were there any behavioral drug effects on response inhibition. GSK598809 modulated the neural network underlying reward anticipation but not response inhibition, suggesting that DRD3 antagonists may restore reward deficits in addiction. PMID:28042871

Stress and reward processing in bipolar disorder: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

PubMed

Berghorst, Lisa H; Kumar, Poornima; Greve, Doug N; Deckersbach, Thilo; Ongur, Dost; Dutra, Sunny J; Pizzagalli, Diego A

2016-11-01

A link between negative life stress and the onset of mood episodes in bipolar disorder (BD) has been established, but processes underlying such a link remain unclear. Growing evidence suggests that stress can negatively affect reward processing and related neurobiological substrates, indicating that a dysregulated reward system may provide a partial explanation. The aim of this study was to test the impact of stress on reward-related neural functioning in BD. Thirteen euthymic or mildly depressed individuals with BD and 15 controls performed a Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging during no-stress and stress (negative psychosocial stressor involving poor performance feedback and threat of monetary deductions) conditions. In hypothesis-driven region-of-interest analyses, a significant group-by-condition interaction emerged in the amygdala during reward anticipation. Relative to controls, while anticipating a potential reward, subjects with BD were characterized by amygdalar hyperactivation in the no-stress condition but hypoactivation during stress. Moreover, relative to controls, subjects with BD had significantly larger amygdala volumes. After controlling for structural differences, the effects of stress on amygdalar function remained, whereas groups no longer differed during the no-stress condition. During reward consumption, a group-by-condition interaction emerged in the putamen due to increased putamen activation in response to rewards in participants with BD during stress, but an opposite pattern in controls. Overall, findings highlight possible impairments in using reward-predicting cues to adaptively engage in goal-directed actions in BD, combined with stress-induced hypersensitivity to reward consumption. Potential clinical implications are discussed. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Association between the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene and mesolimbic responses to rewards.

PubMed

Damiano, Cara R; Aloi, Joseph; Dunlap, Kaitlyn; Burrus, Caley J; Mosner, Maya G; Kozink, Rachel V; McLaurin, Ralph Edward; Mullette-Gillman, O'Dhaniel A; Carter, Ronald McKell; Huettel, Scott A; McClernon, Francis Joseph; Ashley-Koch, Allison; Dichter, Gabriel S

2014-01-31

There has been significant progress in identifying genes that confer risk for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). However, the heterogeneity of symptom presentation in ASDs impedes the detection of ASD risk genes. One approach to understanding genetic influences on ASD symptom expression is to evaluate relations between variants of ASD candidate genes and neural endophenotypes in unaffected samples. Allelic variations in the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene confer small but significant risk for ASDs for which the underlying mechanisms may involve associations between variability in oxytocin signaling pathways and neural response to rewards. The purpose of this preliminary study was to investigate the influence of allelic variability in the OXTR gene on neural responses to monetary rewards in healthy adults using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The moderating effects of three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (rs1042778, rs2268493 and rs237887) of the OXTR gene on mesolimbic responses to rewards were evaluated using a monetary incentive delay fMRI task. T homozygotes of the rs2268493 SNP demonstrated relatively decreased activation in mesolimbic reward circuitry (including the nucleus accumbens, amygdala, insula, thalamus and prefrontal cortical regions) during the anticipation of rewards but not during the outcome phase of the task. Allelic variation of the rs1042778 and rs237887 SNPs did not moderate mesolimbic activation during either reward anticipation or outcomes. This preliminary study suggests that the OXTR SNP rs2268493, which has been previously identified as an ASD risk gene, moderates mesolimbic responses during reward anticipation. Given previous findings of decreased mesolimbic activation during reward anticipation in ASD, the present results suggest that OXTR may confer ASD risk via influences on the neural systems that support reward anticipation.

Reward Circuitry Function in Autism during Face Anticipation and Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dichter, Gabriel S.; Richey, J. Anthony; Rittenberg, Alison M.; Sabatino, Antoinette; Bodfish, James W.

2012-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate reward circuitry responses in autism during reward anticipation and outcomes for monetary and social rewards. During monetary anticipation, participants with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) showed hypoactivation in right nucleus accumbens and hyperactivation in right hippocampus, whereas during monetary…

Genetic basis of delay discounting in frequent gamblers: examination of a priori candidates and exploration of a panel of dopamine-related loci

PubMed Central

Gray, Joshua C; MacKillop, James

2014-01-01

Introduction Delay discounting is a behavioral economic index of impulsivity that reflects preferences for small immediate rewards relative to larger delayed rewards. It has been consistently linked to pathological gambling and other forms of addictive behavior, and has been proposed to be a behavioral characteristic that may link genetic variation and risk of developing addictive disorders (i.e., an endophenotype). Studies to date have revealed significant associations with polymorphisms associated with dopamine neurotransmission. The current study examined associations between delay discounting and both previously linked variants and a novel panel of dopamine-related variants in a sample of frequent gamblers. Methods Participants were 175 weekly gamblers of European ancestry who completed the Monetary Choice Questionnaire to assess delay discounting preferences and provided a DNA via saliva. Results In a priori tests, two loci previously associated with delayed reward discounting (rs1800497 and rs4680) were not replicated, however, the long form of DRD4 VNTR was significantly associated with lower discounting of delayed rewards. Exploratory analysis of the dopamine-related panel revealed 11 additional significant associations in genes associated with dopamine synthesis, breakdown, reuptake, and receptor function (DRD3, SLC6A3, DDC, DBH, and SLC18A2). An aggregate genetic risk score from the nominally significant loci accounted for 17% of the variance in discounting. Mediational analyses largely supported the presence of indirect effects between the associated loci, delay discounting, and pathological gambling severity. Conclusions These findings do not replicate previously reported associations but identify several novel candidates and provide preliminary support for a systems biology approach to understand the genetic basis of delay discounting. PMID:25365808

Human aging reduces the neurobehavioral influence of motivation on episodic memory.

PubMed

Geddes, Maiya R; Mattfeld, Aaron T; Angeles, Carlo de Los; Keshavan, Anisha; Gabrieli, John D E

2018-05-01

The neural circuitry mediating the influence of motivation on long-term declarative or episodic memory formation is delineated in young adults, but its status is unknown in healthy aging. We examined the effect of reward and punishment anticipation on intentional declarative memory formation for words using an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) monetary incentive encoding task in twenty-one younger and nineteen older adults. At 24-hour memory retrieval testing, younger adults were significantly more likely to remember words associated with motivational cues than neutral cues. Motivational enhancement of memory in younger adults occurred only for recollection ("remember" responses) and not for familiarity ("familiar" responses). Older adults had overall diminished memory and did not show memory gains in association with motivational cues. Memory encoding associated with monetary rewards or punishments activated motivational (substantia nigra/ventral tegmental area) and memory-related (hippocampus) brain regions in younger, but not older, adults during the target word periods. In contrast, older and younger adults showed similar activation of these brain regions during the anticipatory motivational cue interval. In a separate monetary incentive delay task that did not require learning, we found evidence for relatively preserved striatal reward anticipation in older adults. This supports a potential dissociation between incidental and intentional motivational processes in healthy aging. The finding that motivation to obtain rewards and avoid punishments had reduced behavioral and neural influence on intentional episodic memory formation in older compared to younger adults is relevant to life-span theories of cognitive aging including the dopaminergic vulnerability hypothesis. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Nalmefene Reduces Reward Anticipation in Alcohol Dependence: An Experimental Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study.

PubMed

Quelch, Darren R; Mick, Inge; McGonigle, John; Ramos, Anna C; Flechais, Remy S A; Bolstridge, Mark; Rabiner, Eugenii; Wall, Matthew B; Newbould, Rexford D; Steiniger-Brach, Björn; van den Berg, Franz; Boyce, Malcolm; Østergaard Nilausen, Dorrit; Breuning Sluth, Lasse; Meulien, Didier; von der Goltz, Christoph; Nutt, David; Lingford-Hughes, Anne

2017-06-01

Nalmefene is a µ and δ opioid receptor antagonist, κ opioid receptor partial agonist that has recently been approved in Europe for treating alcohol dependence. It offers a treatment approach for alcohol-dependent individuals with "high-risk drinking levels" to reduce their alcohol consumption. However, the neurobiological mechanism underpinning its effects on alcohol consumption remains to be determined. Using a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject crossover design we aimed to determine the effect of a single dose of nalmefene on striatal blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal change during anticipation of monetary reward using the monetary incentive delay task following alcohol challenge. Twenty-two currently heavy-drinking, non-treatment-seeking alcohol-dependent males were recruited. The effect of single dose nalmefene (18 mg) on changes in a priori defined striatal region of interest BOLD signal change during reward anticipation compared with placebo was investigated using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Both conditions were performed under intravenous alcohol administration (6% vol/vol infusion to achieve a target level of 80 mg/dL). Datasets from 18 participants were available and showed that in the presence of the alcohol infusion, nalmefene significantly reduced the BOLD response in the striatal region of interest compared with placebo. Nalmefene did not alter brain perfusion. Nalmefene blunts BOLD response in the mesolimbic system during anticipation of monetary reward and an alcohol infusion. This is consistent with nalmefene's actions on opioid receptors, which modulate the mesolimbic dopaminergic system, and provides a neurobiological basis for its efficacy. Copyright © 2017 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Promising high monetary rewards for future task performance increases intermediate task performance.

PubMed

Zedelius, Claire M; Veling, Harm; Bijleveld, Erik; Aarts, Henk

2012-01-01

In everyday life contexts and work settings, monetary rewards are often contingent on future performance. Based on research showing that the anticipation of rewards causes improved task performance through enhanced task preparation, the present study tested the hypothesis that the promise of monetary rewards for future performance would not only increase future performance, but also performance on an unrewarded intermediate task. Participants performed an auditory Simon task in which they responded to two consecutive tones. While participants could earn high vs. low monetary rewards for fast responses to every second tone, their responses to the first tone were not rewarded. Moreover, we compared performance under conditions in which reward information could prompt strategic performance adjustments (i.e., when reward information was presented for a relatively long duration) to conditions preventing strategic performance adjustments (i.e., when reward information was presented very briefly). Results showed that high (vs. low) rewards sped up both rewarded and intermediate, unrewarded responses, and the effect was independent of the duration of reward presentation. Moreover, long presentation led to a speed-accuracy trade-off for both rewarded and unrewarded tones, whereas short presentation sped up responses to rewarded and unrewarded tones without this trade-off. These results suggest that high rewards for future performance boost intermediate performance due to enhanced task preparation, and they do so regardless whether people respond to rewards in a strategic or non-strategic manner.

Promising High Monetary Rewards for Future Task Performance Increases Intermediate Task Performance

PubMed Central

Zedelius, Claire M.; Veling, Harm; Bijleveld, Erik; Aarts, Henk

2012-01-01

In everyday life contexts and work settings, monetary rewards are often contingent on future performance. Based on research showing that the anticipation of rewards causes improved task performance through enhanced task preparation, the present study tested the hypothesis that the promise of monetary rewards for future performance would not only increase future performance, but also performance on an unrewarded intermediate task. Participants performed an auditory Simon task in which they responded to two consecutive tones. While participants could earn high vs. low monetary rewards for fast responses to every second tone, their responses to the first tone were not rewarded. Moreover, we compared performance under conditions in which reward information could prompt strategic performance adjustments (i.e., when reward information was presented for a relatively long duration) to conditions preventing strategic performance adjustments (i.e., when reward information was presented very briefly). Results showed that high (vs. low) rewards sped up both rewarded and intermediate, unrewarded responses, and the effect was independent of the duration of reward presentation. Moreover, long presentation led to a speed-accuracy trade-off for both rewarded and unrewarded tones, whereas short presentation sped up responses to rewarded and unrewarded tones without this trade-off. These results suggest that high rewards for future performance boost intermediate performance due to enhanced task preparation, and they do so regardless whether people respond to rewards in a strategic or non-strategic manner. PMID:22905145

A Monetary Reward Alters Pacing but Not Performance in Competitive Cyclists.

PubMed

Skorski, Sabrina; Thompson, Kevin G; Keegan, Richard J; Meyer, Tim; Abbiss, Chris R

2017-01-01

Money has frequently been used as an extrinsic motivator since it is assumed that humans are willing to invest more effort for financial reward. However, the influence of a monetary reward on pacing and performance in trained athletes is not well-understood. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyse the influence of a monetary reward in well-trained cyclists on their pacing and performance during short and long cycling time trials (TT). Twentythree cyclists (6 ♀, 17 ♂) completed 4 self-paced time trials (TTs, 2 short: 4 km and 6 min; 2 long: 20 km and 30 min); in a randomized order. Participants were separated into parallel, non-randomized "rewarded" and "non-rewarded" groups. Cyclists in the rewarded group received a monetary reward based on highest mean power output across all TTs. Cyclists in the non-rewarded group did not receive a monetary reward. Overall performance was not significantly different between groups in short or long TTs ( p > 0.48). Power output showed moderatly lower effect sizes at comencement of the short TTs ( P meandiff = 36.6 W; d > 0.44) and the 20 km TT ( P meandiff = 22.6 W; d = 0.44) in the rewarded group. No difference was observed in pacing during the 30 min TT ( p = 0.95). An external reward seems to have influenced pacing at the commencement of time trials. Participants in the non-rewarded group adopted a typical parabolic shaped pattern, whereas participants in the rewarded group started trials more conservatively. Results raise the possibility that using money as an extrinsic reward may interfere with regulatory processes required for effective pacing.

Neural markers of social and monetary rewards in children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder

PubMed Central

Gonzalez-Gadea, Maria Luz; Sigman, Mariano; Rattazzi, Alexia; Lavin, Claudio; Rivera-Rei, Alvaro; Marino, Julian; Manes, Facundo; Ibanez, Agustin

2016-01-01

Recent theories of decision making propose a shared value-related brain mechanism for encoding monetary and social rewards. We tested this model in children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and control children. We monitored participants’ brain dynamics using high density-electroencephalography while they played a monetary and social reward tasks. Control children exhibited a feedback Error-Related Negativity (fERN) modulation and Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) source activation during both tasks. Remarkably, although cooperation resulted in greater losses for the participants, the betrayal options generated greater fERN responses. ADHD subjects exhibited an absence of fERN modulation and reduced ACC activation during both tasks. ASD subjects exhibited normal fERN modulation during monetary choices and inverted fERN/ACC responses in social options than did controls. These results suggest that in neurotypicals, monetary losses and observed disloyal social decisions induced similar activity in the brain value system. In ADHD children, difficulties in reward processing affected early brain signatures of monetary and social decisions. Conversely, ASD children showed intact neural markers of value-related monetary mechanisms, but no brain modulation by prosociality in the social task. These results offer insight into the typical and atypical developments of neural correlates of monetary and social reward processing. PMID:27464551

Impaired Learning of Social Compared to Monetary Rewards in Autism

PubMed Central

Lin, Alice; Rangel, Antonio; Adolphs, Ralph

2012-01-01

A leading hypothesis to explain the social dysfunction in people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is that they exhibit a deficit in reward processing and motivation specific to social stimuli. However, there have been few direct tests of this hypothesis to date. Here we used an instrumental reward learning task that contrasted learning with social rewards (pictures of positive and negative faces) against learning with monetary reward (winning and losing money). The two tasks were structurally identical except for the type of reward, permitting direct comparisons. We tested 10 high-functioning people with ASD (7M, 3F) and 10 healthy controls who were matched on gender, age, and education. We found no significant differences between the two groups in terms of overall ability behaviorally to discriminate positive from negative slot machines, reaction-times, and valence ratings, However, there was a specific impairment in the ASD group in learning to choose social rewards, compared to monetary rewards: they had a significantly lower cumulative number of choices of the most rewarding social slot machine, and had a significantly slower initial learning rate for the socially rewarding slot machine, compared to the controls. The findings show a deficit in reward learning in ASD that is greater for social rewards than for monetary rewards, and support the hypothesis of a disproportionate impairment in social reward processing in ASD. PMID:23060743

I want to media multitask and I want to do it now: Individual differences in media multitasking predict delay of gratification and system-1 thinking.

PubMed

Schutten, Dan; Stokes, Kirk A; Arnell, Karen M

2017-01-01

Media multitasking, the concurrent use of multiple media forms, has been shown to be related to greater self-reported impulsivity and less self-control. These measures are both hallmarks of the need for immediate gratification which has been associated with fast, intuitive 'system-1' decision making, as opposed to more deliberate and effortful 'system-2' decision making. In Study 1, we used the Cognitive Reflection Task (CRT) to examine whether individuals who engage heavily in media multitasking differ from those who are light media multitaskers in their degree of system-1 versus system-2 thinking. In Study 2 we examined whether heavy and light media multitaskers differ in delay of gratification, using the delay discounting measure which estimates the preference for smaller immediate rewards, relative to larger delayed rewards in a hypothetical monetary choice task. We found that heavy media multitaskers were more likely than light media multitaskers to endorse intuitive, but wrong, decisions on the CRT indicating a greater reliance on 'system-1' thinking. Heavy media multitaskers were also willing to settle for less money immediately relative to light media multitaskers who were more willing to wait for the larger delayed reward. These results suggest that heavy media multitaskers have a reactive decision-making style that promotes current desires (money, ease of processing) at the expense of accuracy and future rewards. These findings highlight the potential for heavy media multitaskers to be at risk for problematic behaviors associated with delay discounting - behaviors such as substance abuse, overeating, problematic gambling, and poor financial management.

A common neural code for social and monetary rewards in the human striatum

PubMed Central

Wake, Stephanie J

2017-01-01

Abstract Although managing social information and decision making on the basis of reward is critical for survival, it remains uncertain whether differing reward type is processed in a uniform manner. Previously, we demonstrated that monetary reward and the social reward of good reputation activated the same striatal regions including the caudate nucleus and putamen. However, it remains unclear whether overlapping activations reflect activities of identical neuronal populations or two overlapping but functionally independent neuronal populations. Here, we re-analyzed the original data and addressed this question using multivariate-pattern-analysis and found evidence that in the left caudate nucleus and bilateral nucleus accumbens, social vs monetary reward were represented similarly. The findings suggest that social and monetary rewards are processed by the same population of neurons within these regions of the striatum. Additional findings demonstrated similar neural patterns when participants experience high social reward compared to viewing others receiving low social reward (potentially inducing schadenfreude). This is possibly an early indication that the same population of neurons may be responsible for processing two different types of social reward (good reputation and schadenfreude). These findings provide a supplementary perspective to previous research, helping to further elucidate the mechanisms behind social vs non-social reward processing. PMID:28985408

A common neural code for social and monetary rewards in the human striatum.

PubMed

Wake, Stephanie J; Izuma, Keise

2017-10-01

Although managing social information and decision making on the basis of reward is critical for survival, it remains uncertain whether differing reward type is processed in a uniform manner. Previously, we demonstrated that monetary reward and the social reward of good reputation activated the same striatal regions including the caudate nucleus and putamen. However, it remains unclear whether overlapping activations reflect activities of identical neuronal populations or two overlapping but functionally independent neuronal populations. Here, we re-analyzed the original data and addressed this question using multivariate-pattern-analysis and found evidence that in the left caudate nucleus and bilateral nucleus accumbens, social vs monetary reward were represented similarly. The findings suggest that social and monetary rewards are processed by the same population of neurons within these regions of the striatum. Additional findings demonstrated similar neural patterns when participants experience high social reward compared to viewing others receiving low social reward (potentially inducing schadenfreude). This is possibly an early indication that the same population of neurons may be responsible for processing two different types of social reward (good reputation and schadenfreude). These findings provide a supplementary perspective to previous research, helping to further elucidate the mechanisms behind social vs non-social reward processing. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press.

Insula and striatum activity in effort-related monetary reward processing in gambling disorder: the role of depressive symptomatology.

PubMed

Fauth-Bühler, Mira; Zois, Evangelos; Vollstädt-Klein, Sabine; Lemenager, Tagrid; Beutel, Martin; Mann, Karl

2014-01-01

The neurobiological underpinnings of effort-related monetary reward processing of gambling disorder have not been previously studied. To date neuroimaging studies lack in large sample sizes and as a consequence less attention has been given to brain reward processing that could potentially be attributed to comorbid conditions such as depressive mood state. We assessed monetary reward processing using an effort-dependent task during 3 tesla functional magnetic resonance imaging. We investigated a large sample of male, right-handed, slot-machine-playing disordered gamblers (DGs; N = 80) as well as age- and smoking-matched male healthy controls (HCs; N = 89). Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). DGs and HCs were divided into subgroups ("high" and "low") based on their BDI scores. Effort-related monetary reward processing did not differ between the complete groups of HCs and DGs. Brain activation during receipt of monetary reward though revealed a significant Group × BDI interaction: DGs with higher BDI scores compared to DGs with lower BDI scores showed greater brain activity in the right insula cortex and dorsal striatum while no differences were observed for HCs with higher versus lower BDI scores. Our results suggest that effort-related aspects of monetary motivation, i.e. when monetary output is tied to performance, are not altered in DG. Additionally, our findings strengthen the need for subgroup comparisons in future investigations of the disorder as part of a personalized medicine approach.

Incidental rewarding cues influence economic decisions in people with obesity.

PubMed

Simmank, Jakob; Murawski, Carsten; Bode, Stefan; Horstmann, Annette

2015-01-01

Recent research suggests that obesity is linked to prominent alterations in learning and decision-making. This general difference may also underlie the preference for immediately consumable, highly palatable but unhealthy and high-calorie foods. Such poor food-related inter-temporal decision-making can explain weight gain; however, it is not yet clear whether this deficit can be generalized to other domains of inter-temporal decision-making, for example financial decisions. Further, little is known about the stability of decision-making behavior in obesity, especially in the presence of rewarding cues. To answer these questions, obese and lean participants (n = 52) completed two sessions of a novel priming paradigm including a computerized monetary delay discounting task. In the first session, general differences between groups in financial delay discounting were measured. In the second session, we tested the general stability of discount rates. Additionally, participants were primed by affective visual cues of different contextual categories before making financial decisions. We found that the obese group showed stronger discounting of future monetary rewards than the lean group, but groups did not differ in their general stability between sessions nor in their sensitivity toward changes in reward magnitude. In the obese group, a fast decrease of subjective value over time was directly related to a higher tendency for opportunistic eating. Obese in contrast to lean people were primed by the affective cues, showing a sex-specific pattern of priming direction. Our findings demonstrate that environments rich of cues, aiming at inducing unhealthy consumer decisions, can be highly detrimental for obese people. It also underscores that obesity is not merely a medical condition but has a strong cognitive component, meaning that current dietary and medical treatment strategies may fall too short.

Incidental rewarding cues influence economic decisions in people with obesity

PubMed Central

Simmank, Jakob; Murawski, Carsten; Bode, Stefan; Horstmann, Annette

2015-01-01

Recent research suggests that obesity is linked to prominent alterations in learning and decision-making. This general difference may also underlie the preference for immediately consumable, highly palatable but unhealthy and high-calorie foods. Such poor food-related inter-temporal decision-making can explain weight gain; however, it is not yet clear whether this deficit can be generalized to other domains of inter-temporal decision-making, for example financial decisions. Further, little is known about the stability of decision-making behavior in obesity, especially in the presence of rewarding cues. To answer these questions, obese and lean participants (n = 52) completed two sessions of a novel priming paradigm including a computerized monetary delay discounting task. In the first session, general differences between groups in financial delay discounting were measured. In the second session, we tested the general stability of discount rates. Additionally, participants were primed by affective visual cues of different contextual categories before making financial decisions. We found that the obese group showed stronger discounting of future monetary rewards than the lean group, but groups did not differ in their general stability between sessions nor in their sensitivity toward changes in reward magnitude. In the obese group, a fast decrease of subjective value over time was directly related to a higher tendency for opportunistic eating. Obese in contrast to lean people were primed by the affective cues, showing a sex-specific pattern of priming direction. Our findings demonstrate that environments rich of cues, aiming at inducing unhealthy consumer decisions, can be highly detrimental for obese people. It also underscores that obesity is not merely a medical condition but has a strong cognitive component, meaning that current dietary and medical treatment strategies may fall too short. PMID:26528158

Atypical valuation of monetary and cigarette rewards in substance dependent smokers.

PubMed

Baker, Travis E; Wood, Jonathan M A; Holroyd, Clay B

2016-02-01

Substance dependent (SD) relative to non-dependent (ND) individuals exhibit an attenuated reward positivity, an electrophysiological signal believed to index sensitivity of anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) to rewards. Here we asked whether this altered neural response reflects a specific devaluation of monetary rewards relative to drug-related rewards by ACC. We recorded the reward positivity from SD and ND individuals who currently smoke, following an overnight period of abstinence, while they engaged in two feedback tasks. In a money condition the feedback indicated either a monetary reward or no reward, and in a cigarette condition the feedback indicated either a drug-related reward or no reward. Overall, cigarette relative to monetary rewards elicited a larger reward positivity. Further, for the subjects who engaged in the money condition first, the reward positivity was smaller for the SD compared to the ND participants, but for the subjects who engaged in the cigarette condition first, the reward positivity was larger for the SD compared to the ND participants. Our results suggest that the initial category of feedback "primed" the response of the ACC to the alternative feedback type on subsequent trials, and that SD and ND individuals responded differently to this priming effect. We propose that for people who misuse addictive substances, the prospect of obtaining drug-related rewards engages the ACC to exert control over extended behaviors. Copyright © 2015 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Loss anticipation and outcome during the Monetary Incentive Delay Task: a neuroimaging systematic review and meta-analysis

PubMed Central

Dugré, Jules R.; Dumais, Alexandre; Bitar, Nathalie

2018-01-01

Background Reward seeking and avoidance of punishment are key motivational processes. Brain-imaging studies often use the Monetary Incentive Delay Task (MIDT) to evaluate motivational processes involved in maladaptive behavior. Although the bulk of research has been done on the MIDT reward events, little is known about the neural basis of avoidance of punishment. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis of brain activations during anticipation and receipt of monetary losses in healthy controls. Methods All functional neuro-imaging studies using the MIDT in healthy controls were retrieved using PubMed, Google Scholar & EMBASE databases. Functional neuro-imaging data was analyzed using the Seed-based d Mapping Software. Results Thirty-five studies met the inclusion criteria, comprising 699 healthy adults. In both anticipation and loss outcome phases, participants showed large and robust activations in the bilateral striatum, (anterior) insula, and anterior cingulate gyrus relatively to Loss > Neutral contrast. Although relatively similar activation patterns were observed during the two event types, they differed in the pattern of prefrontal activations: ventro-lateral prefrontal activations were observed during loss anticipation, while medial prefrontal activations were observed during loss receipt. Discussion Considering that previous meta-analyses highlighted activations in the medial prefrontal cortex/anterior cingulate cortex, the anterior insula and the ventral striatum, the current meta-analysis highlighted the potential specificity of the ventro-lateral prefrontal regions, the median cingulate cortex and the amygdala in the loss events. Future studies can rely on these latter results to examine the neural correlates of loss processing in psychiatric populations characterized by harm avoidance or insensitivity to punishment. PMID:29761060

Loss anticipation and outcome during the Monetary Incentive Delay Task: a neuroimaging systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Dugré, Jules R; Dumais, Alexandre; Bitar, Nathalie; Potvin, Stéphane

2018-01-01

Reward seeking and avoidance of punishment are key motivational processes. Brain-imaging studies often use the Monetary Incentive Delay Task (MIDT) to evaluate motivational processes involved in maladaptive behavior. Although the bulk of research has been done on the MIDT reward events, little is known about the neural basis of avoidance of punishment. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis of brain activations during anticipation and receipt of monetary losses in healthy controls. All functional neuro-imaging studies using the MIDT in healthy controls were retrieved using PubMed, Google Scholar & EMBASE databases. Functional neuro-imaging data was analyzed using the Seed-based d Mapping Software. Thirty-five studies met the inclusion criteria, comprising 699 healthy adults. In both anticipation and loss outcome phases, participants showed large and robust activations in the bilateral striatum, (anterior) insula, and anterior cingulate gyrus relatively to Loss > Neutral contrast. Although relatively similar activation patterns were observed during the two event types, they differed in the pattern of prefrontal activations: ventro-lateral prefrontal activations were observed during loss anticipation, while medial prefrontal activations were observed during loss receipt. Considering that previous meta-analyses highlighted activations in the medial prefrontal cortex/anterior cingulate cortex, the anterior insula and the ventral striatum, the current meta-analysis highlighted the potential specificity of the ventro-lateral prefrontal regions, the median cingulate cortex and the amygdala in the loss events. Future studies can rely on these latter results to examine the neural correlates of loss processing in psychiatric populations characterized by harm avoidance or insensitivity to punishment.

Temporal discounting across three psychiatric disorders: Anorexia nervosa, obsessive compulsive disorder, and social anxiety disorder.

PubMed

Steinglass, Joanna E; Lempert, Karolina M; Choo, Tse-Hwei; Kimeldorf, Marcia B; Wall, Melanie; Walsh, B Timothy; Fyer, Abby J; Schneier, Franklin R; Simpson, H Blair

2017-05-01

Temporal discounting refers to the tendency for rewards to lose value as the expected delay to receipt increases. Individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) have been found to show reduced temporal discounting rates, indicating a greater preference for delayed rewards compared to healthy peers. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and social anxiety disorder (SAD) commonly co-occur with AN, and anxiety has been related to development and prognosis of AN. We examined whether reduced temporal discounting is present across these potentially related disorders, and explored the relationship between temporal discounting and anxiety transdiagnostically. One hundred ninety six individuals (75 healthy controls (HC); 50 OCD; 27 AN; 44 SAD) completed two temporal discounting tasks in which they chose between smaller-sooner and larger-later monetary rewards. Two measures of discounting-discount rate and discount factor-were compared between diagnostic groups, and associations with anxious traits were examined. Individuals with AN showed decreased temporal discounting compared to HC. OCD and SAD groups did not differ significantly from HC. Across the sample, anxiety was associated with decreased discounting; more anxious individuals showed a greater preference for delayed reward. We replicated the findings that individuals with AN show an increased preference for delayed reward relative to HC and that individuals with OCD do not differ from HC. We also showed that individuals with SAD do not differ from HC in discounting. Across this large sample, two measures of anxious temperament were associated with temporal discounting. These data raise new questions about the relationship between this dimensional trait and psychopathology. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Temporal discounting across three psychiatric disorders: Anorexia nervosa, obsessive compulsive disorder, and social anxiety disorder

PubMed Central

Steinglass, Joanna E.; Lempert, Karolina M.; Choo, Tse-Hwei; Kimeldorf, Marcia B.; Wall, Melanie; Walsh, B. Timothy; Fyer, Abby J.; Schneier, Franklin R.; Simpson, H. Blair

2018-01-01

Background Temporal discounting refers to the tendency for rewards to lose value as the expected delay to receipt increases. Individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) have been found to show reduced temporal discounting rates, indicating a greater preference for delayed rewards compared to healthy peers. Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) and social anxiety disorder (SAD) commonly co-occur with AN, and anxiety has been related to development and prognosis of AN. We examined whether reduced temporal discounting is present across these potentially related disorders, and explored the relationship between temporal discounting and anxiety trans-diagnostically. Methods One hundred ninety six individuals (75 healthy controls (HC); 50 OCD; 27 AN; 44 SAD) completed two temporal discounting tasks in which they chose between smaller-sooner and larger-later monetary rewards. Two measures of discounting—discount rate and discount factor—were compared between diagnostic groups, and associations with anxious traits were examined. Results Individuals with AN showed decreased temporal discounting compared to HC. OCD and SAD groups did not differ significantly from HC. Across the sample, anxiety was associated with decreased discounting; more anxious individuals showed a greater preference for delayed reward. Conclusions We replicated the findings that individuals with AN show an increased preference for delayed reward relative to HC and that individuals with OCD do not differ from HC. We also showed that individuals with SAD do not differ from HC in discounting. Across this large sample, two measures of anxious temperament were associated with temporal discounting. These data raise new questions about the relationship between this dimensional trait and psychopathology. PMID:28009473

Steep Delay Discounting and Addictive Behavior: A Meta-Analysis of Continuous Associations

PubMed Central

Amlung, Michael; Vedelago, Lana; Acker, John; Balodis, Iris; MacKillop, James

2016-01-01

Aims To synthesize continuous associations between delayed reward discounting (DRD) and both addiction severity and quantity-frequency (QF); to examine moderators of these relationships; and to investigate publication bias. Methods Meta-analysis of published studies examining continuous associations between DRD and addictive behaviors. Published, peer-reviewed studies on addictive behaviors (alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, stimulants, opiates, and gambling) were identified via PubMed, MEDLINE, and PsycInfo. Studies were restricted to DRD measures of monetary gains. Random effects meta-analysis was conducted using Pearson’s r as the effect size. Publication bias was evaluated using fail-safe N, Begg-Mazumdar and Egger’s tests, meta-regression of publication year and effect size, and imputation of missing studies. Results The primary meta-analysis revealed a small magnitude effect size that was highly significant (r = 0.14, p < 10−14). Significantly larger effect sizes were observed for studies examining severity compared with QF (p = 0.01), but not between the type of addictive behavior (p = 0.30) or DRD assessment (p = 0.90). Indices of publication bias suggested a modest impact of unpublished findings. Conclusions Delayed reward discounting is robustly associated with continuous measures of addiction severity and quantity-frequency. This relation is generally robust across type of addictive behavior and delayed reward discounting assessment modality. PMID:27450931

Behavioral Economic Predictors of Overweight Children’s Weight Loss

PubMed Central

Best, John R.; Theim, Kelly R.; Gredysa, Dana M.; Stein, Richard I.; Welch, R. Robinson; Saelens, Brian E.; Perri, Michael G.; Schechtman, Kenneth B.; Epstein, Leonard H.; Wilfley, Denise E.

2012-01-01

Objective Our goal was to determine whether behavioral economic constructs—including impulsivity (i.e., steep discounting of delayed food and monetary rewards), the relative reinforcing value of food (RRVfood), and environmental enrichment (i.e., the presence of alternatives to unhealthy foods in the home and neighborhood environments)—are significant pretreatment predictors of overweight children’s weight loss within family-based treatment. Method Overweight children (N = 241; ages 7–12 years; 63% female; 65% non-Hispanic White) enrolled in a 16-week family-based obesity treatment with at least one parent. At baseline, children completed a task to assess RRVfood and delay discounting measures of snack foods and money to assess impulsivity. Parents completed questionnaires to assess environmental enrichment. Results Children who found food highly reinforcing and steeply discounted future food rewards at baseline showed a blunted response to treatment compared with children without this combination of risk factors. High environmental enrichment was associated with treatment success only among children who did not find food highly reinforcing. Monetary discounting rate predicted weight loss, regardless of children’s level of RRVfood. Conclusions Investigation is warranted into novel approaches to obesity treatment that target underlying impulsivity and RRVfood. Enriching the environment with alternatives to unhealthy eating may facilitate weight loss, especially for children with low RRVfood. PMID:22924332

Striatal dopaminergic reward response relates to age of first drunkenness and feedback response in at-risk youth.

PubMed

Weiland, Barbara J; Zucker, Robert A; Zubieta, Jon-Kar; Heitzeg, Mary M

2017-03-01

Dopamine receptor concentrations, primarily in the striatum, are hypothesized to contribute to a developmental imbalance between subcortical and prefrontal control systems in emerging adulthood potentially biasing motivation and increasing risky behaviors. Positron emission tomography studies have found significant reductions in striatal dopamine D2 receptors, and blunted amphetamine-induced dopamine release, in substance users compared with healthy controls. Extant literature is limited and inconsistent concerning vulnerability associated with having a family history of substance abuse (FH+). Some studies have reported familial liability associated with higher dopamine receptor levels, reduced dopamine response to stimulant challenges and decreased response to oral alcohol. However, other reports have failed to find group differences based on family history. We explored the interaction of familial liability and behavioral risk with multi-modal molecular and neural imaging of the dopaminergic system. Forty-four young adult male subjects performed monetary incentive delay tasks during both [ 11 C]raclopride positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging scans. FH+ subjects were identified as low (n = 24) or high risk (n = 9) based on early initiation of drunkenness. FH+ high-risk subjects exhibited heightened striatal dopamine response to monetary reward but did not differ in neural activations compared with FH+ low risk subjects and controls with no familial loading (n = 11). Across all subjects, a negative relationship was found between dopamine release and age of first drunkenness and a positive relationship with neural response to reward receipt. These results suggest that in at-risk individuals, higher dopamine transmission associated with monetary reward may represent a particularly useful neurobiological phenotype. © 2016 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Insula and striatum activity in effort-related monetary reward processing in gambling disorder: The role of depressive symptomatology

PubMed Central

Fauth-Bühler, Mira; Zois, Evangelos; Vollstädt-Klein, Sabine; Lemenager, Tagrid; Beutel, Martin; Mann, Karl

2014-01-01

The neurobiological underpinnings of effort-related monetary reward processing of gambling disorder have not been previously studied. To date neuroimaging studies lack in large sample sizes and as a consequence less attention has been given to brain reward processing that could potentially be attributed to comorbid conditions such as depressive mood state. We assessed monetary reward processing using an effort-dependent task during 3 tesla functional magnetic resonance imaging. We investigated a large sample of male, right-handed, slot-machine-playing disordered gamblers (DGs; N = 80) as well as age- and smoking-matched male healthy controls (HCs; N = 89). Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). DGs and HCs were divided into subgroups (“high” and “low”) based on their BDI scores. Effort-related monetary reward processing did not differ between the complete groups of HCs and DGs. Brain activation during receipt of monetary reward though revealed a significant Group × BDI interaction: DGs with higher BDI scores compared to DGs with lower BDI scores showed greater brain activity in the right insula cortex and dorsal striatum while no differences were observed for HCs with higher versus lower BDI scores. Our results suggest that effort-related aspects of monetary motivation, i.e. when monetary output is tied to performance, are not altered in DG. Additionally, our findings strengthen the need for subgroup comparisons in future investigations of the disorder as part of a personalized medicine approach. PMID:25379437

The impact of depressed mood, working memory capacity, and priming on delay discounting.

PubMed

Szuhany, Kristin L; MacKenzie, Danny; Otto, Michael W

2018-09-01

The impaired ability to delay rewards, delay discounting (DD), is associated with several problematic conditions in which impulsive decision-making derails long-term goals. Working memory (WM), the ability to actively store and manipulate information, is associated with DD. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of cognitive priming on DD and to identify moderation of this effect dependent on degree of WM capacity (WMC) and depressed mood. A WM task (n-back) was used as a cognitive prime before assessment of DD (Monetary Choice Questionnaire) and was compared to a similar prime from an inhibition task in a factorial design in 183 community participants. All participants completed a DD task and assessment of depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory-II). Priming effects were evaluated relative to WMC of participants. Higher WMC and lower depression scores were associated with greater relative preference for larger, delayed rewards. The effects of a WM prime were moderated by WMC; benefits of the prime were only evident for individuals with lower WMC. No effects were found for an alternative inhibition task. Limitations included depression scores mainly in subclinical range, use of hypothetical instead of real rewards in the DD task, and no examination of the time course of effects. This study provides support for the effectiveness of a brief WM prime in enhancing ability to delay rewards. Priming may be a useful adjunctive intervention for individuals with WM dysfunction or conditions in which impulsive decision-making may derail long-term goals. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The effect of graded monetary reward on cognitive event-related potentials and behavior in young healthy adults

PubMed Central

Goldstein, Rita Z.; Cottone, Lisa A.; Jia, Zhiru; Maloney, Thomas; Volkow, Nora D.; Squires, Nancy K.

2008-01-01

Temporal correlates of the brain circuit underlying reward processing in healthy adults remain unclear. The current study investigated the P3 and contingent negative variation (CNV) as putative reward-related temporal markers. The effect of sustained monetary reward on these event-related potentials and on behavior was assessed using a warned reaction-time paradigm in 16 young healthy subjects. Monetary reward (0, 1 and 45 cents) varied across blocks of trials. While the CNV was unaffected by money, P3 amplitude was significantly larger for 45 than the 1 and 0 cent conditions. This effect corresponded to the monotonically positive subjective ratings of interest and excitement on the task (45>1>0). These findings suggest a difference between the P3 and CNV; the P3 is sensitive to the sustained effect of relative reward value while the CNV does not vary with reward magnitude. PMID:16876894

DISCOUNTING OF DELAYED AND PROBABILISTIC LOSSES OVER A WIDE RANGE OF AMOUNTS

PubMed Central

Green, Leonard; Myerson, Joel; Oliveira, Luís; Chang, Seo Eun

2014-01-01

The present study examined delay and probability discounting of hypothetical monetary losses over a wide range of amounts (from $20 to $500,000) in order to determine how amount affects the parameters of the hyperboloid discounting function. In separate conditions, college students chose between immediate payments and larger, delayed payments and between certain payments and larger, probabilistic payments. The hyperboloid function accurately described both types of discounting, and amount of loss had little or no systematic effect on the degree of discounting. Importantly, the amount of loss also had little systematic effect on either the rate parameter or the exponent of the delay and probability discounting functions. The finding that the parameters of the hyperboloid function remain relatively constant across a wide range of amounts of delayed and probabilistic loss stands in contrast to the robust amount effects observed with delayed and probabilistic rewards. At the individual level, the degree to which delayed losses were discounted was uncorrelated with the degree to which probabilistic losses were discounted, and delay and probability loaded on two separate factors, similar to what is observed with delayed and probabilistic rewards. Taken together, these findings argue that although delay and probability discounting involve fundamentally different decision-making mechanisms, nevertheless the discounting of delayed and probabilistic losses share an insensitivity to amount that distinguishes it from the discounting of delayed and probabilistic gains. PMID:24745086

Monetary reward speeds up voluntary saccades.

PubMed

Chen, Lewis L; Chen, Y Mark; Zhou, Wu; Mustain, William D

2014-01-01

Past studies have shown that reward contingency is critical for sensorimotor learning, and reward expectation speeds up saccades in animals. Whether monetary reward speeds up saccades in human remains unknown. Here we addressed this issue by employing a conditional saccade task, in which human subjects performed a series of non-reflexive, visually-guided horizontal saccades. The subjects were (or were not) financially compensated for making a saccade in response to a centrally-displayed visual congruent (or incongruent) stimulus. Reward modulation of saccadic velocities was quantified independently of the amplitude-velocity coupling. We found that reward expectation significantly sped up voluntary saccades up to 30°/s, and the reward modulation was consistent across tests. These findings suggest that monetary reward speeds up saccades in human in a fashion analogous to how juice reward sped up saccades in monkeys. We further noticed that the idiosyncratic nasal-temporal velocity asymmetry was highly consistent regardless of test order, and its magnitude was not correlated with the magnitude of reward modulation. This suggests that reward modulation and the intrinsic velocity asymmetry may be governed by separate mechanisms that regulate saccade generation.

Steep discounting of delayed monetary and food rewards in obesity: a meta-analysis.

PubMed

Amlung, M; Petker, T; Jackson, J; Balodis, I; MacKillop, J

2016-08-01

An increasing number of studies have investigated delay discounting (DD) in relation to obesity, but with mixed findings. This meta-analysis synthesized the literature on the relationship between monetary and food DD and obesity, with three objectives: (1) to characterize the relationship between DD and obesity in both case-control comparisons and continuous designs; (2) to examine potential moderators, including case-control v. continuous design, money v. food rewards, sample sex distribution, and sample age (18 years); and (3) to evaluate publication bias. From 134 candidate articles, 39 independent investigations yielded 29 case-control and 30 continuous comparisons (total n = 10 278). Random-effects meta-analysis was conducted using Cohen's d as the effect size. Publication bias was evaluated using fail-safe N, Begg-Mazumdar and Egger tests, meta-regression of publication year and effect size, and imputation of missing studies. The primary analysis revealed a medium effect size across studies that was highly statistically significant (d = 0.43, p < 10-14). None of the moderators examined yielded statistically significant differences, although notably larger effect sizes were found for studies with case-control designs, food rewards and child/adolescent samples. Limited evidence of publication bias was present, although the Begg-Mazumdar test and meta-regression suggested a slightly diminishing effect size over time. Steep DD of food and money appears to be a robust feature of obesity that is relatively consistent across the DD assessment methodologies and study designs examined. These findings are discussed in the context of research on DD in drug addiction, the neural bases of DD in obesity, and potential clinical applications.

Pervasive competition between threat and reward in the brain

PubMed Central

Choi, Jong Moon; Padmala, Srikanth; Spechler, Philip

2014-01-01

In the current functional MRI study, we investigated interactions between reward and threat processing. Visual cues at the start of each trial informed participants about the chance of winning monetary reward and/or receiving a mild aversive shock. We tested two competing hypothesis: according to the ‘salience hypothesis’, in the condition involving both reward and threat, enhanced activation would be observed because of increased salience; according to the ‘competition hypothesis’, the processing of reward and threat would trade-off against each other, leading to reduced activation. Analysis of skin conductance data during a delay phase revealed an interaction between reward and threat processing, such that the effect of reward was reduced during threat and the effect of threat was reduced during reward. Analysis of imaging data during the same task phase revealed interactions between reward and threat processing in several regions, including the midbrain/ventral tegmental area, caudate, putamen, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, anterior insula, middle frontal gyrus and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. Taken together, our findings reveal conditions during which reward and threat trade-off against each other across multiple sites. Such interactions are suggestive of competitive processes and may reflect the organization of opponent systems in the brain. PMID:23547242

The brain correlates of the effects of monetary and verbal rewards on intrinsic motivation.

PubMed

Albrecht, Konstanze; Abeler, Johannes; Weber, Bernd; Falk, Armin

2014-01-01

Apart from everyday duties, such as doing the laundry or cleaning the house, there are tasks we do for pleasure and enjoyment. We do such tasks, like solving crossword puzzles or reading novels, without any external pressure or force; instead, we are intrinsically motivated: we do the tasks because we enjoy doing them. Previous studies suggest that external rewards, i.e., rewards from the outside, affect the intrinsic motivation to engage in a task: while performance-based monetary rewards are perceived as controlling and induce a business-contract framing, verbal rewards praising one's competence can enhance the perceived self-determination. Accordingly, the former have been shown to decrease intrinsic motivation, whereas the latter have been shown to increase intrinsic motivation. The present study investigated the neural processes underlying the effects of monetary and verbal rewards on intrinsic motivation in a group of 64 subjects applying functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We found that, when participants received positive performance feedback, activation in the anterior striatum and midbrain was affected by the nature of the reward; compared to a non-rewarded control group, activation was higher while monetary rewards were administered. However, we did not find a decrease in activation after reward withdrawal. In contrast, we found an increase in activation for verbal rewards: after verbal rewards had been withdrawn, participants showed a higher activation in the aforementioned brain areas when they received success compared to failure feedback. We further found that, while participants worked on the task, activation in the lateral prefrontal cortex was enhanced after the verbal rewards were administered and withdrawn.

The brain correlates of the effects of monetary and verbal rewards on intrinsic motivation

PubMed Central

Albrecht, Konstanze; Abeler, Johannes; Weber, Bernd; Falk, Armin

2014-01-01

Apart from everyday duties, such as doing the laundry or cleaning the house, there are tasks we do for pleasure and enjoyment. We do such tasks, like solving crossword puzzles or reading novels, without any external pressure or force; instead, we are intrinsically motivated: we do the tasks because we enjoy doing them. Previous studies suggest that external rewards, i.e., rewards from the outside, affect the intrinsic motivation to engage in a task: while performance-based monetary rewards are perceived as controlling and induce a business-contract framing, verbal rewards praising one's competence can enhance the perceived self-determination. Accordingly, the former have been shown to decrease intrinsic motivation, whereas the latter have been shown to increase intrinsic motivation. The present study investigated the neural processes underlying the effects of monetary and verbal rewards on intrinsic motivation in a group of 64 subjects applying functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We found that, when participants received positive performance feedback, activation in the anterior striatum and midbrain was affected by the nature of the reward; compared to a non-rewarded control group, activation was higher while monetary rewards were administered. However, we did not find a decrease in activation after reward withdrawal. In contrast, we found an increase in activation for verbal rewards: after verbal rewards had been withdrawn, participants showed a higher activation in the aforementioned brain areas when they received success compared to failure feedback. We further found that, while participants worked on the task, activation in the lateral prefrontal cortex was enhanced after the verbal rewards were administered and withdrawn. PMID:25278834

Texting while driving as impulsive choice: A behavioral economic analysis

PubMed Central

Hayashi, Yusuke; Russo, Christopher T.; Wirth, Oliver

2015-01-01

The goal of the present study was to examine the utility of a behavioral economic analysis to investigate the role of delay discounting in texting while driving. A sample of 147 college students completed a survey to assess how frequently they send and read text messages while driving. Based on this information, students were assigned to one of two groups: 19 students who frequently text while driving and 19 matched-control students who infrequently text while driving but were similar in gender, age, years of education, and years driving. The groups were compared on the extent to which they discounted, or devalued, delayed hypothetical monetary rewards using a delay-discounting task. In this task, students made repeated choices between $1000 available after a delay (ranging from 1 week to 10 years) and an equal or lesser amount of money available immediately. The results show that the students who frequently text while driving discounted delayed rewards at a greater rate than the matched control students. The study supports the conclusions that texting while driving is fundamentally an impulsive choice made by drivers, and that a behavioral economic approach may be a useful research tool for investigating the decision-making processes underlying risky behaviors. PMID:26280804

The link between callous-unemotional traits and neural mechanisms of reward processing: An fMRI study.

PubMed

Veroude, Kim; von Rhein, Daniel; Chauvin, Roselyne J M; van Dongen, Eelco V; Mennes, Maarten J J; Franke, Barbara; Heslenfeld, Dirk J; Oosterlaan, Jaap; Hartman, Catharina A; Hoekstra, Pieter J; Glennon, Jeffrey C; Buitelaar, Jan K

2016-09-30

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits, i.e., unconcernedness and lack of prosocial feelings, may manifest in Conduct Disorder (CD), but also in Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). These disorders have been associated with aberrant reward processing, while the influence of CU traits is unclear. Using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), we examined whether CU traits affect the neural circuit for reward. A Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) task was administered to 328 adolescents and young adults with varying levels of CU traits: 40 participants with ODD/CD plus ADHD, 101 participants with ADHD only, 84 siblings of probands with ADHD and 103 typically developing (TD) individuals. During reward anticipation, CU traits related negatively to medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) activity, independent of ADHD symptoms and ODD/CD diagnosis. Our results indicate that CU traits are a valuable dimension for assessing the neural basis of reward processing. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neural reactivity to monetary rewards and losses differentiates social from generalized anxiety in children.

PubMed

Kessel, Ellen M; Kujawa, Autumn; Hajcak Proudfit, Greg; Klein, Daniel N

2015-07-01

The relationship between reward sensitivity and pediatric anxiety is poorly understood. Evidence suggests that alterations in reward processing are more characteristic of depressive than anxiety disorders. However, some studies have reported that anxiety disorders are also associated with perturbations in reward processing. Heterogeneity in the forms of anxiety studied may account for the differences between studies. We used the feedback-negativity, an event-related potential sensitive to monetary gains versus losses (ΔFN), to examine whether different forms of youth anxiety symptoms were uniquely associated with reward sensitivity as indexed by neural reactivity to the receipt of positive and negative monetary outcomes. Participants were 390, eight- to ten-year-old children (175 females) from a large community sample. The ΔFN was measured during a monetary reward task. Self-reports of child anxiety and depression symptoms and temperamental positive emotionality (PE) were obtained. Multiple regression analysis revealed that social anxiety and generalized anxiety symptoms were unique predictors of reward sensitivity after accounting for concurrent depressive symptoms and PE. While social anxiety was associated with a greater ΔFN, generalized anxiety was associated with a reduced ΔFN. Different symptom dimensions of child anxiety are differentially related to alterations in reward sensitivity. This may, in part, explain inconsistent findings in the literature regarding reward processing in anxiety. © 2014 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

Humans Integrate Monetary and Liquid Incentives to Motivate Cognitive Task Performance

PubMed Central

Yee, Debbie M.; Krug, Marie K.; Allen, Ariel Z.; Braver, Todd S.

2016-01-01

It is unequivocal that a wide variety of incentives can motivate behavior. However, few studies have explicitly examined whether and how different incentives are integrated in terms of their motivational influence. The current study examines the combined effects of monetary and liquid incentives on cognitive processing, and whether appetitive and aversive incentives have distinct influences. We introduce a novel task paradigm, in which participants perform cued task-switching for monetary rewards that vary parametrically across trials, with liquid incentives serving as post-trial performance feedback. Critically, the symbolic meaning of the liquid was held constant (indicating successful reward attainment), while liquid valence was blocked. In the first experiment, monetary rewards combined additively with appetitive liquid feedback to improve subject task performance. Aversive liquid feedback counteracted monetary reward effects in low monetary reward trials, particularly in a subset of participants who tended to avoid responding under these conditions. Self-report motivation ratings predicted behavioral performance above and beyond experimental effects. A follow-up experiment replicated the predictive power of motivation ratings even when only appetitive liquids were used, suggesting that ratings reflect idiosyncratic subjective values of, rather than categorical differences between, the liquid incentives. Together, the findings indicate an integrative relationship between primary and secondary incentives and potentially dissociable influences in modulating motivational value, while informing hypotheses regarding candidate neural mechanisms. PMID:26834668

Funny money: the attentional role of monetary feedback detached from expected value.

PubMed

Roper, Zachary J J; Vecera, Shaun P

2016-10-01

Stimuli associated with monetary reward can become powerful cues that effectively capture visual attention. We examined whether such value-driven attentional capture can be induced with monetary feedback in the absence of an expected cash payout. To this end, we implemented images of U.S. dollar bills as reward feedback. Participants knew in advance that they would not receive any money based on their performance. Our reward stimuli-$5 and $20 bill images-were thus dissociated from any practical utility. Strikingly, we observed a reliable attentional capture effect for the mere images of bills. Moreover, this finding generalized to Monopoly money. In two control experiments, we found no evidence in favor of nominal or symbolic monetary value. Hence, we claim that bill images are special monetary representations, such that there are strong associations between the defining visual features of bills and reward, probably due to a lifelong learning history. Together, we show that the motivation to earn cash plays a minor role when it comes to monetary rewards, while bill-defining visual features seem to be sufficient. These findings have the potential to influence human factor applications, such as gamification, and can be extended to novel value systems, such as the electronic cash Bitcoin being developed for use in mobile banking. Finally, our procedure represents a proof of concept on how images of money can be used to conserve expenditures in the experimental context.

Positive mood enhances reward-related neural activity

PubMed Central

Nusslock, Robin

2016-01-01

Although behavioral research has shown that positive mood leads to desired outcomes in nearly every major life domain, no studies have directly examined the effects of positive mood on the neural processes underlying reward-related affect and goal-directed behavior. To address this gap, participants in the present fMRI study experienced either a positive (n = 20) or neutral (n = 20) mood induction and subsequently completed a monetary incentive delay task that assessed reward and loss processing. Consistent with prediction, positive mood elevated activity specifically during reward anticipation in corticostriatal neural regions that have been implicated in reward processing and goal-directed behavior, including the nucleus accumbens, caudate, lateral orbitofrontal cortex and putamen, as well as related paralimbic regions, including the anterior insula and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. These effects were not observed during reward outcome, loss anticipation or loss outcome. Critically, this is the first study to report that positive mood enhances reward-related neural activity. Our findings have implications for uncovering the neural mechanisms by which positive mood enhances goal-directed behavior, understanding the malleability of reward-related neural activity, and developing targeted treatments for psychiatric disorders characterized by deficits in reward processing. PMID:26833919

Blunted striatal response to monetary reward anticipation during smoking abstinence predicts lapse during a contingency-managed quit attempt

PubMed Central

Sweitzer, Maggie M.; Geier, Charles F.; Denlinger, Rachel; Forbes, Erika E.; Raiff, Bethany R.; Dallery, Jesse; McClernon, F.J.; Donny, Eric C.

2017-01-01

Rationale Tobacco smoking is associated with dysregulated reward processing within the striatum, characterized by hypersensitivity to smoking rewards and hyposensitivity to non-smoking rewards. This bias toward smoking reward at the expense of alternative rewards is further exacerbated by deprivation from smoking, which may contribute to difficulty maintaining abstinence during a quit attempt. Objective We examined whether abstinence-induced changes in striatal processing of rewards predicted lapse likelihood during a quit attempt supported by contingency management (CM), in which abstinence from smoking was reinforced with money. Methods Thirty-six non-treatment seeking smokers participated in two fMRI sessions, one following 24-hr abstinence and one following smoking as usual. During each scan, participants completed a rewarded guessing task designed to elicit striatal activation in which they could earn smoking and monetary rewards delivered after the scan. Participants then engaged in a 3-week CM-supported quit attempt. Results As previously reported, 24-hr abstinence was associated with increased striatal activation in anticipation of smoking reward and decreased activation in anticipation of monetary reward. Individuals exhibiting greater decrements in right striatal activation to monetary reward during abstinence (controlling for activation during non-abstinence) were more likely to lapse during CM (p<.05), even when controlling for other predictors of lapse outcome (e.g., craving); no association was seen for smoking reward. Conclusions These results are consistent with a growing number of studies indicating the specific importance of disrupted striatal processing of non-drug reward in nicotine dependence, and highlight the importance of individual differences in abstinence-induced deficits in striatal function for smoking cessation. PMID:26660448

Blunted striatal response to monetary reward anticipation during smoking abstinence predicts lapse during a contingency-managed quit attempt.

PubMed

Sweitzer, Maggie M; Geier, Charles F; Denlinger, Rachel; Forbes, Erika E; Raiff, Bethany R; Dallery, Jesse; McClernon, F J; Donny, Eric C

2016-03-01

Tobacco smoking is associated with dysregulated reward processing within the striatum, characterized by hypersensitivity to smoking rewards and hyposensitivity to non-smoking rewards. This bias toward smoking reward at the expense of alternative rewards is further exacerbated by deprivation from smoking, which may contribute to difficulty maintaining abstinence during a quit attempt. We examined whether abstinence-induced changes in striatal processing of rewards predicted lapse likelihood during a quit attempt supported by contingency management (CM), in which abstinence from smoking was reinforced with money. Thirty-six non-treatment-seeking smokers participated in two functional MRI (fMRI) sessions, one following 24-h abstinence and one following smoking as usual. During each scan, participants completed a rewarded guessing task designed to elicit striatal activation in which they could earn smoking and monetary rewards delivered after the scan. Participants then engaged in a 3-week CM-supported quit attempt. As previously reported, 24-h abstinence was associated with increased striatal activation in anticipation of smoking reward and decreased activation in anticipation of monetary reward. Individuals exhibiting greater decrements in right striatal activation to monetary reward during abstinence (controlling for activation during non-abstinence) were more likely to lapse during CM (p < 0.025), even when controlling for other predictors of lapse outcome (e.g., craving); no association was seen for smoking reward. These results are consistent with a growing number of studies indicating the specific importance of disrupted striatal processing of non-drug reward in nicotine dependence and highlight the importance of individual differences in abstinence-induced deficits in striatal function for smoking cessation.

Steep delay discounting and addictive behavior: a meta-analysis of continuous associations.

PubMed

Amlung, Michael; Vedelago, Lana; Acker, John; Balodis, Iris; MacKillop, James

2017-01-01

To synthesize continuous associations between delayed reward discounting (DRD) and both addiction severity and quantity-frequency (QF); to examine moderators of these relationships; and to investigate publication bias. Meta-analysis of published studies examining continuous associations between DRD and addictive behaviors. Published, peer-reviewed studies on addictive behaviors (alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, stimulants, opiates and gambling) were identified via PubMed, MEDLINE and PsycInfo. Studies were restricted to DRD measures of monetary gains. Random-effects meta-analysis was conducted using Pearson's r as the effect size. Publication bias was evaluated using fail-safe N, Begg-Mazumdar and Egger's tests, meta-regression of publication year and effect size and imputation of missing studies. The primary meta-analysis revealed a small magnitude effect size that was highly significant (r = 0.14, P < 10 -14 ). Significantly larger effect sizes were observed for studies examining severity compared with QF (P = 0.01), but not between the type of addictive behavior (P = 0.30) or DRD assessment (P = 0.90). Indices of publication bias suggested a modest impact of unpublished findings. Delayed reward discounting is associated robustly with continuous measures of addiction severity and quantity-frequency. This relation is generally robust across type of addictive behavior and delayed reward discounting assessment modality. © 2016 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Is it patience or motivation? On motivational confounds in intertemporal choice tasks.

PubMed

Paglieri, Fabio; Addessi, Elsa; Sbaffi, Agnese; Tasselli, Maria Isabella; Delfino, Alexia

2015-01-01

Intertemporal choices create a tension between amount maximization, which would favor the larger and later option (LL), and delay minimization, which would promote the smaller and sooner reward (SS). Two common interpretations of intertemporal choice behavior are discussed: looking at LL responses as indicative of self-control, and using intertemporal choices to assess delay aversion. We argue that both interpretations need to take into account motivational confounds, in order to be warranted by data. In intertemporal choices with prepotent, salient stimuli (e.g., food amounts, typically used with nonhuman primates), LL responses could also be indicative of failed inhibition of a "go for more" impulsive response-the opposite of self-control. Similarly, intertemporal choices can be used to measure delay aversion only with respect to the subject's baseline motivation to maximize the reinforcer in question, and this baseline is not always assessed in current experimental protocols. This concern is especially crucial in comparing intertemporal choices across different groups or manipulation. We focus in particular on the effects of reward types on intertemporal choices, presenting two experimental studies where the difference in behavior with monetary versus food rewards is the product of different baseline motivation, rather than variations in delay aversion. We conclude discussing the implications of these and other similar recent findings, which are far-reaching. © Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Effects of monetary reward and punishment on information checking behaviour.

PubMed

Li, Simon Y W; Cox, Anna L; Or, Calvin; Blandford, Ann

2016-03-01

Two experiments were conducted to examine whether checking one's own work can be motivated by monetary reward and punishment. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a flat-rate payment for completing the task (Control); payment increased for error-free performance (Reward); payment decreased for error performance (Punishment). Experiment 1 (N = 90) was conducted with liberal arts students, using a general data-entry task. Experiment 2 (N = 90) replicated Experiment 1 with clinical students and a safety-critical 'cover story' for the task. In both studies, Reward and Punishment resulted in significantly fewer errors, more frequent and longer checking, than Control. No such differences were obtained between the Reward and Punishment conditions. It is concluded that error consequences in terms of monetary reward and punishment can result in more accurate task performance and more rigorous checking behaviour than errors without consequences. However, whether punishment is more effective than reward, or vice versa, remains inconclusive. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Neural correlates of appetitive extinction in humans

PubMed Central

Tapia León, Isabell; Stark, Rudolf; Klucken, Tim

2017-01-01

Abstract Appetitive extinction receives attention as an important model for the treatment of psychiatric disorders. However, in humans, its underlying neural correlates remain unknown. To close this gap, we investigated appetitive acquisition and extinction with fMRI in a 2-day monetary incentive delay paradigm. During appetitive conditioning, one stimulus (CS+) was paired with monetary reward, while another stimulus (CS−) was never rewarded. Twenty-four hours later, subjects underwent extinction, in which neither CS was reinforced. Appetitive conditioning elicited stronger skin conductance responses to the CS+ as compared with the CS−. Regarding subjective ratings, the CS+ was rated more pleasant and arousing than the CS− after conditioning. Furthermore, fMRI-results (CS+ − CS−) showed activation of the reward circuitry including amygdala, midbrain and striatal areas. During extinction, conditioned responses were successfully extinguished. In the early phase of extinction, we found a significant activation of the caudate, the hippocampus, the dorsal and ventral anterior cingulate cortex (dACC and vACC). In the late phase, we found significant activation of the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and the amygdala. Correlational analyses with subjective ratings linked extinction success to the vACC and the NAcc, while associating the dACC with reduced extinction. The results reveal neural correlates of appetitive extinction in humans and extend assumptions from models for human extinction learning. PMID:27803289

Common and distinct neural features of social and non-social reward processing in autism and social anxiety disorder.

PubMed

Richey, John A; Rittenberg, Alison; Hughes, Lauren; Damiano, Cara R; Sabatino, Antoinette; Miller, Stephanie; Hanna, Eleanor; Bodfish, James W; Dichter, Gabriel S

2014-03-01

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and social anxiety disorder (SAD) are both characterized by social dysfunction, but no study to date has compared neural responses to social rewards in ASDs and SAD. Neural responses during social and non-social reward anticipation and outcomes were examined in individuals with ASD (n = 16), SAD (n = 15) and a control group (n = 19) via functional magnetic resonance imaging. Analyses modeling all three groups revealed increased nucleus accumbens (NAc) activation in SAD relative to ASD during monetary reward anticipation, whereas both the SAD and ASD group demonstrated decreased bilateral NAc activation relative to the control group during social reward anticipation. During reward outcomes, the SAD group did not differ significantly from the other two groups in ventromedial prefrontal cortex activation to either reward type. Analyses comparing only the ASD and SAD groups revealed greater bilateral amygdala activation to social rewards in SAD relative to ASD during both anticipation and outcome phases, and the magnitude of left amygdala hyperactivation in the SAD group during social reward anticipation was significantly correlated with the severity of trait anxiety symptoms. Results suggest reward network dysfunction to both monetary and social rewards in SAD and ASD during reward anticipation and outcomes, but that NAc hypoactivation during monetary reward anticipation differentiates ASD from SAD.

Temporal dynamics of reward anticipation in the human brain.

PubMed

Zhang, Yuanyuan; Li, Qi; Wang, Zhao; Liu, Xun; Zheng, Ya

2017-09-01

Reward anticipation is a complex process including cue evaluation, motor preparation, and feedback anticipation. The present study investigated whether these psychological processes were dissociable on neural dynamics in terms of incentive valence and approach motivation. We recorded EEG when participants were performing a monetary incentive delay task, and found a cue-P3 during the cue-evaluation stage, a contingent negative variation (CNV) during the motor-preparation stage, and a stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN) during the feedback-anticipation stage. Critically, both the cue-P3 and SPN exhibited an enhanced sensitivity to gain versus loss anticipation, which was not observed for the CNV. Moreover, both the cue-P3 and SPN, instead of the CNV, for gain anticipation selectively predicted the participants' approach motivation as measured in a following effort expenditure for rewards task, particularly when reward uncertainty was maximal. Together, these results indicate that reward anticipation consists of several sub-stages, each with distinct functional significance, thus providing implications for neuropsychiatric diseases characterized by dysfunction in anticipatory reward processing. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Monetary Reward and Punishment to Response Inhibition Modulate Activation and Synchronization Within the Inhibitory Brain Network.

PubMed

Chikara, Rupesh K; Chang, Erik C; Lu, Yi-Chen; Lin, Dar-Shong; Lin, Chin-Teng; Ko, Li-Wei

2018-01-01

A reward or punishment can modulate motivation and emotions, which in turn affect cognitive processing. The present simultaneous functional magnetic resonance imaging-electroencephalography study examines neural mechanisms of response inhibition under the influence of a monetary reward or punishment by implementing a modified stop-signal task in a virtual battlefield scenario. The participants were instructed to play as snipers who open fire at a terrorist target but withhold shooting in the presence of a hostage. The participants performed the task under three different feedback conditions in counterbalanced order: a reward condition where each successfully withheld response added a bonus (i.e., positive feedback) to the startup credit, a punishment condition where each failure in stopping deduced a penalty (i.e., negative feedback), and a no-feedback condition where response outcome had no consequences and served as a control setting. Behaviorally both reward and punishment conditions led to significantly down-regulated inhibitory function in terms of the critical stop-signal delay. As for the neuroimaging results, increased activities were found for the no-feedback condition in regions previously reported to be associated with response inhibition, including the right inferior frontal gyrus and the pre-supplementary motor area. Moreover, higher activation of the lingual gyrus, posterior cingulate gyrus (PCG) and inferior parietal lobule were found in the reward condition, while stronger activation of the precuneus gyrus was found in the punishment condition. The positive feedback was also associated with stronger changes of delta, theta, and alpha synchronization in the PCG than were the negative or no-feedback conditions. These findings depicted the intertwining relationship between response inhibition and motivation networks.

Differential effects of fructose versus glucose on brain and appetitive responses to food cues and decisions for food rewards.

PubMed

Luo, Shan; Monterosso, John R; Sarpelleh, Kayan; Page, Kathleen A

2015-05-19

Prior studies suggest that fructose compared with glucose may be a weaker suppressor of appetite, and neuroimaging research shows that food cues trigger greater brain reward responses in a fasted relative to a fed state. We sought to determine the effects of ingesting fructose versus glucose on brain, hormone, and appetitive responses to food cues and food-approach behavior. Twenty-four healthy volunteers underwent two functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) sessions with ingestion of either fructose or glucose in a double-blinded, random-order cross-over design. fMRI was performed while participants viewed images of high-calorie foods and nonfood items using a block design. After each block, participants rated hunger and desire for food. Participants also performed a decision task in which they chose between immediate food rewards and delayed monetary bonuses. Hormones were measured at baseline and 30 and 60 min after drink ingestion. Ingestion of fructose relative to glucose resulted in smaller increases in plasma insulin levels and greater brain reactivity to food cues in the visual cortex (in whole-brain analysis) and left orbital frontal cortex (in region-of-interest analysis). Parallel to the neuroimaging findings, fructose versus glucose led to greater hunger and desire for food and a greater willingness to give up long-term monetary rewards to obtain immediate high-calorie foods. These findings suggest that ingestion of fructose relative to glucose results in greater activation of brain regions involved in attention and reward processing and may promote feeding behavior.

Differential effects of fructose versus glucose on brain and appetitive responses to food cues and decisions for food rewards

PubMed Central

Luo, Shan; Monterosso, John R.; Sarpelleh, Kayan; Page, Kathleen A.

2015-01-01

Prior studies suggest that fructose compared with glucose may be a weaker suppressor of appetite, and neuroimaging research shows that food cues trigger greater brain reward responses in a fasted relative to a fed state. We sought to determine the effects of ingesting fructose versus glucose on brain, hormone, and appetitive responses to food cues and food-approach behavior. Twenty-four healthy volunteers underwent two functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) sessions with ingestion of either fructose or glucose in a double-blinded, random-order cross-over design. fMRI was performed while participants viewed images of high-calorie foods and nonfood items using a block design. After each block, participants rated hunger and desire for food. Participants also performed a decision task in which they chose between immediate food rewards and delayed monetary bonuses. Hormones were measured at baseline and 30 and 60 min after drink ingestion. Ingestion of fructose relative to glucose resulted in smaller increases in plasma insulin levels and greater brain reactivity to food cues in the visual cortex (in whole-brain analysis) and left orbital frontal cortex (in region-of-interest analysis). Parallel to the neuroimaging findings, fructose versus glucose led to greater hunger and desire for food and a greater willingness to give up long-term monetary rewards to obtain immediate high-calorie foods. These findings suggest that ingestion of fructose relative to glucose results in greater activation of brain regions involved in attention and reward processing and may promote feeding behavior. PMID:25941364

Weak ventral striatal responses to monetary outcomes predict an unwillingness to resist cigarette smoking.

PubMed

Wilson, Stephen J; Delgado, Mauricio R; McKee, Sherry A; Grigson, Patricia S; MacLean, R Ross; Nichols, Travis T; Henry, Shannon L

2014-12-01

As a group, cigarette smokers exhibit blunted subjective, behavioral, and neurobiological responses to nondrug incentives and rewards, relative to nonsmokers. Findings from recent studies suggest, however, that there are large individual differences in the devaluation of nondrug rewards among smokers. Moreover, this variability appears to have significant clinical implications, since reduced sensitivity to nondrug rewards is associated with poorer smoking cessation outcomes. Currently, little is known about the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie these individual differences in the responsiveness to nondrug rewards. Here, we tested the hypothesis that individual variability in reward devaluation among smokers is linked to the functioning of the striatum. Specifically, functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to examine variability in the neural response to monetary outcomes in nicotine-deprived smokers anticipating an opportunity to smoke-circumstances found to heighten the devaluation of nondrug rewards by smokers in prior work. We also investigated whether individual differences in reward-related brain activity in those expecting to have access to cigarettes were associated with the degree to which the same individuals subsequently were willing to resist smoking in order to earn additional money. Our key finding was that deprived smokers who exhibited the weakest response to rewards (i.e., monetary gains) in the ventral striatum were least willing to refrain from smoking for monetary reinforcement. These results provide evidence that outcome-related signals in the ventral striatum serve as a marker for clinically meaningful individual differences in reward-motivated behavior among nicotine-deprived smokers.

Lethal Forethought: Delayed Reward Discounting Differentiates High- and Low-Lethality Suicide Attempts in Old Age

PubMed Central

Dombrovski, Alexandre Y.; Szanto, Katalin; Siegle, Greg J.; Wallace, Meredith L.; Forman, Steven D.; Sahakian, Barbara; Reynolds, Charles F.; Clark, Luke

2011-01-01

Background The decision to commit suicide may be impulsive, but lethal suicidal acts often involve planning and forethought. People who attempt suicide make disadvantageous decisions in other contexts, but nothing is known about the way they decide about the future. Can the willingness to postpone future gratification differentiate between individuals prone to serious, premeditated and less serious, unplanned suicidal acts? Methods Four groups of depressed participants aged 60+ made choices between smaller immediate and larger delayed monetary rewards: 15 who made high-lethality suicide attempts, 14 who made low-lethality suicide attempts, 12 who seriously contemplated suicide, and 42 people with depression but no history of suicidal thoughts. The reference group was 31 psychiatrically healthy elders. Results Individuals who had made low-lethality attempts displayed an exaggerated preference for immediate rewards compared to non-suicidal depressed and healthy controls. Those who had carried out high-lethality suicide attempts were more willing to delay future rewards, compared to low-lethality attempters. Better planned suicide attempts were also associated with willingness to wait for larger rewards. These effects were unchanged after accounting for education, global cognitive function, substance use disorders, psychotropic medications, and possible brain injury from attempts. Discount rates were correlated with having debt but were not significantly associated with income, hopelessness, depressive severity, premorbid IQ, age at first attempt, or choice of violent means. Conclusions While clinicians often focus on impulsivity in patients at risk for suicide, these data suggest that identifying biological characteristics and treatments for non-impulsive suicidal older people may be even more important. PMID:21329911

Winning and losing: differences in reward and punishment sensitivity between smokers and nonsmokers.

PubMed

Martin, Laura E; Cox, Lisa S; Brooks, William M; Savage, Cary R

2014-01-01

Smokers show increased brain activation in reward processing regions in response to smoking-related cues, yet few studies have examined secondary rewards not associated with smoking (i.e., money). Inconsistencies exist in the studies that do examine secondary rewards with some studies showing increased brain activation in reward processing brain regions, while others show decreased activation or no difference in activation between smokers and nonsmokers. The goal of the current study is to see if smokers process the evaluation and delivery of equally salient real world rewards similarly or differently than nonsmokers. The current study employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine brain responses in smokers and nonsmokers during the evaluation and delivery of monetary gains and losses. In comparison to nonsmokers, smokers showed increased activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex to the evaluation of anticipated monetary losses and the brain response. Moreover, smokers compared to nonsmokers showed decreased activation in the inferior frontal gyrus to the delivery of expected monetary gains. Brain activations to both the evaluation of anticipated monetary losses and the delivery of expected monetary gains correlated with increased self-reported smoking craving to relieve negative withdrawal symptoms and craving related to positive aspects of smoking, respectively. Together these results indicate that smokers are hyperresponsive to the evaluation of anticipated punishment and hyporesponsive to the delivery of expected rewards. Although further research is needed, this hypersensitivity to punishments coupled with increased craving may negatively impact quit attempts as smokers anticipate the negative withdrawal symptoms associated with quitting.

Dopaminergic modulation of the trade-off between probability and time in economic decision-making.

PubMed

Arrondo, Gonzalo; Aznárez-Sanado, Maite; Fernández-Seara, Maria A; Goñi, Joaquín; Loayza, Francis R; Salamon-Klobut, Ewa; Heukamp, Franz H; Pastor, Maria A

2015-06-01

Studies on animals and humans have demonstrated the importance of dopamine in modulating decision-making processes. In this work, we have tested dopaminergic modulation of economic decision-making and its neural correlates by administering either placebo or metoclopramide, a dopamine D2-receptor antagonist, to healthy subjects, during a functional MRI study. The decision-making task combined probability and time delay with a fixed monetary reward. For individual behavioral characterization, we used the Probability Time Trade-off (PTT) economic model, which integrates the traditional trade-offs of reward magnitude-time and reward magnitude-probability into a single measurement, thereby quantifying the subjective value of a delayed and probabilistic outcome. A regression analysis between BOLD signal and the PTT model index permitted to identify the neural substrate encoding the subjective reward-value. Behaviorally, medication reduced the rate of temporal discounting over probability, reflected in medicated subjects being more prone to postpone the reward in order to increase the outcome probability. In addition, medicated subjects showed less activity during the task in the postcentral gyrus as well as frontomedian areas, whereas there were no differences in the ventromedial orbitofrontal cortex (VMOFC) between groups when coding the subjective value. The present study demonstrates by means of behavior and imaging that dopamine modulation alters the probability-time trade-off in human economic decision-making. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. and ECNP. All rights reserved.

Pathological gambling and alcohol dependence: neural disturbances in reward and loss avoidance processing.

PubMed

Romanczuk-Seiferth, Nina; Koehler, Saskia; Dreesen, Caspar; Wüstenberg, Torsten; Heinz, Andreas

2015-05-01

Pathological gambling (PG) shares clinical characteristics such as craving and loss of control with substance use disorders and is thus considered a behavioral addiction. While functional alterations in the mesolimbic reward system have been correlated with craving and relapse in substance use disorders, only a few studies have examined this brain circuit in PG, and no direct comparison has been conducted so far. Thus, we investigated the neuronal correlates of reward processing in PG in contrast to alcohol-dependent (AD) patients and healthy subjects. Eighteen PG patients, 15 AD patients and 17 controls were investigated with a monetary incentive delay task, in which visual cues predict the consequence (monetary gain, avoidance of loss, none) of a fast response to a subsequent target stimulus. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were analyzed to account for possible confounding factors such as local gray matter volume. Activity in the right ventral striatum during loss anticipation was increased in PG patients compared with controls and AD patients. Moreover, PG patients showed decreased activation in the right ventral striatum and right medial prefrontal cortex during successful loss avoidance compared with controls, which was inversely associated with severity of gambling behavior. Thus, despite neurobiological similarities to substance use disorders in reward processing, as reported by previous studies, we found relevant differences with respect to the anticipation of loss as well as its avoidance (negative reinforcement), which further contributes to the understanding of PG. © 2014 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Pervasive competition between threat and reward in the brain.

PubMed

Choi, Jong Moon; Padmala, Srikanth; Spechler, Philip; Pessoa, Luiz

2014-06-01

In the current functional MRI study, we investigated interactions between reward and threat processing. Visual cues at the start of each trial informed participants about the chance of winning monetary reward and/or receiving a mild aversive shock. We tested two competing hypothesis: according to the 'salience hypothesis', in the condition involving both reward and threat, enhanced activation would be observed because of increased salience; according to the 'competition hypothesis', the processing of reward and threat would trade-off against each other, leading to reduced activation. Analysis of skin conductance data during a delay phase revealed an interaction between reward and threat processing, such that the effect of reward was reduced during threat and the effect of threat was reduced during reward. Analysis of imaging data during the same task phase revealed interactions between reward and threat processing in several regions, including the midbrain/ventral tegmental area, caudate, putamen, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, anterior insula, middle frontal gyrus and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. Taken together, our findings reveal conditions during which reward and threat trade-off against each other across multiple sites. Such interactions are suggestive of competitive processes and may reflect the organization of opponent systems in the brain. © The Author (2013). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Gender differences in reward and punishment for monetary and social feedback in children: An ERP study

PubMed Central

Zou, Yuchen; Song, Yan; Xiao, Xue; Huang, Wanyi; Li, Yanfang

2017-01-01

Gender differences in feedback processing have been observed among adolescents and adults through event-related potentials. However, information on whether and how this feedback processing is affected by feedback valence, feedback type, and individual sensitivity in reward/punishment among children remains minimal. In this study, we used a guessing game task coupled with electroencephalography to investigate gender differences in feedback processing, in which feedback to reward and punishment was presented in the context of monetary and social conditions. Results showed that boys were less likely to switch their response after punishment, had generally less feedback-related negativity (FRN) amplitude, and longer FRN latency in monetary and punishment conditions than girls. Moreover, FRN for monetary punishment, which is related to individual difference in reward sensitivity, was observed only in girls. The study provides gender-specific evidence for the neural processing of feedback, which may offer educational guidance for appropriate feedback for girls and boys. PMID:28346515

Gender differences in reward and punishment for monetary and social feedback in children: An ERP study.

PubMed

Ding, Ying; Wang, Encong; Zou, Yuchen; Song, Yan; Xiao, Xue; Huang, Wanyi; Li, Yanfang

2017-01-01

Gender differences in feedback processing have been observed among adolescents and adults through event-related potentials. However, information on whether and how this feedback processing is affected by feedback valence, feedback type, and individual sensitivity in reward/punishment among children remains minimal. In this study, we used a guessing game task coupled with electroencephalography to investigate gender differences in feedback processing, in which feedback to reward and punishment was presented in the context of monetary and social conditions. Results showed that boys were less likely to switch their response after punishment, had generally less feedback-related negativity (FRN) amplitude, and longer FRN latency in monetary and punishment conditions than girls. Moreover, FRN for monetary punishment, which is related to individual difference in reward sensitivity, was observed only in girls. The study provides gender-specific evidence for the neural processing of feedback, which may offer educational guidance for appropriate feedback for girls and boys.

The temptation of suicide: striatal gray matter, discounting of delayed rewards, and suicide attempts in late-life depression

PubMed Central

Dombrovski, Alexandre Y.; Siegle, Greg J.; Szanto, Katalin; Clark, Luke; Reynolds, Charles F.; Aizenstein, Howard

2012-01-01

Background Converging evidence implicates basal ganglia alterations in impulsivity and suicidal behavior. For example, D2/D3 agonists and subthalamic nucleus stimulation in Parkinson’s disease trigger impulse control disorders and possibly suicidal behavior. Further, suicidal behavior has been associated with structural basal ganglia abnormalities. Finally, low-lethality, unplanned suicide attempts are associated with increased discounting of delayed rewards, a behavior dependent upon the striatum. Thus, we tested whether, in late-life depression, changes in the basal ganglia were associated with suicide attempts and with increased delay discounting. Methods Fifty-two persons aged ≥60 underwent extensive clinical and cognitive characterization: 33 with major depression (13 suicide attempters [SA], 20 non-suicidal depressed elderly), and 19 non-depressed controls. Participants had high-resolution T1-weighted MPRAGE MRI scans. Basal ganglia gray matter voxel counts were estimated using atlas-based segmentation, with a highly-deformable automated algorithm. Discounting of delayed rewards was assessed using the Monetary Choice Questionnaire, and delay aversion with the Cambridge Gamble Task. Results SA had lower putamen but not caudate or pallidum gray matter voxel counts, compared to the control groups. This difference persisted after accounting for substance use disorders and possible brain injury from suicide attempts. SA with lower putamen gray matter voxel counts displayed higher delay discounting on the MCQ, but not delay aversion on the CGT. Secondary analyses revealed that SA had lower voxel counts in associative and possibly ventral, but not sensorimotor striatum. Conclusions Our findings, while limited by small sample size and case-control design, suggest that striatal lesions could contribute to suicidal behavior by increasing impulsivity. PMID:21999930

The temptation of suicide: striatal gray matter, discounting of delayed rewards, and suicide attempts in late-life depression.

PubMed

Dombrovski, A Y; Siegle, G J; Szanto, K; Clark, L; Reynolds, C F; Aizenstein, H

2012-06-01

Converging evidence implicates basal ganglia alterations in impulsivity and suicidal behavior. For example, D2/D3 agonists and subthalamic nucleus stimulation in Parkinson's disease (PD) trigger impulse control disorders and possibly suicidal behavior. Furthermore, suicidal behavior has been associated with structural basal ganglia abnormalities. Finally, low-lethality, unplanned suicide attempts are associated with increased discounting of delayed rewards, a behavior dependent upon the striatum. Thus, we tested whether, in late-life depression, changes in the basal ganglia were associated with suicide attempts and with increased delay discounting. Fifty-two persons aged ≥ 60 years underwent extensive clinical and cognitive characterization: 33 with major depression [13 suicide attempters (SA), 20 non-suicidal depressed elderly] and 19 non-depressed controls. Participants had high-resolution T1-weighted magnetization prepared rapid acquisition gradient-echo (MPRAGE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Basal ganglia gray matter voxel counts were estimated using atlas-based segmentation, with a highly deformable automated algorithm. Discounting of delayed rewards was assessed using the Monetary Choice Questionnaire (MCQ) and delay aversion with the Cambridge Gamble Task (CGT). SA had lower putamen but not caudate or pallidum gray matter voxel counts, compared to the control groups. This difference persisted after accounting for substance use disorders and possible brain injury from suicide attempts. SA with lower putamen gray matter voxel counts displayed higher delay discounting but not delay aversion. Secondary analyses revealed that SA had lower voxel counts in associative and ventral but not sensorimotor striatum. Our findings, although limited by small sample size and the case-control design, suggest that striatal lesions could contribute to suicidal behavior by increasing impulsivity.

Sharing, Discounting, and Selfishness: A Japanese-American Comparison

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ito, Masato; Saeki, Daisuke; Green, Leonard

2011-01-01

Social discounting rates were compared between Japanese and American college students. In a series of psychophysical questionnaire tasks, participants chose between a hypothetical unshared monetary reward and a hypothetical monetary reward to be shared with other people (relatives or strangers), to determine amounts of the unshared reward…

Sex-Steroid Hormone Manipulation Reduces Brain Response to Reward.

PubMed

Macoveanu, Julian; Henningsson, Susanne; Pinborg, Anja; Jensen, Peter; Knudsen, Gitte M; Frokjaer, Vibe G; Siebner, Hartwig R

2016-03-01

Mood disorders are twice as frequent in women than in men. Risk mechanisms for major depression include adverse responses to acute changes in sex-steroid hormone levels, eg, postpartum in women. Such adverse responses may involve an altered processing of rewards. Here, we examine how women's vulnerability for mood disorders is linked to sex-steroid dynamics by investigating the effects of a pharmacologically induced fluctuation in ovarian sex steroids on the brain response to monetary rewards. In a double-blinded placebo controlled study, healthy women were randomized to receive either placebo or the gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa) goserelin, which causes a net decrease in sex-steroid levels. Fifty-eight women performed a gambling task while undergoing functional MRI at baseline, during the mid-follicular phase, and again following the intervention. The gambling task enabled us to map regional brain activity related to the magnitude of risk during choice and to monetary reward. The GnRHa intervention caused a net reduction in ovarian sex steroids (estradiol and testosterone) and increased depression symptoms. Compared with placebo, GnRHa reduced amygdala's reactivity to high monetary rewards. There was a positive association between the individual changes in testosterone and changes in bilateral insula response to monetary rewards. Our data provide evidence for the involvement of sex-steroid hormones in reward processing. A blunted amygdala response to rewarding stimuli following a rapid decline in sex-steroid hormones may reflect a reduced engagement in positive experiences. Abnormal reward processing may constitute a neurobiological mechanism by which sex-steroid fluctuations provoke mood disorders in susceptible women.

Medial prefrontal brain activation to anticipated reward and loss in obsessive–compulsive disorder☆

PubMed Central

Kaufmann, C.; Beucke, J.C.; Preuße, F.; Endrass, T.; Schlagenhauf, F.; Heinz, A.; Juckel, G.; Kathmann, N.

2013-01-01

Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is associated with dysfunctional brain activity in several regions which are also involved in the processing of motivational stimuli. Processing of reward and punishment appears to be of special importance to understand clinical symptoms. There is evidence for higher sensitivity to punishment in patients with OCD which raises the question how avoidance of punishment relates to activity within the brain's reward circuitry. We employed the monetary incentive delay task paradigm optimized for modeling the anticipation phase of immediate reward and punishment, in the context of a cross-sectional event-related FMRI study comparing OCD patients and healthy control participants (n = 19 in each group). While overall behavioral performance was similar in both groups, patients showed increased activation upon anticipated losses in a medial and superior frontal cortex region extending into the cingulate cortex, and decreased activation upon anticipated rewards. No evidence was found for altered activation of dorsal or ventral striatal regions. Patients also showed more delayed responses for anticipated rewards than for anticipated losses whereas the reverse was true in healthy participants. The medial prefrontal cortex has been shown to implement a domain-general process comprising negative affect, pain and cognitive control. This process uses information about punishment to control aversively motivated actions by integrating signals arriving from subcortical regions. Our results support the notion that OCD is associated with altered sensitivity to anticipated rewards and losses in a medial prefrontal region whereas there is no significant aberrant activation in ventral or dorsal striatal brain regions during processing of reinforcement anticipation. PMID:24179774

Medial prefrontal brain activation to anticipated reward and loss in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

PubMed

Kaufmann, C; Beucke, J C; Preuße, F; Endrass, T; Schlagenhauf, F; Heinz, A; Juckel, G; Kathmann, N

2013-01-01

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is associated with dysfunctional brain activity in several regions which are also involved in the processing of motivational stimuli. Processing of reward and punishment appears to be of special importance to understand clinical symptoms. There is evidence for higher sensitivity to punishment in patients with OCD which raises the question how avoidance of punishment relates to activity within the brain's reward circuitry. We employed the monetary incentive delay task paradigm optimized for modeling the anticipation phase of immediate reward and punishment, in the context of a cross-sectional event-related FMRI study comparing OCD patients and healthy control participants (n = 19 in each group). While overall behavioral performance was similar in both groups, patients showed increased activation upon anticipated losses in a medial and superior frontal cortex region extending into the cingulate cortex, and decreased activation upon anticipated rewards. No evidence was found for altered activation of dorsal or ventral striatal regions. Patients also showed more delayed responses for anticipated rewards than for anticipated losses whereas the reverse was true in healthy participants. The medial prefrontal cortex has been shown to implement a domain-general process comprising negative affect, pain and cognitive control. This process uses information about punishment to control aversively motivated actions by integrating signals arriving from subcortical regions. Our results support the notion that OCD is associated with altered sensitivity to anticipated rewards and losses in a medial prefrontal region whereas there is no significant aberrant activation in ventral or dorsal striatal brain regions during processing of reinforcement anticipation.

Texting while driving as impulsive choice: A behavioral economic analysis.

PubMed

Hayashi, Yusuke; Russo, Christopher T; Wirth, Oliver

2015-10-01

The goal of the present study was to examine the utility of a behavioral economic analysis to investigate the role of delay discounting in texting while driving. A sample of 147 college students completed a survey to assess how frequently they send and read text messages while driving. Based on this information, students were assigned to one of two groups: 19 students who frequently text while driving and 19 matched-control students who infrequently text while driving but were similar in gender, age, years of education, and years driving. The groups were compared on the extent to which they discounted, or devalued, delayed hypothetical monetary rewards using a delay-discounting task. In this task, students made repeated choices between $1000 available after a delay (ranging from 1 week to 10 years) and an equal or lesser amount of money available immediately. The results show that the students who frequently text while driving discounted delayed rewards at a greater rate than the matched control students. The study supports the conclusions that texting while driving is fundamentally an impulsive choice made by drivers, and that a behavioral economic approach may be a useful research tool for investigating the decision-making processes underlying risky behaviors. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Tentative Evidence for Striatal Hyperactivity in Adolescent Cannabis Using Boys: A Cross-Sectional Multicenter fMRI Study

PubMed Central

Jager, Gerry; Block, Robert I.; Luijten, Maartje; Ramsey, Nick F.

2013-01-01

Adolescents' risk-taking behavior has been linked to a maturational imbalance between reward (“go”) and inhibitory-control (“stop”) related brain circuitry. This may drive adolescent drug-taking, such as cannabis use. In this study we assessed the non-acute effects of adolescent cannabis use on reward-related brain function. We performed a two-site (United States and Netherlands; pooled data) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study with a cross-sectional design. Twenty-one abstinent but frequent cannabis-using boys were compared with 24 non-using peers on reward-related brain function, using a monetary incentive delay task with fMRI. Focus was on anticipatory and response stages of reward and brain areas critically involved in reward processing like the striatum. Performance in users was normal. Region-of-interest analysis indicated striatal hyperactivity during anticipatory stages of reward in users. Intriguingly, this effect was most pronounced during non-rewarding events. Striatal hyperactivity in adolescent cannabis users may signify an overly sensitive motivational brain circuitry. Frequent cannabis use during adolescence may induce diminished ability to disengage the motivational circuit when no reward can be obtained. This could strengthen the search for reinforcements like drugs of abuse, even when facing the negative (non-rewarding) consequences. PMID:23909003

Tentative evidence for striatal hyperactivity in adolescent cannabis-using boys: a cross-sectional multicenter fMRI study.

PubMed

Jager, Gerry; Block, Robert I; Luijten, Maartje; Ramsey, Nick F

2013-01-01

Adolescents' risk-taking behavior has been linked to a maturational imbalance between reward ("go") and inhibitory-control ("stop")-related brain circuitry. This may drive adolescent drug-taking, such as cannabis use. In this study, we assessed the non-acute effects of adolescent cannabis use on reward-related brain function. We performed a two-site (United States and Netherlands; pooled data) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study with a cross-sectional design. Twenty-one abstinent but frequent cannabis-using boys were compared with 24 non-using peers on reward-related brain function, using a monetary incentive delay task with fMRI. Focus was on anticipatory and response stages of reward and brain areas critically involved in reward processing like the striatum. Performance in users was normal. Region-of-interest analysis indicated striatal hyperactivity during anticipatory stages of reward in users. Intriguingly, this effect was most pronounced during non-rewarding events. Striatal hyperactivity in adolescent cannabis users may signify an overly sensitive motivational brain circuitry. Frequent cannabis use during adolescence may induce diminished ability to disengage the motivational circuit when no reward can be obtained. This could strengthen the search for reinforcements like drugs of abuse, even when facing the negative (non-rewarding) consequences.

No Effect of Subthalamic Deep Brain Stimulation on Intertemporal Decision-Making in Parkinson Patients123

PubMed Central

Wojtecki, Lars; Storzer, Lena; Schnitzler, Alfons

2016-01-01

Abstract Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) is a widely used treatment for the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD). DBS or pharmacological treatment is believed to modulate the tendency to, or reverse, impulse control disorders. Several brain areas involved in impulsivity and reward valuation, such as the prefrontal cortex and striatum, are linked to the STN, and activity in these areas might be affected by STN-DBS. To investigate the effect of STN-DBS on one type of impulsive decision-making—delay discounting (i.e., the devaluation of reward with increasing delay until its receipt)—we tested 40 human PD patients receiving STN-DBS treatment and medication for at least 3 months. Patients were pseudo-randomly assigned to one of four groups to test the effects of DBS on/off states as well as medication on/off states on delay discounting. The delay-discounting task consisted of a series of choices among a smaller. sooner or a larger, later monetary reward. Despite considerable effects of DBS on motor performance, patients receiving STN-DBS did not choose more or less impulsively compared with those in the off-DBS group, as well as when controlling for risk attitude. Although null results have to be interpreted with caution, our findings are of significance to other researchers studying the effects of PD treatment on impulsive decision-making, and they are of clinical relevance for determining the therapeutic benefits of using STN-DBS. PMID:27257622

Impaired Feedback Processing for Symbolic Reward in Individuals with Internet Game Overuse

PubMed Central

Kim, Jinhee; Kim, Hackjin; Kang, Eunjoo

2017-01-01

Reward processing, which plays a critical role in adaptive behavior, is impaired in addiction disorders, which are accompanied by functional abnormalities in brain reward circuits. Internet gaming disorder, like substance addiction, is thought to be associated with impaired reward processing, but little is known about how it affects learning, especially when feedback is conveyed by less-salient motivational events. Here, using both monetary (±500 KRW) and symbolic (Chinese characters “right” or “wrong”) rewards and penalties, we investigated whether behavioral performance and feedback-related neural responses are altered in Internet game overuse (IGO) group. Using functional MRI, brain responses for these two types of reward/penalty feedback were compared between young males with problems of IGO (IGOs, n = 18, mean age = 22.2 ± 2.0 years) and age-matched control subjects (Controls, n = 20, mean age = 21.2 ± 2.1) during a visuomotor association task where associations were learned between English letters and one of four responses. No group difference was found in adjustment of error responses following the penalty or in brain responses to penalty, for either monetary or symbolic penalties. The IGO individuals, however, were more likely to fail to choose the response previously reinforced by symbolic (but not monetary) reward. A whole brain two-way ANOVA analysis for reward revealed reduced activations in the IGO group in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex/ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in response to both reward types, suggesting impaired reward processing. However, the responses to reward in the inferior parietal region and medial orbitofrontal cortex/vmPFC were affected by the types of reward in the IGO group. Unlike the control group, in the IGO group the reward response was reduced only for symbolic reward, suggesting lower attentional and value processing specific to symbolic reward. Furthermore, the more severe the Internet gaming overuse symptoms in the IGO group, the greater the activations of the ventral striatum for monetary relative to symbolic reward. These findings suggest that IGO is associated with bias toward motivationally salient reward, which would lead to poor goal-directed behavior in everyday life. PMID:29051739

Reward Sensitivity and Waiting Impulsivity: Shift towards Reward Valuation away from Action Control

PubMed Central

Mechelmans, Daisy J; Strelchuk, Daniela; Doñamayor, Nuria; Banca, Paula; Robbins, Trevor W; Baek, Kwangyeol

2017-01-01

Abstract Background Impulsivity and reward expectancy are commonly interrelated. Waiting impulsivity, measured using the rodent 5-Choice Serial Reaction Time task, predicts compulsive cocaine seeking and sign (or cue) tracking. Here, we assess human waiting impulsivity using a novel translational task, the 4-Choice Serial Reaction Time task, and the relationship with reward cues. Methods Healthy volunteers (n=29) performed the monetary incentive delay task as a functional MRI study where subjects observe a cue predicting reward (cue) and wait to respond for high (£5), low (£1), or no reward. Waiting impulsivity was tested with the 4-Choice Serial Reaction Time task. Results For high reward prospects (£5, no reward), greater waiting impulsivity on the 4-CSRT correlated with greater medial orbitofrontal cortex and lower supplementary motor area activity to cues. In response to high reward cues, greater waiting impulsivity was associated with greater subthalamic nucleus connectivity with orbitofrontal cortex and greater subgenual cingulate connectivity with anterior insula, but decreased connectivity with regions implicated in action selection and preparation. Conclusion These findings highlight a shift towards regions implicated in reward valuation and a shift towards compulsivity away from higher level motor preparation and action selection and response. We highlight the role of reward sensitivity and impulsivity, mechanisms potentially linking human waiting impulsivity with incentive approach and compulsivity, theories highly relevant to disorders of addiction. PMID:29020291

Neural correlates of appetitive extinction in humans.

PubMed

Kruse, Onno; Tapia León, Isabell; Stark, Rudolf; Klucken, Tim

2017-01-01

Appetitive extinction receives attention as an important model for the treatment of psychiatric disorders. However, in humans, its underlying neural correlates remain unknown. To close this gap, we investigated appetitive acquisition and extinction with fMRI in a 2-day monetary incentive delay paradigm. During appetitive conditioning, one stimulus (CS+) was paired with monetary reward, while another stimulus (CS-) was never rewarded. Twenty-four hours later, subjects underwent extinction, in which neither CS was reinforced. Appetitive conditioning elicited stronger skin conductance responses to the CS+ as compared with the CS-. Regarding subjective ratings, the CS+ was rated more pleasant and arousing than the CS- after conditioning. Furthermore, fMRI-results (CS+ - CS-) showed activation of the reward circuitry including amygdala, midbrain and striatal areas. During extinction, conditioned responses were successfully extinguished. In the early phase of extinction, we found a significant activation of the caudate, the hippocampus, the dorsal and ventral anterior cingulate cortex (dACC and vACC). In the late phase, we found significant activation of the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and the amygdala. Correlational analyses with subjective ratings linked extinction success to the vACC and the NAcc, while associating the dACC with reduced extinction. The results reveal neural correlates of appetitive extinction in humans and extend assumptions from models for human extinction learning. © The Author (2016). Published by Oxford University Press.

Deficits in context-dependent adaptive coding of reward in schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Kirschner, Matthias; Hager, Oliver M; Bischof, Martin; Hartmann-Riemer, Matthias N; Kluge, Agne; Seifritz, Erich; Tobler, Philippe N; Kaiser, Stefan

2016-01-01

Theoretical principles of information processing and empirical findings suggest that to efficiently represent all possible rewards in the natural environment, reward-sensitive neurons have to adapt their coding range dynamically to the current reward context. Adaptation ensures that the reward system is most sensitive for the most likely rewards, enabling the system to efficiently represent a potentially infinite range of reward information. A deficit in neural adaptation would prevent precise representation of rewards and could have detrimental effects for an organism’s ability to optimally engage with its environment. In schizophrenia, reward processing is known to be impaired and has been linked to different symptom dimensions. However, despite the fundamental significance of coding reward adaptively, no study has elucidated whether adaptive reward processing is impaired in schizophrenia. We therefore studied patients with schizophrenia (n=27) and healthy controls (n=25), using functional magnetic resonance imaging in combination with a variant of the monetary incentive delay task. Compared with healthy controls, patients with schizophrenia showed less efficient neural adaptation to the current reward context, which leads to imprecise neural representation of reward. Importantly, the deficit correlated with total symptom severity. Our results suggest that some of the deficits in reward processing in schizophrenia might be due to inefficient neural adaptation to the current reward context. Furthermore, because adaptive coding is a ubiquitous feature of the brain, we believe that our findings provide an avenue in defining a general impairment in neural information processing underlying this debilitating disorder. PMID:27430009

The neural basis of academic achievement motivation.

PubMed

Mizuno, Kei; Tanaka, Masaaki; Ishii, Akira; Tanabe, Hiroki C; Onoe, Hirotaka; Sadato, Norihiro; Watanabe, Yasuyoshi

2008-08-01

We have used functional magnetic resonance imaging to study the neural correlates of motivation, concentrating on the motivation to learn and gain monetary rewards. We compared the activation in the brain obtained during reported high states of motivation for learning, with the ones observed when the motivation was based on monetary reward. Our results show that motivation to learn correlates with bilateral activity in the putamen, and that the higher the reported motivation, as derived from a questionnaire that each subject filled prior to scanning, the greater the change in the BOLD signals within the putamen. Monetary motivation also activated the putamen bilaterally, though the intensity of activity was not related to the monetary reward. We conclude that the putamen is critical for motivation in different domains and the extent of activity of the putamen may be pivotal to the motivation that drives academic achievement and thus academic successes.

Monetary reward suppresses anterior insula activity during social pain

PubMed Central

Cristofori, Irene; Harquel, Sylvain; Isnard, Jean; Mauguière, François

2015-01-01

Social pain after exclusion by others activates brain regions also involved in physical pain. Here we evaluated whether monetary reward could compensate for the negative feeling of social pain in the brain. To address this question we used the unique technique of intracranial electroencephalography in subjects with drug resistant epilepsy. Specifically, we recorded theta activity from intracranial electrodes implanted in the insular cortex while subjects experienced conditions of social inclusion and exclusion associated with monetary gain and loss. Our study confirmed that theta rhythm in the insular cortex is the neural signature of social exclusion. We found that while monetary gain suppresses the effect of social pain in the anterior insula, there is no such effect in the posterior insula. These results imply that the anterior insula can use secondary reward signals to compensate for the negative feeling of social pain. Hence, here we propose that the anterior insula plays a pivotal role in integrating contingencies to update social pain feelings. Finally, the possibility to modulate the theta rhythm through the reward system might open new avenues of research for treating pathologies related to social exclusion. PMID:25964499

Orbitofrontal cortex mediates pain inhibition by monetary reward.

PubMed

Becker, Susanne; Gandhi, Wiebke; Pomares, Florence; Wager, Tor D; Schweinhardt, Petra

2017-04-01

Pleasurable stimuli, including reward, inhibit pain, but the level of the neuraxis at which they do so and the cerebral processes involved are unknown. Here, we characterized a brain circuitry mediating pain inhibition by reward. Twenty-four healthy participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while playing a wheel of fortune game with simultaneous thermal pain stimuli and monetary wins or losses. As expected, winning decreased pain perception compared to losing. Inter-individual differences in pain modulation by monetary wins relative to losses correlated with activation in the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC). When pain and reward occured simultaneously, mOFCs functional connectivity changed: the signal time course in the mOFC condition-dependent correlated negatively with the signal time courses in the rostral anterior insula, anterior-dorsal cingulate cortex and primary somatosensory cortex, which might signify moment-to-moment down-regulation of these regions by the mOFC. Monetary wins and losses did not change the magnitude of pain-related activation, including in regions that code perceived pain intensity when nociceptive input varies and/or receive direct nociceptive input. Pain inhibition by reward appears to involve brain regions not typically involved in nociceptive intensity coding but likely mediate changes in the significance and/or value of pain. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press.

The impact of monetary reward on memory in schizophrenia spectrum disorder.

PubMed

Thornton, Allen E; Boudreau, Vanessa G; Griffiths, Stephanie Y; Woodward, Todd S; Fawkes-Kirby, Tanya; Honer, William G

2007-09-01

The impact of monetary reward on verbal working memory (vWM) and verbal long-term memory (vLTM) was evaluated in 50 patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and 52 matched healthy participants. This research was motivated by the observations that negative symptoms in schizophrenia are associated with reduced drive and that patients with these symptoms exhibit greater mnemonic impairments. Reward-related gains were evaluated across two levels of vWM load on the n-back task and across three aspects of vLTM derived from the California Verbal Learning Test-II (i.e., learning, total immediate recall, and retention). Although healthy individuals benefited from reward at a high vWM load level, schizophrenia patients exhibited no reward-related improvements in vWM. In contrast, improvement in vLTM retention was induced by reward for both patients and controls. Finally, symptomatic and pharmacology treatment factors were associated with reward-related gains in persons with schizophrenia. In conclusion, contingent monetary rewards delivered during vWM and vLTM enhanced specific aspects of memory. The influence was relatively small and dependent on the specific neurocognitive operation examined, the mental health status of the participants, and for patients, their particular symptoms and pharmacological treatments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved).

Temporal Discounting of Monetary Rewards in Children and Adolescents with ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Demurie, Ellen; Roeyers, Herbert; Baeyens, Dieter; Sonuga-Barke, Edmund

2012-01-01

It has been difficult to differentiate attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in terms of some aspects of their cognitive profile. While both show deficits in executive functions, it has been suggested that they may differ in their response to monetary reward. For instance, children with ADHD prefer…

Monetary Reward and Teachers' Performance in Selected Public Secondary Schools in Kano State

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bello, Garba Bala; Jakada, Muhammad Bello

2017-01-01

This is a conceptual study that intends to examine the relationship between monetary reward and teachers' performance in some selected Kano State public secondary schools. Secondary schools are the bridge between primary education and higher institutions in Nigeria. The need for students to acquire more knowledge and skills beyond primary level in…

How feedback, motor imagery, and reward influence brain self-regulation using real-time fMRI.

PubMed

Sepulveda, Pradyumna; Sitaram, Ranganatha; Rana, Mohit; Montalba, Cristian; Tejos, Cristian; Ruiz, Sergio

2016-09-01

The learning process involved in achieving brain self-regulation is presumed to be related to several factors, such as type of feedback, reward, mental imagery, duration of training, among others. Explicitly instructing participants to use mental imagery and monetary reward are common practices in real-time fMRI (rtfMRI) neurofeedback (NF), under the assumption that they will enhance and accelerate the learning process. However, it is still not clear what the optimal strategy is for improving volitional control. We investigated the differential effect of feedback, explicit instructions and monetary reward while training healthy individuals to up-regulate the blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) signal in the supplementary motor area (SMA). Four groups were trained in a two-day rtfMRI-NF protocol: GF with NF only, GF,I with NF + explicit instructions (motor imagery), GF,R with NF + monetary reward, and GF,I,R with NF + explicit instructions (motor imagery) + monetary reward. Our results showed that GF increased significantly their BOLD self-regulation from day-1 to day-2 and GF,R showed the highest BOLD signal amplitude in SMA during the training. The two groups who were instructed to use motor imagery did not show a significant learning effect over the 2 days. The additional factors, namely motor imagery and reward, tended to increase the intersubject variability in the SMA during the course of training. Whole brain univariate and functional connectivity analyses showed common as well as distinct patterns in the four groups, representing the varied influences of feedback, reward, and instructions on the brain. Hum Brain Mapp 37:3153-3171, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Comparing the neural basis of monetary reward and cognitive feedback during information-integration category learning.

PubMed

Daniel, Reka; Pollmann, Stefan

2010-01-06

The dopaminergic system is known to play a central role in reward-based learning (Schultz, 2006), yet it was also observed to be involved when only cognitive feedback is given (Aron et al., 2004). Within the domain of information-integration category learning, in which information from several stimulus dimensions has to be integrated predecisionally (Ashby and Maddox, 2005), the importance of contingent feedback is well established (Maddox et al., 2003). We examined the common neural correlates of reward anticipation and prediction error in this task. Sixteen subjects performed two parallel information-integration tasks within a single event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging session but received a monetary reward only for one of them. Similar functional areas including basal ganglia structures were activated in both task versions. In contrast, a single structure, the nucleus accumbens, showed higher activation during monetary reward anticipation compared with the anticipation of cognitive feedback in information-integration learning. Additionally, this activation was predicted by measures of intrinsic motivation in the cognitive feedback task and by measures of extrinsic motivation in the rewarded task. Our results indicate that, although all other structures implicated in category learning are not significantly affected by altering the type of reward, the nucleus accumbens responds to the positive incentive properties of an expected reward depending on the specific type of the reward.

Impairments in learning by monetary rewards and alcohol-associated rewards in detoxified alcoholic patients.

PubMed

Jokisch, Daniel; Roser, Patrik; Juckel, Georg; Daum, Irene; Bellebaum, Christian

2014-07-01

Excessive alcohol consumption has been linked to structural and functional brain changes associated with cognitive, emotional, and behavioral impairments. It has been suggested that neural processing in the reward system is also affected by alcoholism. The present study aimed at further investigating reward-based associative learning and reversal learning in detoxified alcohol-dependent patients. Twenty-one detoxified alcohol-dependent patients and 26 healthy control subjects participated in a probabilistic learning task using monetary and alcohol-associated rewards as feedback stimuli indicating correct responses. Performance during acquisition and reversal learning in the different feedback conditions was analyzed. Alcohol-dependent patients and healthy control subjects showed an increase in learning performance over learning blocks during acquisition, with learning performance being significantly lower in alcohol-dependent patients. After changing the contingencies, alcohol-dependent patients exhibited impaired reversal learning and showed, in contrast to healthy controls, different learning curves for different types of rewards with no increase in performance for high monetary and alcohol-associated feedback. The present findings provide evidence that dysfunctional processing in the reward system in alcohol-dependent patients leads to alterations in reward-based learning resulting in a generally reduced performance. In addition, the results suggest that alcohol-dependent patients are, in particular, more impaired in changing an established behavior originally reinforced by high rewards. Copyright © 2014 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.

Involvement of the endocannabinoid system in reward processing in the human brain.

PubMed

van Hell, Hendrika H; Jager, Gerry; Bossong, Matthijs G; Brouwer, Annelies; Jansma, J Martijn; Zuurman, Lineke; van Gerven, Joop; Kahn, René S; Ramsey, Nick F

2012-02-01

Disturbed reward processing in humans has been associated with a number of disorders, such as depression, addiction, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. The endocannabinoid (eCB) system has been implicated in reward processing in animals, but in humans, the relation between eCB functioning and reward is less clear. The current study uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the role of the eCB system in reward processing in humans by examining the effect of the eCB agonist Δ(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) on reward-related brain activity. Eleven healthy males participated in a randomized placebo-controlled pharmacological fMRI study with administration of THC to challenge the eCB system. We compared anticipatory and feedback-related brain activity after placebo and THC, using a monetary incentive delay task. In this task, subjects are notified before each trial whether a correct response is rewarded ("reward trial") or not ("neutral trial"). Subjects showed faster reaction times during reward trials compared to neutral trials, and this effect was not altered by THC. THC induced a widespread attenuation of the brain response to feedback in reward trials but not in neutral trials. Anticipatory brain activity was not affected. These results suggest a role for the eCB system in the appreciation of rewards. The involvement of the eCB system in feedback processing may be relevant for disorders in which appreciation of natural rewards may be affected such as addiction.

Reward-related frontostriatal activity and smoking behavior among adolescents in treatment for smoking cessation.

PubMed

Garrison, Kathleen A; Yip, Sarah W; Balodis, Iris M; Carroll, Kathleen M; Potenza, Marc N; Krishnan-Sarin, Suchitra

2017-08-01

Tobacco use is often initiated during adolescence and continued into adulthood despite desires to quit. A better understanding of the neural correlates of abstinence from smoking in adolescents may inform more effective smoking cessation interventions. Neural reward systems are implicated in tobacco use disorder, and adolescent smokers have shown reduced reward-related ventral striatal activation related to increased smoking. The current study evaluated nondrug reward anticipation in adolescent smokers using a monetary incentive delay task in fMRI pre- and post- smoking cessation treatment (n=14). This study tested how changes in neural responses to reward anticipation pre- to post-treatment were related to reduced smoking. An exploratory analysis in a larger sample of adolescents with only pre-treatment fMRI (n=28) evaluated how neural responses to reward anticipation were related to behavioral inhibition and behavioral activation scales. Adolescent smokers showed pre- to post-treatment increases in reward anticipation-related activity in the bilateral nucleus accumbens and insula, and medial prefrontal cortex, and greater increases in reward anticipation-related activity were correlated with larger percent days of smoking abstinence during treatment. These findings suggest that reduced smoking during smoking cessation treatment is associated with a "recovery of function" in frontostriatal responses to nondrug reward anticipation in adolescent smokers, although comparison with a developmental control group of adolescent nonsmokers is warranted. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Fronto-striatal Dysfunction During Reward Processing in Unaffected Siblings of Schizophrenia Patients

PubMed Central

de Leeuw, Max; Kahn, René S.; Vink, Matthijs

2015-01-01

Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder that is associated with impaired functioning of the fronto-striatal network, in particular during reward processing. However, it is unclear whether this dysfunction is related to the illness itself or whether it reflects a genetic vulnerability to develop schizophrenia. Here, we examined reward processing in unaffected siblings of schizophrenia patients using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Brain activity was measured during reward anticipation and reward outcome in 27 unaffected siblings of schizophrenia patients and 29 healthy volunteers using a modified monetary incentive delay task. Task performance was manipulated online so that all subjects won the same amount of money. Despite equal performance, siblings showed reduced activation in the ventral striatum, insula, and supplementary motor area (SMA) during reward anticipation compared to controls. Decreased ventral striatal activation in siblings was correlated with sub-clinical negative symptoms. During the outcome of reward, siblings showed increased activation in the ventral striatum and orbitofrontal cortex compared to controls. Our finding of decreased activity in the ventral striatum during reward anticipation and increased activity in this region during receiving reward may indicate impaired cue processing in siblings. This is consistent with the notion of dopamine dysfunction typically associated with schizophrenia. Since unaffected siblings share on average 50% of their genes with their ill relatives, these deficits may be related to the genetic vulnerability for schizophrenia. PMID:25368371

Reward Contingencies Improve Goal-Directed Behavior by Enhancing Posterior Brain Attentional Regions and Increasing Corticostriatal Connectivity in Cocaine Addicts.

PubMed

Rosell-Negre, Patricia; Bustamante, Juan-Carlos; Fuentes-Claramonte, Paola; Costumero, Víctor; Llopis-Llacer, Juan-José; Barrós-Loscertales, Alfonso

2016-01-01

The dopaminergic system provides the basis for the interaction between motivation and cognition. It is triggered by the possibility of obtaining rewards to initiate the neurobehavioral adaptations necessary to achieve them by directing the information from motivational circuits to cognitive and action circuits. In drug addiction, the altered dopamine (DA) modulation of the meso-cortico-limbic reward circuitry, such as the prefrontal cortex (PFC), underlies the disproportionate motivational value of drug use at the expense of other non-drug reinforcers and the user's loss of control over his/her drug intake. We examine how the magnitude of the reward affects goal-directed processes in healthy control (HC) subjects and abstinent cocaine dependent (ACD) patients by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a counting Stroop task with blocked levels of monetary incentives of different magnitudes (€0, €0.01, €0.5, €1 or €1.5). Our results showed that increasing reward magnitude enhances (1) performance facilitation in both groups; (2) left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) activity in HC and left superior occipital cortex activity in ACD; and (3) left DLPFC and left putamen connectivity in ACD compared to HC. Moreover, we observed that (4) dorsal striatal and pallidum activity was associated with craving and addiction severity during the parametric increases in the monetary reward. In conclusion, the brain response to gradients in monetary value was different in HC and ACD, but both groups showed improved task performance due to the possibility of obtaining greater monetary rewards.

Reward Contingencies Improve Goal-Directed Behavior by Enhancing Posterior Brain Attentional Regions and Increasing Corticostriatal Connectivity in Cocaine Addicts

PubMed Central

Rosell-Negre, Patricia; Bustamante, Juan-Carlos; Fuentes-Claramonte, Paola; Costumero, Víctor; Llopis-Llacer, Juan-José; Barrós-Loscertales, Alfonso

2016-01-01

The dopaminergic system provides the basis for the interaction between motivation and cognition. It is triggered by the possibility of obtaining rewards to initiate the neurobehavioral adaptations necessary to achieve them by directing the information from motivational circuits to cognitive and action circuits. In drug addiction, the altered dopamine (DA) modulation of the meso-cortico-limbic reward circuitry, such as the prefrontal cortex (PFC), underlies the disproportionate motivational value of drug use at the expense of other non-drug reinforcers and the user’s loss of control over his/her drug intake. We examine how the magnitude of the reward affects goal-directed processes in healthy control (HC) subjects and abstinent cocaine dependent (ACD) patients by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a counting Stroop task with blocked levels of monetary incentives of different magnitudes (€0, €0.01, €0.5, €1 or €1.5). Our results showed that increasing reward magnitude enhances (1) performance facilitation in both groups; (2) left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) activity in HC and left superior occipital cortex activity in ACD; and (3) left DLPFC and left putamen connectivity in ACD compared to HC. Moreover, we observed that (4) dorsal striatal and pallidum activity was associated with craving and addiction severity during the parametric increases in the monetary reward. In conclusion, the brain response to gradients in monetary value was different in HC and ACD, but both groups showed improved task performance due to the possibility of obtaining greater monetary rewards. PMID:27907134

Probing reward function in posttraumatic stress disorder: expectancy and satisfaction with monetary gains and losses.

PubMed

Hopper, James W; Pitman, Roger K; Su, Zhaohui; Heyman, Gene M; Lasko, Natasha B; Macklin, Michael L; Orr, Scott P; Lukas, Scott E; Elman, Igor

2008-08-01

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may be associated with dysfunctional reward processing. The present study assessed for such dysfunction in both the expectancy and outcome phases of reward processing. Male Vietnam veterans with (n=15) and without (n=11) combat-related PTSD were administered a wheel of fortune-type gambling task. Self-reported ratings of expectancy and satisfaction were collected respectively before and after each experience of monetary gain or loss. PTSD participants reported both lower expectancy of reward and lower satisfaction with reward when it was received. The latter result was manifest in a failure of PTSD participants to show the greater satisfaction that normally accompanies rewards received under conditions of low expectancy. These results suggest reward function impairment in PTSD related to expectancy, satisfaction, and the expectancy-satisfaction relationship.

Striatal dopamine D2 receptor availability predicts the thalamic and medial prefrontal responses to reward in cocaine abusers three years later

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Asensio, S.; Goldstein, R.; Asensio, S.

Low levels of dopamine (DA) D2 receptor availability at a resting baseline have been previously reported in drug addicted individuals and have been associated with reduced ventral and dorsal prefrontal metabolism. The reduction in DA D2 receptor availability along with the reduced ventral frontal metabolism is thought to underlie compromised sensitivity to nondrug reward, a core characteristic of drug addiction. We therefore hypothesized that variability in DA D2 receptor availability at baseline will covary with dynamic responses to monetary reward in addicted individuals. Striatal DA D2 receptor availability was measured with [{sup 11}C]raclopride and positron emission tomography and response tomore » monetary reward was measured (an average of three years later) with functional magnetic resonance imaging in seven cocaine-addicted individuals. Results show that low DA D2 receptor availability in the dorsal striatum was associated with decreased thalamic response to monetary reward; while low availability in ventral striatum was associated with increased medial prefrontal (Brodmann Area 6/8/32) response to monetary reward. These preliminary results, that need to be replicated in larger sample sizes and validated with healthy controls, suggest that resting striatal DA D2 receptor availability predicts variability in functional responses to a nondrug reinforcer (money) in prefrontal cortex, implicated in behavioral monitoring, and in thalamus, implicated in conditioned responses and expectation, in cocaine-addicted individuals.« less

Striatal dopamine D2 receptor availability predicts the thalamic and medial prefrontal responses to reward in cocaine abusers three years later

PubMed Central

Asensio, Samuel; Romero, Maria J.; Romero, Francisco J.; Wong, Christopher; Alia-Klein, Nelly; Tomasi, Dardo; Wang, Gene-Jack; Telang, Frank; Volkow, Nora D.; Goldstein, Rita Z.

2009-01-01

Low levels of dopamine (DA) D2 receptor availability at a resting baseline have been previously reported in drug addicted individuals and have been associated with reduced ventral and dorsal prefrontal metabolism. The reduction in DA D2 receptor availability along with the reduced ventral frontal metabolism is thought to underlie compromised sensitivity to non-drug reward, a core characteristic of drug addiction. We therefore hypothesized that variability in DA D2 receptor availability at baseline will covary with dynamic responses to monetary reward in addicted individuals. Striatal DA D2 receptor availability was measured with [11C]raclopride and positron emission tomography and response to monetary reward was measured (an average of 3 years later) with functional magnetic resonance imaging in seven cocaine addicted individuals. Results show that low DA D2 receptor availability in the dorsal striatum was associated with decreased thalamic response to monetary reward; while low availability in ventral striatum was associated with increased medial prefrontal (Brodmann Area 6/8/32) response to monetary reward. These preliminary results, that need to be replicated in larger sample sizes and validated with healthy controls, suggest that resting striatal DA D2 receptor availability predicts variability in functional responses to a non-drug reinforcer (money) in prefrontal cortex, implicated in behavioral monitoring, and in thalamus, implicated in conditioned responses and expectation, in cocaine addicted individuals. PMID:20034014

Increased default mode network activity in socially anxious individuals during reward processing

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Social anxiety has been associated with potentiated negative affect and, more recently, with diminished positive affect. It is unclear how these alterations in negative and positive affect are represented neurally in socially anxious individuals and, further, whether they generalize to non-social stimuli. To explore this, we used a monetary incentive paradigm to explore the association between social anxiety and both the anticipation and consumption of non-social incentives. Eighty-four individuals from a longitudinal community sample underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while participating in a monetary incentive delay (MID) task. The MID task consisted of alternating cues indicating the potential to win or prevent losing varying amounts of money based on the speed of the participant’s response. We examined whether self-reported levels of social anxiety, averaged across approximately 7 years of data, moderated brain activity when contrasting gain or loss cues with neutral cues during the anticipation and outcome phases of incentive processing. Whole brain analyses and analyses restricted to the ventral striatum for the anticipation phase and the medial prefrontal cortex for the outcome phase were conducted. Results Social anxiety did not associate with differences in hit rates or reaction times when responding to cues. Further, socially anxious individuals did not exhibit decreased ventral striatum activity during anticipation of gains or decreased MPFC activity during the outcome of gain trials, contrary to expectations based on literature indicating blunted positive affect in social anxiety. Instead, social anxiety showed positive associations with extensive regions implicated in default mode network activity (for example, precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex, and parietal lobe) during anticipation and receipt of monetary gain. Social anxiety was further linked with decreased activity in the ventral striatum during anticipation of monetary loss. Conclusions Socially anxious individuals may increase default mode network activity during reward processing, suggesting high self-focused attention even in relation to potentially rewarding stimuli lacking explicit social connotations. Additionally, social anxiety may relate to decreased ventral striatum reactivity when anticipating potential losses. PMID:25075275

Monetary reward suppresses anterior insula activity during social pain.

PubMed

Cristofori, Irene; Harquel, Sylvain; Isnard, Jean; Mauguière, François; Sirigu, Angela

2015-12-01

Social pain after exclusion by others activates brain regions also involved in physical pain. Here we evaluated whether monetary reward could compensate for the negative feeling of social pain in the brain. To address this question we used the unique technique of intracranial electroencephalography in subjects with drug resistant epilepsy. Specifically, we recorded theta activity from intracranial electrodes implanted in the insular cortex while subjects experienced conditions of social inclusion and exclusion associated with monetary gain and loss. Our study confirmed that theta rhythm in the insular cortex is the neural signature of social exclusion. We found that while monetary gain suppresses the effect of social pain in the anterior insula, there is no such effect in the posterior insula. These results imply that the anterior insula can use secondary reward signals to compensate for the negative feeling of social pain. Hence, here we propose that the anterior insula plays a pivotal role in integrating contingencies to update social pain feelings. Finally, the possibility to modulate the theta rhythm through the reward system might open new avenues of research for treating pathologies related to social exclusion. © The Author (2015). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Modulation of spatial attention by goals, statistical learning, and monetary reward.

PubMed

Jiang, Yuhong V; Sha, Li Z; Remington, Roger W

2015-10-01

This study documented the relative strength of task goals, visual statistical learning, and monetary reward in guiding spatial attention. Using a difficult T-among-L search task, we cued spatial attention to one visual quadrant by (i) instructing people to prioritize it (goal-driven attention), (ii) placing the target frequently there (location probability learning), or (iii) associating that quadrant with greater monetary gain (reward-based attention). Results showed that successful goal-driven attention exerted the strongest influence on search RT. Incidental location probability learning yielded a smaller though still robust effect. Incidental reward learning produced negligible guidance for spatial attention. The 95 % confidence intervals of the three effects were largely nonoverlapping. To understand these results, we simulated the role of location repetition priming in probability cuing and reward learning. Repetition priming underestimated the strength of location probability cuing, suggesting that probability cuing involved long-term statistical learning of how to shift attention. Repetition priming provided a reasonable account for the negligible effect of reward on spatial attention. We propose a multiple-systems view of spatial attention that includes task goals, search habit, and priming as primary drivers of top-down attention.

Modulation of spatial attention by goals, statistical learning, and monetary reward

PubMed Central

Sha, Li Z.; Remington, Roger W.

2015-01-01

This study documented the relative strength of task goals, visual statistical learning, and monetary reward in guiding spatial attention. Using a difficult T-among-L search task, we cued spatial attention to one visual quadrant by (i) instructing people to prioritize it (goal-driven attention), (ii) placing the target frequently there (location probability learning), or (iii) associating that quadrant with greater monetary gain (reward-based attention). Results showed that successful goal-driven attention exerted the strongest influence on search RT. Incidental location probability learning yielded a smaller though still robust effect. Incidental reward learning produced negligible guidance for spatial attention. The 95 % confidence intervals of the three effects were largely nonoverlapping. To understand these results, we simulated the role of location repetition priming in probability cuing and reward learning. Repetition priming underestimated the strength of location probability cuing, suggesting that probability cuing involved long-term statistical learning of how to shift attention. Repetition priming provided a reasonable account for the negligible effect of reward on spatial attention. We propose a multiple-systems view of spatial attention that includes task goals, search habit, and priming as primary drivers of top-down attention. PMID:26105657

Striatal activation and frontostriatal connectivity during non-drug reward anticipation in alcohol dependence.

PubMed

Becker, Alena; Kirsch, Martina; Gerchen, Martin Fungisai; Kiefer, Falk; Kirsch, Peter

2017-05-01

According to prevailing neurobiological theories of addiction, altered function in neural reward circuitry is a central mechanism of alcohol dependence. Growing evidence postulates that the ventral striatum (VS), as well as areas of the prefrontal cortex, contribute to the increased incentive salience of alcohol-associated cues, diminished motivation to pursue non-drug rewards and weakened strength of inhibitory cognitive control, which are central to addiction. The present study aims to investigate the neural response and functional connectivity underlying monetary, non-drug reward processing in alcohol dependence. We utilized a reward paradigm to investigate the anticipation of monetary reward in 32 alcohol-dependent inpatients and 35 healthy controls. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to measure task-related brain activation and connectivity. Alcohol-dependent patients showed increased activation of the VS during anticipation of monetary gain compared with healthy controls. Generalized psychophysiological interaction analyses revealed decreased functional connectivity between the VS and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in alcohol dependent patients relative to controls. Increased activation of the VS and reduced frontostriatal connectivity were associated with increased craving. These findings provide evidence that alcohol dependence is rather associated with disrupted integration of striatal and prefrontal processes than with a global reward anticipation deficit. © 2016 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Electrophysiological correlates of anticipating improbable but desired events.

PubMed

Fuentemilla, Lluís; Cucurell, David; Marco-Pallarés, Josep; Guitart-Masip, Marc; Morís, Joaquín; Rodríguez-Fornells, Antoni

2013-09-01

Psychological studies have emphasized that motivation is regulated by the anticipation of the emotional impact from the possible occurrence of unexpected rewarding events. Here, we scrutinized the existence of a corresponding neural signal by means of event-related potentials (ERPs) and computational modeling. In the first experiment, we designed a task that manipulated the probability of gaining a monetary reward and measured ERPs during anticipation and at reward delivery. A sustained frontocentral neural activity (i.e., the stimulus preceding negativity, SPN) was evidenced during the anticipation period. Critically, the SPN was found to increase in amplitude as the reward became more unexpected. Changes in the SPN were found to be predictive of individual differences in risk seeking, suggesting that a greater risk attitude involved a greater motivational state for receiving an improbable reward. In the second experiment, SPN results associated with unexpected monetary gains were replicated in a condition in which participants avoided monetary losses and the occurrence of unexpected rewards was also associated with an increase in the amount of self-reported pleasure. These findings support the existence of a neural ERP signature that encodes the process of tuning our motivation to the possibility of receiving a desirable but improbable rewarding outcome. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Neural basis of the undermining effect of monetary reward on intrinsic motivation

PubMed Central

Murayama, Kou; Matsumoto, Madoka; Izuma, Keise; Matsumoto, Kenji

2010-01-01

Contrary to the widespread belief that people are positively motivated by reward incentives, some studies have shown that performance-based extrinsic reward can actually undermine a person's intrinsic motivation to engage in a task. This “undermining effect” has timely practical implications, given the burgeoning of performance-based incentive systems in contemporary society. It also presents a theoretical challenge for economic and reinforcement learning theories, which tend to assume that monetary incentives monotonically increase motivation. Despite the practical and theoretical importance of this provocative phenomenon, however, little is known about its neural basis. Herein we induced the behavioral undermining effect using a newly developed task, and we tracked its neural correlates using functional MRI. Our results show that performance-based monetary reward indeed undermines intrinsic motivation, as assessed by the number of voluntary engagements in the task. We found that activity in the anterior striatum and the prefrontal areas decreased along with this behavioral undermining effect. These findings suggest that the corticobasal ganglia valuation system underlies the undermining effect through the integration of extrinsic reward value and intrinsic task value. PMID:21078974

Neural basis of the undermining effect of monetary reward on intrinsic motivation.

PubMed

Murayama, Kou; Matsumoto, Madoka; Izuma, Keise; Matsumoto, Kenji

2010-12-07

Contrary to the widespread belief that people are positively motivated by reward incentives, some studies have shown that performance-based extrinsic reward can actually undermine a person's intrinsic motivation to engage in a task. This "undermining effect" has timely practical implications, given the burgeoning of performance-based incentive systems in contemporary society. It also presents a theoretical challenge for economic and reinforcement learning theories, which tend to assume that monetary incentives monotonically increase motivation. Despite the practical and theoretical importance of this provocative phenomenon, however, little is known about its neural basis. Herein we induced the behavioral undermining effect using a newly developed task, and we tracked its neural correlates using functional MRI. Our results show that performance-based monetary reward indeed undermines intrinsic motivation, as assessed by the number of voluntary engagements in the task. We found that activity in the anterior striatum and the prefrontal areas decreased along with this behavioral undermining effect. These findings suggest that the corticobasal ganglia valuation system underlies the undermining effect through the integration of extrinsic reward value and intrinsic task value.

Motivating effort: a theoretical synthesis of the self-sufficiency and two-market theories.

PubMed

Yam, Kai Chi; Bumpus, Matthew F; Hill, Laura G

2012-12-01

We conducted two experimental studies to examine the effect of introducing social and monetary incentives on participants' (1) effort and (2) willingness to participate in a study. We found that extra credit invoked both communal sharing (CS, social reward) and market pricing (MP, monetary reward) schemas, thus leading to higher willingness to participate and greater effort in an experiment compared to an equivalent cash reward. Consistent with the potential combinational nature of different labour markets proposed by the relational theory, our results suggest that the labour market framework of monetary versus social incentive is not mutually exhaustive of all types of incentive, and the combinational effect created by introducing both labour markets may be the best motivator. ©2011 The British Psychological Society.

Neural Sensitivity to Absolute and Relative Anticipated Reward in Adolescents

PubMed Central

Vaidya, Jatin G.; Knutson, Brian; O'Leary, Daniel S.; Block, Robert I.; Magnotta, Vincent

2013-01-01

Adolescence is associated with a dramatic increase in risky and impulsive behaviors that have been attributed to developmental differences in neural processing of rewards. In the present study, we sought to identify age differences in anticipation of absolute and relative rewards. To do so, we modified a commonly used monetary incentive delay (MID) task in order to examine brain activity to relative anticipated reward value (neural sensitivity to the value of a reward as a function of other available rewards). This design also made it possible to examine developmental differences in brain activation to absolute anticipated reward magnitude (the degree to which neural activity increases with increasing reward magnitude). While undergoing fMRI, 18 adolescents and 18 adult participants were presented with cues associated with different reward magnitudes. After the cue, participants responded to a target to win money on that trial. Presentation of cues was blocked such that two reward cues associated with $.20, $1.00, or $5.00 were in play on a given block. Thus, the relative value of the $1.00 reward varied depending on whether it was paired with a smaller or larger reward. Reflecting age differences in neural responses to relative anticipated reward (i.e., reference dependent processing), adults, but not adolescents, demonstrated greater activity to a $1 reward when it was the larger of the two available rewards. Adults also demonstrated a more linear increase in ventral striatal activity as a function of increasing absolute reward magnitude compared to adolescents. Additionally, reduced ventral striatal sensitivity to absolute anticipated reward (i.e., the difference in activity to medium versus small rewards) correlated with higher levels of trait Impulsivity. Thus, ventral striatal activity in anticipation of absolute and relative rewards develops with age. Absolute reward processing is also linked to individual differences in Impulsivity. PMID:23544046

Enhancing response inhibition by incentive: Comparison of adolescents with and without substance use disorder

PubMed Central

Chung, Tammy; Geier, Charles; Luna, Beatriz; Pajtek, Stefan; Terwilliger, Robert; Thatcher, Dawn; Clark, Duncan

2010-01-01

Effective response inhibition is a key component of recovery from addiction. Some research suggests that response inhibition can be enhanced through reward contingencies. We examined the effect of monetary incentive on response inhibition among adolescents with and without substance use disorder (SUD) using a fast event-related fMRI antisaccade reward task. The fMRI task permits investigation of how reward (monetary incentive) might modulate inhibitory control during three task phases: cue presentation (reward or neutral trial), response preparation, and response execution. Adolescents with lifetime SUD (n=12; 100% marijuana use disorder) were gender and age-matched to healthy controls (n=12). Monetary incentive facilitated inhibitory control for SUD adolescents; for healthy controls, the difference in error rate for neutral and reward trials was not significant. There were no significant differences in behavioral performance between groups across reward and neutral trials, however, group differences in regional brain activation were identified. During the response preparation phase of reward trials, SUD adolescents, compared to controls, showed increased activation of prefrontal and oculomotor control (e.g., frontal eye field) areas, brain regions that have been associated with effective response inhibition. Results indicate differences in brain activation between SUD and control youth when preparing to inhibit a prepotent response in the context of reward, and support a possible role for incentives in enhancing response inhibition among youth with SUD. PMID:21115229

Monetary, Food, and Social Rewards Induce Similar Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer Effects

PubMed Central

Lehner, Rea; Balsters, Joshua H.; Herger, Andreas; Hare, Todd A.; Wenderoth, Nicole

2017-01-01

Multiple types of reward, such as money, food or social approval, are capable of driving behavior. However, most previous investigations have only focused on one of these reward classes in isolation, as such it is not clear whether different reward classes have a unique influence on instrumental responding or whether the subjective value of the reward, rather than the reward type per se, is most important in driving behavior. Here, we investigate behavior using a well-established reward paradigm, Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT), and three different reward types: monetary, food and social rewards. The subjective value of each reward type was matched using a modified Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) auction where subjective reward value was expressed through physical effort using a bimanual grip force task. We measured the influence of reward-associated stimuli on how participants distributed forces between hands when reaching a target effort range on the screen bimanually and on how much time participants spent in this target range. Participants spent significantly more time in the target range (15% ± 2% maximal voluntary contraction) when a stimulus was presented that was associated with a reward used during instrumental conditioning or Pavlovian conditioning compared to a stimulus associated with a neutral outcome (i.e., general PIT). The strength of the PIT effect was modulated by subjective value (i.e., individuals who showed a stronger PIT effect rated the value of rewards more highly), but not by reward type, demonstrating that stimuli of all reward types were able to act as appetitive reinforcers and influenced instrumental responding, when matched to the same subjective reward value. This is the first demonstration that individually matched monetary, food and social rewards are equally effective as appetitive reinforcers in PIT. These findings strengthen the hypotheses that the subjective value is crucial for how much reward-associated stimuli influence behavior. PMID:28101010

Tobacco demand, delay discounting, and smoking topography among smokers with and without psychopathology.

PubMed

Farris, Samantha G; Aston, Elizabeth R; Abrantes, Ana M; Zvolensky, Michael J

2017-10-01

Tobacco demand (i.e., relative value attributed to a given reinforcer) and delay discounting (i.e., relative preference for smaller immediate rewards over larger delayed rewards) are two behavioral economic processes that are linked to the progression of problematic substance use. These processes have not been studied among those with psychopathology, a vulnerable group of smokers. The current study examined differences in tobacco demand and delay discounting, and their association with smoking topography among smokers with (n=43) and without (n=64) past-year psychopathology. Adult daily smokers (n=107,M age =43.5; SD=9.7) participated in a study on "smoking behavior." Past-year psychological disorders were assessed via a clinician-administered diagnostic assessment. All subjects participated in an ad libitum smoking trial and then completed an assessment of delay discounting (Monetary Choice Questionnaire) and tobacco demand (Cigarette Purchase Task) approximately 45-60min post-smoking. Smokers with psychopathology, compared to those without, had significantly higher demand intensity and maximum expenditure on tobacco (O max ), but did not differ on other demand indices or delay discounting. Smokers with psychopathology had shorter average inter-puff intervals and shorter time to cigarette completion than smokers without psychopathology. Tobacco demand and delay discounting measures were significantly intercorrelated among smokers with psychopathology, but not those without. Both behavioral economic measures were associated with specific aspects of smoking topography in smokers with psychopathology. The association between tobacco demand and delay discounting is evident among smokers with psychopathology and both measures were most consistently related to smoking behavior. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A negative relationship between ventral striatal loss anticipation response and impulsivity in borderline personality disorder.

PubMed

Herbort, Maike C; Soch, Joram; Wüstenberg, Torsten; Krauel, Kerstin; Pujara, Maia; Koenigs, Michael; Gallinat, Jürgen; Walter, Henrik; Roepke, Stefan; Schott, Björn H

2016-01-01

Patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) frequently exhibit impulsive behavior, and self-reported impulsivity is typically higher in BPD patients when compared to healthy controls. Previous functional neuroimaging studies have suggested a link between impulsivity, the ventral striatal response to reward anticipation, and prediction errors. Here we investigated the striatal neural response to monetary gain and loss anticipation and their relationship with impulsivity in 21 female BPD patients and 23 age-matched female healthy controls using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants performed a delayed monetary incentive task in which three categories of objects predicted a potential gain, loss, or neutral outcome. Impulsivity was assessed using the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11). Compared to healthy controls, BPD patients exhibited significantly reduced fMRI responses of the ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens (VS/NAcc) to both reward-predicting and loss-predicting cues. BIS-11 scores showed a significant positive correlation with the VS/NAcc reward anticipation responses in healthy controls, and this correlation, while also nominally positive, failed to reach significance in BPD patients. BPD patients, on the other hand, exhibited a significantly negative correlation between ventral striatal loss anticipation responses and BIS-11 scores, whereas this correlation was significantly positive in healthy controls. Our results suggest that patients with BPD show attenuated anticipation responses in the VS/NAcc and, furthermore, that higher impulsivity in BPD patients might be related to impaired prediction of aversive outcomes.

Spatiotemporal dissociation of brain activity underlying threat and reward in social anxiety disorder

PubMed Central

Ghane, Merage; Valdespino, Andrew; Coffman, Marika C.; Strege, Marlene V.; White, Susan W.; Ollendick, Thomas H.

2017-01-01

Abstract Social anxiety disorder (SAD) involves abnormalities in social motivation, which may be independent of well-documented differences in fear and arousal systems. Yet, the neurobiology underlying motivational difficulties in SAD is not well understood. The aim of the current study was to spatiotemporally dissociate reward circuitry dysfunction from alterations in fear and arousal-related neural activity during anticipation and notification of social and non-social reward and punishment. During fMRI acquisition, non-depressed adults with social anxiety disorder (SAD; N = 21) and age-, sex- and IQ-matched control subjects (N = 22) completed eight runs of an incentive delay task, alternating between social and monetary outcomes and interleaved in alternating order between gain and loss outcomes. Adults with SAD demonstrated significantly reduced neural activity in ventral striatum during the anticipation of positive but not negative social outcomes. No differences between the SAD and control groups were observed during anticipation of monetary gain or loss outcomes or during anticipation of negative social images. However, consistent with previous work, the SAD group demonstrated amygdala hyper-activity upon notification of negative social outcomes. Degraded anticipatory processing in bilateral ventral striatum in SAD was constrained exclusively to anticipation of positive social information and dissociable from the effects of negative social outcomes previously observed in the amygdala. Alterations in anticipation-related neural signals may represent a promising target for treatment that is not addressed by available evidence-based interventions, which focus primarily on fear extinction and habituation processes. PMID:27798252

Inverted Social Reward: Associations between Psychopathic Traits and Self-Report and Experimental Measures of Social Reward

PubMed Central

Foulkes, Lucy; McCrory, Eamon J.; Neumann, Craig S.; Viding, Essi

2014-01-01

Individuals with high levels of psychopathic traits tend to undervalue long-term, affiliative relationships, but it remains unclear what motivates them to engage in social interactions at all. Their experience of social reward may provide an important clue. In Study 1 of this paper, a large sample of participants (N = 505) completed a measure of psychopathic traits (Self-Report Psychopathy Scale Short-Form) and a measure of social reward value (Social Reward Questionnaire) to explore what aspects of social reward are associated with psychopathic traits. In Study 2 (N = 110), the same measures were administered to a new group of participants along with two experimental tasks investigating monetary and social reward value. Psychopathic traits were found to be positively correlated with the enjoyment of callous treatment of others and negatively associated with the enjoyment of positive social interactions. This indicates a pattern of ‘inverted’ social reward in which being cruel is enjoyable and being kind is not. Interpersonal psychopathic traits were also positively associated with the difference between mean reaction times (RTs) in the monetary and social experimental reward tasks; individuals with high levels of these traits responded comparatively faster to social than monetary reward. We speculate that this may be because social approval/admiration has particular value for these individuals, who have a tendency to use and manipulate others. Together, these studies provide evidence that the self-serving and cruel social behaviour seen in psychopathy may in part be explained by what these individuals find rewarding. PMID:25162519

Individual variation in the neural processes of motor decisions in the stop signal task: the influence of novelty seeking and harm avoidance personality traits.

PubMed

Hu, Jianping; Lee, Dianne; Hu, Sien; Zhang, Sheng; Chao, Herta; Li, Chiang-Shan R

2016-06-01

Personality traits contribute to variation in human behavior, including the propensity to take risk. Extant work targeted risk-taking processes with an explicit manipulation of reward, but it remains unclear whether personality traits influence simple decisions such as speeded versus delayed responses during cognitive control. We explored this issue in an fMRI study of the stop signal task, in which participants varied in response time trial by trial, speeding up and risking a stop error or slowing down to avoid errors. Regional brain activations to speeded versus delayed motor responses (risk-taking) were correlated to novelty seeking (NS), harm avoidance (HA) and reward dependence (RD), with age and gender as covariates, in a whole brain regression. At a corrected threshold, the results showed a positive correlation between NS and risk-taking responses in the dorsomedial prefrontal, bilateral orbitofrontal, and frontopolar cortex, and between HA and risk-taking responses in the parahippocampal gyrus and putamen. No regional activations varied with RD. These findings demonstrate that personality traits influence the neural processes of executive control beyond behavioral tasks that involve explicit monetary reward. The results also speak broadly to the importance of characterizing inter-subject variation in studies of cognition and brain functions.

Mutual Influence of Reward Anticipation and Emotion on Brain Activity during Memory Retrieval.

PubMed

Yan, Chunping; Liu, Fang; Li, Yunyun; Zhang, Qin; Cui, Lixia

2017-01-01

Previous studies on the joint effect of reward motivation and emotion on memory retrieval have obtained inconsistent results. Furthermore, whether and how any such joint effect might vary over time remains unclear too. Accordingly, using the event-related potential (ERP) measurement of high temporal resolution, our study investigates the cognitive and brain mechanisms of monetary reward and emotion affecting the retrieval processes of episodic memory. Twenty undergraduate and graduate students participated in the research, and our study's behavioral results indicated that reward (relative to no reward) and negative emotion (relative to positive and neutral emotion) significantly improved recognition performance. The ERP results showed that there were significant interactions between monetary reward and emotion on memory retrieval, and the reward effects of positive, neutral, and negative memory occurred at varied intervals in mean amplitude. The reward effect of positive memory appeared relatively early, at 260-330 ms after the stimulus onset in the frontal-frontocentral area, at 260-500 ms in the centroparietal-parietal area and at 500-700 ms in the frontocentral area. However, the reward effects of neutral and negative memory occurred relatively later, and that of negative memory appeared at 500-700 ms in the frontocentral and centroparietal area and that of neutral memory was at 500-700 ms in the frontocentral and centroparietal-parietal area. Meanwhile, significant FN400 old/new effects were observed in the negative and rewarded positive items, and the old/new effects of negative items appeared earlier at FN400 than positive items. Also, significant late positive component (LPC) old/new effects were found in the positive, negative, and rewarded neutral items. These results suggest that, monetary reward and negative emotion significantly improved recognition performance, and there was a mutual influence between reward and emotion on brain activity during memory retrieval.

A target sample of adolescents and reward processing: same neural and behavioral correlates engaged in common paradigms?

PubMed

Nees, Frauke; Vollstädt-Klein, Sabine; Fauth-Bühler, Mira; Steiner, Sabina; Mann, Karl; Poustka, Luise; Banaschewski, Tobias; Büchel, Christian; Conrod, Patricia J; Garavan, Hugh; Heinz, Andreas; Ittermann, Bernd; Artiges, Eric; Paus, Tomas; Pausova, Zdenka; Rietschel, Marcella; Smolka, Michael N; Struve, Maren; Loth, Eva; Schumann, Gunter; Flor, Herta

2012-11-01

Adolescence is a transition period that is assumed to be characterized by increased sensitivity to reward. While there is growing research on reward processing in adolescents, investigations into the engagement of brain regions under different reward-related conditions in one sample of healthy adolescents, especially in a target age group, are missing. We aimed to identify brain regions preferentially activated in a reaction time task (monetary incentive delay (MID) task) and a simple guessing task (SGT) in a sample of 14-year-old adolescents (N = 54) using two commonly used reward paradigms. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was employed during the MID with big versus small versus no win conditions and the SGT with big versus small win and big versus small loss conditions. Analyses focused on changes in blood oxygen level-dependent contrasts during reward and punishment processing in anticipation and feedback phases. We found clear magnitude-sensitive response in reward-related brain regions such as the ventral striatum during anticipation in the MID task, but not in the SGT. This was also true for reaction times. The feedback phase showed clear reward-related, but magnitude-independent, response patterns, for example in the anterior cingulate cortex, in both tasks. Our findings highlight neural and behavioral response patterns engaged in two different reward paradigms in one sample of 14-year-old healthy adolescents and might be important for reference in future studies investigating reward and punishment processing in a target age group.

Individual differences in regulatory focus predict neural response to reward.

PubMed

Scult, Matthew A; Knodt, Annchen R; Hanson, Jamie L; Ryoo, Minyoung; Adcock, R Alison; Hariri, Ahmad R; Strauman, Timothy J

2017-08-01

Although goal pursuit is related to both functioning of the brain's reward circuits and psychological factors, the literatures surrounding these concepts have often been separate. Here, we use the psychological construct of regulatory focus to investigate individual differences in neural response to reward. Regulatory focus theory proposes two motivational orientations for personal goal pursuit: (1) promotion, associated with sensitivity to potential gain, and (2) prevention, associated with sensitivity to potential loss. The monetary incentive delay task was used to manipulate reward circuit function, along with instructional framing corresponding to promotion and prevention in a within-subject design. We observed that the more promotion oriented an individual was, the lower their ventral striatum response to gain cues. Follow-up analyses revealed that greater promotion orientation was associated with decreased ventral striatum response even to no-value cues, suggesting that promotion orientation may be associated with relatively hypoactive reward system function. The findings are also likely to represent an interaction between the cognitive and motivational characteristics of the promotion system with the task demands. Prevention orientation did not correlate with ventral striatum response to gain cues, supporting the discriminant validity of regulatory focus theory. The results highlight a dynamic association between individual differences in self-regulation and reward system function.

Intelligence moderates neural responses to monetary reward and punishment.

PubMed

Hawes, Daniel R; DeYoung, Colin G; Gray, Jeremy R; Rustichini, Aldo

2014-05-01

The relations between intelligence (IQ) and neural responses to monetary gains and losses were investigated in a simple decision task. In 94 healthy adults, typical responses of striatal blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal after monetary reward and punishment were weaker for subjects with higher IQ. IQ-moderated differential responses to gains and losses were also found for regions in the medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, and left inferior frontal cortex. These regions have previously been identified with the subjective utility of monetary outcomes. Analysis of subjects' behavior revealed a correlation between IQ and the extent to which choices were related to experienced decision outcomes in preceding trials. Specifically, higher IQ predicted behavior to be more strongly correlated with an extended period of previously experienced decision outcomes, whereas lower IQ predicted behavior to be correlated exclusively to the most recent decision outcomes. We link these behavioral and imaging findings to a theoretical model capable of describing a role for intelligence during the evaluation of rewards generated by unknown probabilistic processes. Our results demonstrate neural differences in how people of different intelligence respond to experienced monetary rewards and punishments. Our theoretical discussion offers a functional description for how these individual differences may be linked to choice behavior. Together, our results and model support the hypothesis that observed correlations between intelligence and preferences may be rooted in the way decision outcomes are experienced ex post, rather than deriving exclusively from how choices are evaluated ex ante.

Goal or gold: overlapping reward processes in soccer players upon scoring and winning money.

PubMed

Häusler, Alexander Niklas; Becker, Benjamin; Bartling, Marcel; Weber, Bernd

2015-01-01

Social rewards are important incentives for human behavior. This is especially true in team sports such as the most popular one worldwide: soccer. We investigated reward processing upon scoring a soccer goal in a standard two-versus-one situation and in comparison to winning in a monetary incentive task. The results show a strong overlap in brain activity between the two conditions in established reward regions of the mesolimbic dopaminergic system, including the ventral striatum and ventromedial pre-frontal cortex. The three main components of reward-associated learning, i.e., reward probability (RP), reward reception (RR) and reward prediction errors (RPE) showed highly similar activation in both con-texts, with only the RR and RPE components displaying overlapping reward activity. Passing and shooting behavior did not correlate with individual egoism scores, but we observe a positive correlation be-tween egoism and activity in the left middle frontal gyrus upon scoring after a pass versus a direct shot. Our findings suggest that rewards in the context of soccer and monetary incentives are based on similar neural processes.

Goal or Gold: Overlapping Reward Processes in Soccer Players upon Scoring and Winning Money

PubMed Central

Häusler, Alexander Niklas; Becker, Benjamin; Bartling, Marcel; Weber, Bernd

2015-01-01

Social rewards are important incentives for human behavior. This is especially true in team sports such as the most popular one worldwide: soccer. We investigated reward processing upon scoring a soccer goal in a standard two-versus-one situation and in comparison to winning in a monetary incentive task. The results show a strong overlap in brain activity between the two conditions in established reward regions of the mesolimbic dopaminergic system, including the ventral striatum and ventromedial pre-frontal cortex. The three main components of reward-associated learning i.e. reward probability (RP), reward reception (RR) and reward prediction errors (RPE) showed highly similar activation in both con-texts, with only the RR and RPE components displaying overlapping reward activity. Passing and shooting behavior did not correlate with individual egoism scores, but we observe a positive correlation be-tween egoism and activity in the left middle frontal gyrus upon scoring after a pass versus a direct shot. Our findings suggest that rewards in the context of soccer and monetary incentives are based on similar neural processes. PMID:25875594

Adolescent behavioral and neural reward sensitivity: a test of the differential susceptibility theory

PubMed Central

Richards, J S; Arias Vásquez, A; von Rhein, D; van der Meer, D; Franke, B; Hoekstra, P J; Heslenfeld, D J; Oosterlaan, J; Faraone, S V; Buitelaar, J K; Hartman, C A

2016-01-01

Little is known about the causes of individual differences in reward sensitivity. We investigated gene–environment interactions (GxE) on behavioral and neural measures of reward sensitivity, in light of the differential susceptibility theory. This theory states that individuals carrying plasticity gene variants will be more disadvantaged in negative, but more advantaged in positive environments. Reward responses were assessed during a monetary incentive delay task in 178 participants with and 265 without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), from N=261 families. We examined interactions between variants in candidate plasticity genes (DAT1, 5-HTT and DRD4) and social environments (maternal expressed emotion and peer affiliation). HTTLPR short allele carriers showed the least reward speeding when exposed to high positive peer affiliation, but the most when faced with low positive peer affiliation or low maternal warmth. DAT1 10-repeat homozygotes displayed similar GxE patterns toward maternal warmth on general task performance. At the neural level, DRD4 7-repeat carriers showed the least striatal activation during reward anticipation when exposed to high maternal warmth, but the most when exposed to low warmth. Findings were independent of ADHD severity. Our results partially confirm the differential susceptibility theory and indicate the importance of positive social environments in reward sensitivity and general task performance for persons with specific genotypes. PMID:27045841

Alcohol Increases Delay and Probability Discounting of Condom-Protected Sex: A Novel Vector for Alcohol-Related HIV Transmission.

PubMed

Johnson, Patrick S; Sweeney, Mary M; Herrmann, Evan S; Johnson, Matthew W

2016-06-01

Alcohol use, especially at binge levels, is associated with sexual HIV risk behavior, but the mechanisms through which alcohol increases sexual risk taking are not well-examined. Delay discounting, that is, devaluation of future consequences as a function of delay to their occurrence, has been implicated in a variety of problem behaviors, including risky sexual behavior. Probability discounting is studied with a similar framework as delay discounting, but is a distinct process in which a consequence is devalued because it is uncertain or probabilistic. Twenty-three, nondependent alcohol users (13 male, 10 female; mean age = 25.3 years old) orally consumed alcohol (1 g/kg) or placebo in 2 separate experimental sessions. During sessions, participants completed tasks examining delay and probability discounting of hypothetical condom-protected sex (Sexual Delay Discounting Task, Sexual Probability Discounting Task) and of hypothetical and real money. Alcohol decreased the likelihood that participants would wait to have condom-protected sex versus having immediate, unprotected sex. Alcohol also decreased the likelihood that participants would use an immediately available condom given a specified level of sexually transmitted infection (STI) risk. Alcohol did not affect delay discounting of money, but it did increase participants' preferences for larger, probabilistic monetary rewards over smaller, certain rewards. Acute, binge-level alcohol intoxication may increase sexual HIV risk by decreasing willingness to delay sex in order to acquire a condom in situations where one is not immediately available, and by decreasing sensitivity to perceived risk of STI contraction. These findings suggest that delay and probability discounting are critical, but heretofore unrecognized, processes that may mediate the relations between alcohol use and HIV risk. Copyright © 2016 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.

Effect of social influence on effort-allocation for monetary rewards.

PubMed

Gilman, Jodi M; Treadway, Michael T; Curran, Max T; Calderon, Vanessa; Evins, A Eden

2015-01-01

Though decades of research have shown that people are highly influenced by peers, few studies have directly assessed how the value of social conformity is weighed against other types of costs and benefits. Using an effort-based decision-making paradigm with a novel social influence manipulation, we measured how social influence affected individuals' decisions to allocate effort for monetary rewards during trials with either high or low probability of receiving a reward. We found that information about the effort-allocation of peers modulated participant choices, specifically during conditions of low probability of obtaining a reward. This suggests that peer influence affects effort-based choices to obtain rewards especially under conditions of risk. This study provides evidence that people value social conformity in addition to other costs and benefits when allocating effort, and suggests that neuroeconomic studies that assess trade-offs between effort and reward should consider social environment as a factor that can influence decision-making.

Common Alterations in Sensitivity to Type but Not Amount of Reward in ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Demurie, Ellen; Roeyers, Herbert; Baeyens, Dieter; Sonuga-Barke, Edmund

2011-01-01

Background: Children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) display abnormalities in reward processing. Most reward studies have focused on the effects of material or monetary rewards. Studies with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have focused on social rewards. In this study we compared the effects of amount and type of reward in…

Withdrawal-Related Changes in Delay Discounting Predict Short-Term Smoking Abstinence.

PubMed

Miglin, Rickie; Kable, Joseph W; Bowers, Maureen E; Ashare, Rebecca L

2017-06-01

Impulsive decision making is associated with smoking behavior and reflects preferences for smaller, immediate rewards and intolerance of temporal delays. Nicotine withdrawal may alter impulsive decision making and time perception. However, little is known about whether withdrawal-related changes in decision making and time perception predict smoking relapse. Forty-five smokers (14 female) completed two laboratory sessions, one following 24-hour abstinence and one smoking-as-usual (order counterbalanced; biochemically verified abstinence). During each visit, participants completed measures of time perception, decision making (ie, discount rates), craving, and withdrawal. Following the second laboratory session, subjects underwent a well-validated model of short-term abstinence (quit week) with small monetary incentives for each day of biochemically confirmed abstinence. Smokers significantly overestimated time during abstinence, compared to smoking-as-usual (p = .021), but there were no abstinence effects on discount rates (p = .6). During the quit week, subjects were abstinent for 3.5 days (SD = 2.15) and smoked a total of 12.9 cigarettes (SD = 15.8). Importantly, higher discount rates (ie, preferences for immediate rewards) during abstinence (abstinence minus smoking difference score) predicted greater number of days abstinent (p = .01) and fewer cigarettes smoked during the quit week (p = .02). Withdrawal-related change in time reproduction did not predict relapse (p = .2). These data suggest that individuals who have a greater preference for immediate rewards during abstinence (vs. smoking-as-usual) may be more successful at maintaining short-term abstinence when provided with frequent (eg, daily) versus less frequent incentive schedules (eg, 1 month). Abstinence-induced changes in decision making may be important for identifying smokers who may benefit from interventions that incentivize abstinence such as contingency management (CM). The present results suggest that smokers who place greater subjective value on immediate rewards during withdrawal (compared to smoking-as-usual) may be less likely to relapse if offered small, frequent monetary incentives to maintain abstinence. Thus, the current findings may have important implications for identifying smokers most likely to benefit from particular interventions such as CM. Future research might evaluate whether withdrawal-related changes in delay discounting moderate treatment response to different incentive schedules with the goal of optimizing CM effectiveness to improve abstinence rates. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Modeling the Effect of Reward Amount on Probability Discounting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Myerson, Joel; Green, Leonard; Morris, Joshua

2011-01-01

The present study with college students examined the effect of amount on the discounting of probabilistic monetary rewards. A hyperboloid function accurately described the discounting of hypothetical rewards ranging in amount from $20 to $10,000,000. The degree of discounting increased continuously with amount of probabilistic reward. This effect…

Time-of-day differences and short-term stability of the neural response to monetary reward: a pilot study.

PubMed

Hasler, Brant P; Forbes, Erika E; Franzen, Peter L

2014-10-30

Human and animal studies indicate that reward function is modulated by the circadian clock that governs our daily sleep/wake rhythm. For example, a robust circadian rhythm exists in positive affect, which is lower in the morning hours and peaks in the afternoon. A handful of functional neuroimaging studies suggest that systematic diurnal variation exists in brain activity related to other functions, but no published human studies have examined daily variation in the neural processing of reward. In the present study, we attempt to advance this literature by using functional neuroimaging methods to examine time-of-day changes in the responsivity of the reward circuit. Using a within-person design and a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) monetary reward task, we compared morning and afternoon reward-related brain activation in a sample of healthy young adults within 24h. Region of interest analyses focused on the striatum, and we hypothesized greater reward activation in the afternoon, concordant with the circadian peak in positive affect. Results were consistent with our hypothesis. In addition, we counterbalanced the order of morning and afternoon scans in order to explore the short-term stability of the neural response. Whole-brain analyses showed a markedly higher reactivity to reward throughout the brain in the first scan relative to the second scan, consistent with habituation to the monetary reward stimuli. However, these effects did not appear to explain the time-of-day findings. In summary, we report the first preliminary evidence of circadian variation in the neural processing of reward. These findings have both methodological and theoretical implications. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Concordance between monetary and sexual delay discounting in men who have sex with men.

PubMed

Jones, Jeb; Guest, Jodie L; Sullivan, Patrick S; Kramer, Michael R; Jenness, Samuel M; Sales, Jessica M

2017-12-07

Background: Delay discounting has been found to be associated with numerous health-related outcomes, including risky sexual behaviour. To date, it is unclear whether delay discounting measured in different domains is associated within individuals. The goal of this study was to assess the concordance of monetary and sexual delay discounting in men who have sex with men. Methods: Participants completed an online survey, including the Monetary Choice Questionnaire and the Sexual Discounting Task. Linear regression models were used to assess the association between monetary and sexual discount rates. Results: Sexual discount rates did not predict monetary discount rates. There was a substantial amount of clustering of sexual discount rates, requiring sexual discounting data to be categorised. Conclusions: Monetary and sexual delay discounting are distinct processes that are not necessarily associated within individuals, and monetary delay discounting is not an appropriate proxy measure for sexual impulsivity. Data from the Sexual Discounting Task are typically rank-transformed for analysis. These data suggest that this might be an invalid method of analysis. Future studies should investigate the distribution of their data to determine if it is appropriate to analyse sexual discounting data as a continuous measure.

Reward system dysfunction in autism spectrum disorders

PubMed Central

Schulte-Rüther, Martin; Nehrkorn, Barbara; Müller, Kristin; Fink, Gereon R.; Kamp-Becker, Inge; Herpertz-Dahlmann, Beate; Schultz, Robert T.; Konrad, Kerstin

2013-01-01

Although it has been suggested that social deficits of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are related to reward circuitry dysfunction, very little is known about the neural reward mechanisms in ASD. In the current functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we investigated brain activations in response to both social and monetary reward in a group of children with ASD, relative to matched controls. Participants with ASD showed the expected hypoactivation in the mesocorticolimbic circuitry in response to both reward types. In particular, diminished activation in the nucleus accumbens was observed when money, but not when social reward, was at stake, whereas the amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex were hypoactivated within the ASD group in response to both rewards. These data indicate that the reward circuitry is compromised in ASD in social as well as in non-social, i.e. monetary conditions, which likely contributes to atypical motivated behaviour. Taken together, with incentives used in this study sample, there is evidence for a general reward dysfunction in ASD. However, more ecologically valid social reward paradigms are needed to fully understand, whether there is any domain specificity to the reward deficit that appears evident in ASD, which would be most consistent with the ASD social phenotype. PMID:22419119

Personality influences temporal discounting preferences: behavioral and brain evidence.

PubMed

Manning, Joshua; Hedden, Trey; Wickens, Nina; Whitfield-Gabrieli, Susan; Prelec, Drazen; Gabrieli, John D E

2014-09-01

Personality traits are stable predictors of many life outcomes that are associated with important decisions that involve tradeoffs over time. Therefore, a fundamental question is how tradeoffs over time vary from person to person in relation to stable personality traits. We investigated the influence of personality, as measured by the Five-Factor Model, on time preferences and on neural activity engaged by intertemporal choice. During functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), participants made choices between smaller-sooner and larger-later monetary rewards. For each participant, we estimated a constant-sensitivity discount function that dissociates impatience (devaluation of future consequences) from time sensitivity (consistency with rational, exponential discounting). Overall, higher neuroticism was associated with a relatively greater preference for immediate rewards and higher conscientiousness with a relatively greater preference for delayed rewards. Specifically, higher conscientiousness correlated positively with lower short-term impatience and more exponential time preferences, whereas higher neuroticism (lower emotional stability) correlated positively with higher short-term impatience and less exponential time preferences. Cognitive-control and reward brain regions were more activated when higher conscientiousness participants selected a smaller-sooner reward and, conversely, when higher neuroticism participants selected a larger-later reward. The greater activations that occurred when choosing rewards that contradicted personality predispositions may reflect the greater recruitment of mental resources needed to override those predispositions. These findings reveal that stable personality traits fundamentally influence how rewards are chosen over time. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Brain substrates of reward processing and the μ-opioid receptor: a pathway into pain?

PubMed

Nees, Frauke; Becker, Susanne; Millenet, Sabina; Banaschewski, Tobias; Poustka, Luise; Bokde, Arun; Bromberg, Uli; Büchel, Christian; Conrod, Patricia J; Desrivières, Sylvane; Frouin, Vincent; Gallinat, Jürgen; Garavan, Hugh; Heinz, Andreas; Ittermann, Bernd; Martinot, Jean-Luc; Papadopoulos Orfanos, Dimitri; Paus, Tomáš; Smolka, Michael N; Walter, Henrik; Whelan, Rob; Schumann, Gunter; Flor, Herta

2017-02-01

The processing of reward and reinforcement learning seems to be important determinants of pain chronicity. However, reward processing is already altered early in life and if this is related to the development of pain symptoms later on is not known. The aim of this study was first to examine whether behavioural and brain-related indicators of reward processing at the age of 14 to 15 years are significant predictors of pain complaints 2 years later, at 16 to 17 years. Second, we investigated the contribution of genetic variations in the opioidergic system, which is linked to the processing of both, reward and pain, to this prediction. We used the monetary incentive delay task to assess reward processing, the Children's Somatization Inventory as measure of pain complaints and tested the effects of 2 single nucleotide polymorphisms (rs1799971/rs563649) of the human μ-opioid receptor gene. We found a significant prediction of pain complaints by responses in the dorsal striatum during reward feedback, independent of genetic predisposition. The relationship of pain complaints and activation in the periaqueductal gray and ventral striatum depended on the T-allele of rs563649. Carriers of this allele also showed more pain complaints than CC-allele carriers. Therefore, brain responses to reward outcomes and higher sensitivity to pain might be related already early in life and may thus set the course for pain complaints later in life, partly depending on a specific opioidergic genetic predisposition.

Providing Extrinsic Reward for Test Performance Undermines Long-Term Memory Acquisition.

PubMed

Kuhbandner, Christof; Aslan, Alp; Emmerdinger, Kathrin; Murayama, Kou

2016-01-01

Based on numerous studies showing that testing studied material can improve long-term retention more than restudying the same material, it is often suggested that the number of tests in education should be increased to enhance knowledge acquisition. However, testing in real-life educational settings often entails a high degree of extrinsic motivation of learners due to the common practice of placing important consequences on the outcome of a test. Such an effect on the motivation of learners may undermine the beneficial effects of testing on long-term memory because it has been shown that extrinsic motivation can reduce the quality of learning. To examine this issue, participants learned foreign language vocabulary words, followed by an immediate test in which one-third of the words were tested and one-third restudied. To manipulate extrinsic motivation during immediate testing, participants received either monetary reward contingent on test performance or no reward. After 1 week, memory for all words was tested. In the immediate test, reward reduced correct recall and increased commission errors, indicating that reward reduced the number of items that can benefit from successful retrieval. The results in the delayed test revealed that reward additionally reduced the gain received from successful retrieval because memory for initially successfully retrieved words was lower in the reward condition. However, testing was still more effective than restudying under reward conditions because reward undermined long-term memory for concurrently restudied material as well. These findings indicate that providing performance-contingent reward in a test can undermine long-term knowledge acquisition.

Providing Extrinsic Reward for Test Performance Undermines Long-Term Memory Acquisition

PubMed Central

Kuhbandner, Christof; Aslan, Alp; Emmerdinger, Kathrin; Murayama, Kou

2016-01-01

Based on numerous studies showing that testing studied material can improve long-term retention more than restudying the same material, it is often suggested that the number of tests in education should be increased to enhance knowledge acquisition. However, testing in real-life educational settings often entails a high degree of extrinsic motivation of learners due to the common practice of placing important consequences on the outcome of a test. Such an effect on the motivation of learners may undermine the beneficial effects of testing on long-term memory because it has been shown that extrinsic motivation can reduce the quality of learning. To examine this issue, participants learned foreign language vocabulary words, followed by an immediate test in which one-third of the words were tested and one-third restudied. To manipulate extrinsic motivation during immediate testing, participants received either monetary reward contingent on test performance or no reward. After 1 week, memory for all words was tested. In the immediate test, reward reduced correct recall and increased commission errors, indicating that reward reduced the number of items that can benefit from successful retrieval. The results in the delayed test revealed that reward additionally reduced the gain received from successful retrieval because memory for initially successfully retrieved words was lower in the reward condition. However, testing was still more effective than restudying under reward conditions because reward undermined long-term memory for concurrently restudied material as well. These findings indicate that providing performance–contingent reward in a test can undermine long-term knowledge acquisition. PMID:26869978

Like mother like daughter: putamen activation as a mechanism underlying intergenerational risk for depression.

PubMed

Colich, Natalie L; Ho, Tiffany C; Ellwood-Lowe, Monica E; Foland-Ross, Lara C; Sacchet, Matthew D; LeMoult, Joelle L; Gotlib, Ian H

2017-09-01

Having a depressed mother is one of the strongest predictors for developing depression in adolescence. Given the role of aberrant reward processing in the onset and maintenance of depression, we examined the association between mothers' and their daughters' neural response to the anticipation of reward and loss. Fifteen non-depressed mothers with a history of recurrent depression and their never-disordered daughters, and 23 mothers without past or current depression and their never-disordered daughters, underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing the monetary incentive delay task. To assess mother-daughter concordance, we first identified ROIs involved in the anticipation of reward and loss across all mother-daughter pairs. Within each of these ROIs, we examined the association between mothers' and daughters' neural response, and the interaction between group status and mothers' neural response in predicting daughters' neural response. We found a significant association between mothers' and daughters' putamen response to the anticipation of loss, regardless of mother's depression history. Furthermore, pubertal stage moderated the association between mother-daughter putamen concordance. Our findings suggest a unique role of the putamen in the maternal transmission of reward learning and have important implications for understanding disorders characterized by disturbances in reward learning and processing, such as major depression. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press.

Like mother like daughter: putamen activation as a mechanism underlying intergenerational risk for depression

PubMed Central

Ho, Tiffany C.; Ellwood-Lowe, Monica E.; Foland-Ross, Lara C.; Sacchet, Matthew D.; LeMoult, Joelle L.; Gotlib, Ian H.

2017-01-01

Abstract Having a depressed mother is one of the strongest predictors for developing depression in adolescence. Given the role of aberrant reward processing in the onset and maintenance of depression, we examined the association between mothers’ and their daughters’ neural response to the anticipation of reward and loss. Fifteen non-depressed mothers with a history of recurrent depression and their never-disordered daughters, and 23 mothers without past or current depression and their never-disordered daughters, underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing the monetary incentive delay task. To assess mother-daughter concordance, we first identified ROIs involved in the anticipation of reward and loss across all mother-daughter pairs. Within each of these ROIs, we examined the association between mothers’ and daughters’ neural response, and the interaction between group status and mothers’ neural response in predicting daughters’ neural response. We found a significant association between mothers’ and daughters’ putamen response to the anticipation of loss, regardless of mother’s depression history. Furthermore, pubertal stage moderated the association between mother-daughter putamen concordance. Our findings suggest a unique role of the putamen in the maternal transmission of reward learning and have important implications for understanding disorders characterized by disturbances in reward learning and processing, such as major depression. PMID:28575505

Reward and loss anticipation in panic disorder: An fMRI study.

PubMed

Held-Poschardt, Dada; Sterzer, Philipp; Schlagenhauf, Florian; Pehrs, Corinna; Wittmann, Andre; Stoy, Meline; Hägele, Claudia; Knutson, Brian; Heinz, Andreas; Ströhle, Andreas

2018-01-30

Anticipatory anxiety and harm avoidance are essential features of panic disorder (PD) and may involve deficits in the reward system of the brain, in particular in the ventral striatum. While neuroimaging studies on PD have focused on fearful and negative affective stimulus processing, no investigations have directly addressed deficits in reward and loss anticipation. To determine whether the ventral striatum shows abnormal neural activity in PD patients during anticipation of loss or gain, an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment using a monetary incentive delay task was employed in 10 patients with PD and 10 healthy controls. A repeated-measures ANOVA to identify effects of group (PD vs. Control) and condition (anticipation of loss vs. gain vs. neutral outcome) revealed that patients with PD showed significantly reduced bilateral ventral striatal activation during reward anticipation but increased activity during loss anticipation. Within the patient group, the degree of activation in the ventral striatum during loss-anticipation was positively correlated with harm avoidance and negatively correlated with novelty seeking. These findings suggest that behavioural impairments in panic disorder may be related to abnormal neural processing of motivational cues. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Mutual Influence of Reward Anticipation and Emotion on Brain Activity during Memory Retrieval

PubMed Central

Yan, Chunping; Liu, Fang; Li, Yunyun; Zhang, Qin; Cui, Lixia

2017-01-01

Previous studies on the joint effect of reward motivation and emotion on memory retrieval have obtained inconsistent results. Furthermore, whether and how any such joint effect might vary over time remains unclear too. Accordingly, using the event-related potential (ERP) measurement of high temporal resolution, our study investigates the cognitive and brain mechanisms of monetary reward and emotion affecting the retrieval processes of episodic memory. Twenty undergraduate and graduate students participated in the research, and our study’s behavioral results indicated that reward (relative to no reward) and negative emotion (relative to positive and neutral emotion) significantly improved recognition performance. The ERP results showed that there were significant interactions between monetary reward and emotion on memory retrieval, and the reward effects of positive, neutral, and negative memory occurred at varied intervals in mean amplitude. The reward effect of positive memory appeared relatively early, at 260–330 ms after the stimulus onset in the frontal-frontocentral area, at 260–500 ms in the centroparietal-parietal area and at 500–700 ms in the frontocentral area. However, the reward effects of neutral and negative memory occurred relatively later, and that of negative memory appeared at 500–700 ms in the frontocentral and centroparietal area and that of neutral memory was at 500–700 ms in the frontocentral and centroparietal-parietal area. Meanwhile, significant FN400 old/new effects were observed in the negative and rewarded positive items, and the old/new effects of negative items appeared earlier at FN400 than positive items. Also, significant late positive component (LPC) old/new effects were found in the positive, negative, and rewarded neutral items. These results suggest that, monetary reward and negative emotion significantly improved recognition performance, and there was a mutual influence between reward and emotion on brain activity during memory retrieval. PMID:29118728

Comparison of attitudes between Generation X and Baby Boomer veterinary faculty and residents.

PubMed

Freeman, Lisa M; Trower, Cathy A; Tan, Rachael J B; Terkla, Dawn Geronimo

2009-01-01

Understanding the characteristics and preferences of the different generations in the veterinary workforce is important if we are to help optimize current and future veterinary schools and teaching hospitals. The purpose of this study was to compare the attitudes of different generations of veterinary faculty and those of faculty and house officers. A survey administered to faculty and house officers asked respondents to identify their level of agreement with a series of statements addressing work and lifestyle issues and feedback preferences. In addition, the survey included an open-ended question on non-monetary rewards for hard work. Thirty-eight of 48 faculty members (79%) and 45 of 54 house officers (83%) completed the survey. Among faculty, there were no significant differences between the Generation X and Baby Boomer subgroups or between genders. More faculty than house officers responded that delayed gratification is acceptable (p = 0.03) and that it is difficult to balance home and work life (p < 0.001). Compared to faculty, house officers preferred more frequent (p = 0.03) and critical (p = 0.02) feedback. The most common responses to the question on effective non-monetary rewards for hard work, from both faculty and house officers, were recognition and time off. No attitudinal differences were detected between generations within the faculty group, but a number of significant differences emerged between faculty and house officers. Increased awareness of the importance of balance and rewards for hard work, as well as modification of feedback styles, may be beneficial in teaching and mentoring current and future generations.

Comparison of Attitudes between Generation X and Baby Boomer Veterinary Faculty and Residents

PubMed Central

Freeman, Lisa M.; Trower, Cathy A.; Tan, Rachael J.B.; Terkla, Dawn Geronimo

2009-01-01

Understanding the characteristics and preferences of the different generations in the veterinary workforce is important if we are to help optimize current and future veterinary schools and teaching hospitals. The purpose of this study was to compare the attitudes of different generations of veterinary faculty and those of faculty and house officers. A survey administered to faculty and house officers asked respondents to identify their level of agreement with a series of statements addressing work and lifestyle issues and feedback preferences. In addition, the survey included an open-ended question on non-monetary rewards for hard work. Thirty-eight of 48 faculty members (79%) and 45 of 54 house officers (83%) completed the survey. Among faculty, there were no significant differences between the Generation X and Baby Boomer subgroups or between genders. More faculty than house officers responded that delayed gratification is acceptable (p =0.03 and that it is difficult to balance home and work life (p < 0.001). Compared to faculty, house officers preferred more frequent (p =0.03) and critical (p = 0.02) feedback. The most common responses to the question on effective non-monetary rewards for hard work, from both faculty and house officers, were recognition and time off. No attitudinal differences were detected between generations within the faculty group, but a number of significant differences emerged between faculty and house officers. Increased awareness of the importance of balance and rewards for hard work, as well as modification of feedback styles, may be beneficial in teaching and mentoring current and future generations. PMID:19436000

Spatiotemporal dissociation of brain activity underlying threat and reward in social anxiety disorder.

PubMed

A Richey, John; Ghane, Merage; Valdespino, Andrew; Coffman, Marika C; Strege, Marlene V; White, Susan W; Ollendick, Thomas H

2017-01-01

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) involves abnormalities in social motivation, which may be independent of well-documented differences in fear and arousal systems. Yet, the neurobiology underlying motivational difficulties in SAD is not well understood. The aim of the current study was to spatiotemporally dissociate reward circuitry dysfunction from alterations in fear and arousal-related neural activity during anticipation and notification of social and non-social reward and punishment. During fMRI acquisition, non-depressed adults with social anxiety disorder (SAD; N = 21) and age-, sex- and IQ-matched control subjects (N = 22) completed eight runs of an incentive delay task, alternating between social and monetary outcomes and interleaved in alternating order between gain and loss outcomes. Adults with SAD demonstrated significantly reduced neural activity in ventral striatum during the anticipation of positive but not negative social outcomes. No differences between the SAD and control groups were observed during anticipation of monetary gain or loss outcomes or during anticipation of negative social images. However, consistent with previous work, the SAD group demonstrated amygdala hyper-activity upon notification of negative social outcomes. Degraded anticipatory processing in bilateral ventral striatum in SAD was constrained exclusively to anticipation of positive social information and dissociable from the effects of negative social outcomes previously observed in the amygdala. Alterations in anticipation-related neural signals may represent a promising target for treatment that is not addressed by available evidence-based interventions, which focus primarily on fear extinction and habituation processes. © The Author (2016). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Always Gamble on an Empty Stomach: Hunger Is Associated with Advantageous Decision Making

PubMed Central

de Ridder, Denise; Kroese, Floor; Adriaanse, Marieke; Evers, Catharine

2014-01-01

Three experimental studies examined the counterintuitive hypothesis that hunger improves strategic decision making, arguing that people in a hot state are better able to make favorable decisions involving uncertain outcomes. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated that participants with more hunger or greater appetite made more advantageous choices in the Iowa Gambling Task compared to sated participants or participants with a smaller appetite. Study 3 revealed that hungry participants were better able to appreciate future big rewards in a delay discounting task; and that, in spite of their perception of increased rewarding value of both food and monetary objects, hungry participants were not more inclined to take risks to get the object of their desire. Together, these studies for the first time provide evidence that hot states improve decision making under uncertain conditions, challenging the conventional conception of the detrimental role of impulsivity in decision making. PMID:25340399

Always gamble on an empty stomach: hunger is associated with advantageous decision making.

PubMed

de Ridder, Denise; Kroese, Floor; Adriaanse, Marieke; Evers, Catharine

2014-01-01

Three experimental studies examined the counterintuitive hypothesis that hunger improves strategic decision making, arguing that people in a hot state are better able to make favorable decisions involving uncertain outcomes. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated that participants with more hunger or greater appetite made more advantageous choices in the Iowa Gambling Task compared to sated participants or participants with a smaller appetite. Study 3 revealed that hungry participants were better able to appreciate future big rewards in a delay discounting task; and that, in spite of their perception of increased rewarding value of both food and monetary objects, hungry participants were not more inclined to take risks to get the object of their desire. Together, these studies for the first time provide evidence that hot states improve decision making under uncertain conditions, challenging the conventional conception of the detrimental role of impulsivity in decision making.

Monetary incentives at retrieval promote recognition of involuntarily learned emotional information.

PubMed

Yan, Chunping; Li, Yunyun; Zhang, Qin; Cui, Lixia

2018-03-07

Previous studies have suggested that the effects of reward on memory processes are affected by certain factors, but it remains unclear whether the effects of reward at retrieval on recognition processes are influenced by emotion. The event-related potential was used to investigate the combined effect of reward and emotion on memory retrieval and its neural mechanism. The behavioral results indicated that the reward at retrieval improved recognition performance under positive and negative emotional conditions. The event-related potential results indicated that there were significant interactions between the reward and emotion in the average amplitude during recognition, and the significant reward effects from the frontal to parietal brain areas appeared at 130-800 ms for positive pictures and at 190-800 ms for negative pictures, but there were no significant reward effects of neutral pictures; the reward effect of positive items appeared relatively earlier, starting at 130 ms, and that of negative pictures began at 190 ms. These results indicate that monetary incentives at retrieval promote recognition of involuntarily learned emotional information.

Influence of menarche on the relation between diurnal cortisol production and ventral striatum activity during reward anticipation

PubMed Central

LeMoult, Joelle; Colich, Natalie L.; Sherdell, Lindsey; Hamilton, J. Paul; Gotlib, Ian H.

2015-01-01

Adolescence is characterized by an increase in risk-taking and reward-seeking behaviors. In other populations, increased risk taking has been associated with tighter coupling between cortisol production and ventral striatum (VS) activation during reward anticipation; this relation has not yet been examined, however, as a function of adolescent development. This study examined the influence of pubertal development on the association between diurnal cortisol production and VS activity during reward anticipation. Pre- and post-menarcheal girls collected diurnal cortisol and completed an functional magnetic resonance imaging-based monetary incentive delay task, from which we extracted estimates of VS activity during the anticipation of reward, anticipation of loss and anticipation of non-incentive neutral trials. Post-menarcheal girls showed greater coupling between the cortisol awakening response and VS activation during anticipation of reward and loss than did their pre-menarcheal counterparts. Post-menarcheal girls did not differ from pre-menarcheal girls in their cortisol-VS coupling during anticipation of neutral trials, suggesting that puberty-related changes in cortisol-VS coupling are specific to affective stimuli. Interestingly, behavioral responses during the task indicate that post-menarcheal girls are faster to engage with affective stimuli than are pre-menarcheal girls. Thus, post-menarcheal girls exhibit neurobiological and behavioral patterns that have been associated with risk taking and that may underlie the dramatic increase in risk-taking behavior documented during adolescence. PMID:25678549

Maternal interpersonal affiliation is associated with adolescents' brain structure and reward processing

PubMed Central

Schneider, S; Brassen, S; Bromberg, U; Banaschewski, T; Conrod, P; Flor, H; Gallinat, J; Garavan, Hugh; Heinz, A; Martinot, J-L; Nees, F; Rietschel, M; Smolka, M N; Ströhle, A; Struve, M; Schumann, G; Büchel, C

2012-01-01

Considerable animal and human research has been dedicated to the effects of parenting on structural brain development, focusing on hippocampal and prefrontal areas. Conversely, although functional imaging studies suggest that the neural reward circuitry is involved in parental affection, little is known about mothers' interpersonal qualities in relation to their children's brain structure and function. Moreover, gender differences concerning the effect of maternal qualities have rarely been investigated systematically. In 63 adolescents, we assessed structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging as well as interpersonal affiliation in their mothers. This allowed us to associate maternal affiliation with gray matter density and neural responses during different phases of the well-established Monetary Incentive Delay task. Maternal affiliation was positively associated with hippocampal and orbitofrontal gray matter density. Moreover, in the feedback of reward hit as compared with reward miss, an association with caudate activation was found. Although no significant gender effects were observed in these associations, during reward feedback as compared with baseline, maternal affiliation was significantly associated with ventral striatal and caudate activation only in females. Our findings demonstrate that maternal interpersonal affiliation is related to alterations in both the brain structure and reward-related activation in healthy adolescents. Importantly, the pattern is in line with typical findings in depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, suggesting that a lack of maternal affiliation might have a role in the genesis of mental disorders. PMID:23149446

Impact of Early Life Adversity on Reward Processing in Young Adults: EEG-fMRI Results from a Prospective Study over 25 Years

PubMed Central

Boecker, Regina; Holz, Nathalie E.; Buchmann, Arlette F.; Blomeyer, Dorothea; Plichta, Michael M.; Wolf, Isabella; Baumeister, Sarah; Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas; Banaschewski, Tobias

2014-01-01

Several lines of evidence have implicated the mesolimbic dopamine reward pathway in altered brain function resulting from exposure to early adversity. The present study examined the impact of early life adversity on different stages of neuronal reward processing later in life and their association with a related behavioral phenotype, i.e. attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). 162 healthy young adults (mean age = 24.4 years; 58% female) from an epidemiological cohort study followed since birth participated in a simultaneous EEG-fMRI study using a monetary incentive delay task. Early life adversity according to an early family adversity index (EFA) and lifetime ADHD symptoms were assessed using standardized parent interviews conducted at the offspring's age of 3 months and between 2 and 15 years, respectively. fMRI region-of-interest analysis revealed a significant effect of EFA during reward anticipation in reward-related areas (i.e. ventral striatum, putamen, thalamus), indicating decreased activation when EFA increased. EEG analysis demonstrated a similar effect for the contingent negative variation (CNV), with the CNV decreasing with the level of EFA. In contrast, during reward delivery, activation of the bilateral insula, right pallidum and bilateral putamen increased with EFA. There was a significant association of lifetime ADHD symptoms with lower activation in the left ventral striatum during reward anticipation and higher activation in the right insula during reward delivery. The present findings indicate a differential long-term impact of early life adversity on reward processing, implicating hyporesponsiveness during reward anticipation and hyperresponsiveness when receiving a reward. Moreover, a similar activation pattern related to lifetime ADHD suggests that the impact of early life stress on ADHD may possibly be mediated by a dysfunctional reward pathway. PMID:25118701

Remembering with gains and losses: effects of monetary reward and punishment on successful encoding activation of source memories.

PubMed

Shigemune, Yayoi; Tsukiura, Takashi; Kambara, Toshimune; Kawashima, Ryuta

2014-05-01

The motivation of getting rewards or avoiding punishments reinforces learning behaviors. Although the neural mechanisms underlying the effect of rewards on episodic memory have been demonstrated, there is little evidence of the effect of punishments on this memory. Our functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study investigated the effects of monetary rewards and punishments on activation during the encoding of source memories. During encoding, participants memorized words (item) and locations of presented words (source) under 3 conditions (Reward, Punishment, and Control). During retrieval, participants retrieved item and source memories of the words and were rewarded or penalized according to their performance. Source memories encoded with rewards or punishments were remembered better than those without such encoding. fMRI data demonstrated that the ventral tegmental area and substantia nigra and nucleus accumbens activations reflected both the processes of reward and punishment, whereas insular activation increased as a linear function of punishment. Activation in the hippocampus and parahippocampal cortex predicted subsequent retrieval success of source memories. Additionally, correlations between these reward/punishment-related regions and the hippocampus were significant. The successful encoding of source memories could be enhanced by punishments and rewards, and interactions between reward/punishment-related regions and memory-related regions could contribute to memory enhancement by reward and/or punishment.

Remembering with Gains and Losses: Effects of Monetary Reward and Punishment on Successful Encoding Activation of Source Memories

PubMed Central

Shigemune, Yayoi; Tsukiura, Takashi; Kambara, Toshimune; Kawashima, Ryuta

2014-01-01

The motivation of getting rewards or avoiding punishments reinforces learning behaviors. Although the neural mechanisms underlying the effect of rewards on episodic memory have been demonstrated, there is little evidence of the effect of punishments on this memory. Our functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study investigated the effects of monetary rewards and punishments on activation during the encoding of source memories. During encoding, participants memorized words (item) and locations of presented words (source) under 3 conditions (Reward, Punishment, and Control). During retrieval, participants retrieved item and source memories of the words and were rewarded or penalized according to their performance. Source memories encoded with rewards or punishments were remembered better than those without such encoding. fMRI data demonstrated that the ventral tegmental area and substantia nigra and nucleus accumbens activations reflected both the processes of reward and punishment, whereas insular activation increased as a linear function of punishment. Activation in the hippocampus and parahippocampal cortex predicted subsequent retrieval success of source memories. Additionally, correlations between these reward/punishment-related regions and the hippocampus were significant. The successful encoding of source memories could be enhanced by punishments and rewards, and interactions between reward/punishment-related regions and memory-related regions could contribute to memory enhancement by reward and/or punishment. PMID:23314939

Neural reactivity to reward in school-age offspring of depressed mothers.

PubMed

Wiggins, Jillian Lee; Schwartz, Karen T G; Kryza-Lacombe, Maria; Spechler, Philip A; Blankenship, Sarah L; Dougherty, Lea R

2017-05-01

Identifying neural profiles predictive of future psychopathology in at-risk individuals is important to efficiently direct preventive care. Alterations in reward processing may be a risk factor for depression. The current study characterized neural substrates of reward processing in children at low- and high-risk for psychopathology due to maternal depression status. Children with (n=27) and without (n=19) maternal depression (ages 5.9-9.6 years) performed a monetary incentive delay task in which they received rewards, if they successfully hit a target, or no reward regardless of performance, during fMRI acquisition. Multiple dorsal prefrontal, temporal, and striatal regions showed significant Group (high- vs. low-risk)×Performance (hit vs. miss)×Condition (no reward vs. reward) interactions in a whole-brain analysis. All regions exhibited similar patterns, whereby the high-risk group showed blunted activation differences between trials with vs. without rewards when participants hit the target. Moreover, high-risk children showed activation differences between trials with vs. without rewards in the opposite direction, compared to the low-risk group, when they missed the target. This study had a modest sample size, though larger than existing studies. Children with maternal depression are at elevated risk for future psychopathology, yet not all experience clinically significant symptoms; longitudinal research is necessary to fully track the pathway from risk to disorder. Children of depressed mothers exhibited attenuated neural activation differences and activation patterns opposite to children without depressed mothers. Our findings may provide targets for hypothesis-driven preventive interventions and lead to earlier identification of individuals at risk. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Wanting and liking in dysphoria: Cardiovascular and facial EMG responses during incentive processing.

PubMed

Franzen, Jessica; Brinkmann, Kerstin

2016-12-01

Theories and research on depression point to reduced responsiveness during reward anticipation and in part also during punishment anticipation. They also suggest weaker affective responses to reward consumption and unchanged affective responses to punishment consumption. However, studies investigating incentive anticipation using effort mobilization and incentive consumption using facial expressions are scarce. The present studies tested reward and punishment responsiveness in a subclinically depressed sample, manipulating a monetary reward (Study 1) and a monetary punishment (Study 2). Effort mobilization was operationalized as cardiovascular reactivity, while facial expressions were measured by facial electromyographic reactivity. Compared to nondysphorics, dysphorics showed reduced pre-ejection period (PEP) reactivity and blunted self-reported wanting during reward anticipation but reduced PEP reactivity and normal self-reported wanting during punishment anticipation. Compared to nondysphorics, dysphorics showed reduced zygomaticus major muscle reactivity and blunted self-reported liking during reward consumption but normal corrugator supercilii muscle reactivity and normal self-reported disliking during punishment consumption. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Reduced response to reward in smokers and cannabis users.

PubMed

Martin-Soelch, Chantal; Kobel, Maja; Stoecklin, Markus; Michael, Tanja; Weber, Simone; Krebs, Bigna; Opwis, Klaus

2009-01-01

Cannabis is one of the most commonly used illicit drugs. Reduced neural and behavioral reactions to reward have been demonstrated in other forms of addiction, as expressed by reduced mood reactivity and lack of striatal activation to rewards, but this effect has not yet been investigated in cannabis users. We hypothesized that cannabis users and tobacco smokers would evidence lower positive mood ratings in rewarded conditions than control participants and that this reduction would be greater in cannabis users than in smokers. We examined the influence of reward on mood and performance in a group of regular cannabis users, a group of tobacco smokers and a group of nonsmokers while they performed a spatial recognition task with delayed response that incorporated 3 levels of difficulty. Correct responses were either not reinforced or reinforced with money. We measured the accuracy of reactions, reaction times and mood ratings throughout the trials. Cannabis users rated their mood as significantly worse than the smokers and nonsmokers during the easiest level of the rewarded condition. A significant positive correlation between mood ratings and monetary reward was found in the nonsmokers but not in the cannabis users and smokers. The groups did not differ with regard to task performance. Our results suggest that regular cannabis use affects certain aspects of motivation and that both tobacco smoking and cannabis use lead to similar motivational changes. However, the use of cannabis seems to affect motivation in a stronger way than does tobacco smoking alone. 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel

Delay discounting and intake of ready-to-eat and away-from-home foods in overweight and obese women.

PubMed

Appelhans, Bradley M; Waring, Molly E; Schneider, Kristin L; Pagoto, Sherry L; DeBiasse, Michelle A; Debiasse, Michelle A; Whited, Matthew C; Lynch, Elizabeth B

2012-10-01

A shift from home-prepared to away-from-home and ready-to-eat foods has occurred in recent decades, which has implications for obesity and health. This study tested whether delay discounting, a facet of impulsivity reflecting sensitivity to immediate reward, is associated with the frequency of consumption and typical amount consumed of home-prepared, away-from-home, and ready-to-eat foods among overweight and obese women. Seventy-eight participants completed a binary choice task assessing discounting of delayed monetary rewards. Nutrient analysis of weighed food records characterized dietary intake over seven consecutive days. Foods were categorized as home-prepared, away-from-home, or ready-to-eat by a registered dietitian from information provided by participants. Delay discounting was not associated with the frequency of consuming home-prepared, away-from-home, and ready-to-eat foods as reflected in the percentages of recorded foods or total energy intake from each category. However, once consuming away-from-home and ready-to-eat foods (but not home-prepared foods), impulsive women consumed more energy than less impulsive women. Exploratory analyses indicated that more impulsive women chose away-from-home foods with a higher energy density (kcal/g). Impulsivity was associated with the quantity of away-from-home and ready-to-eat foods consumed, but not the frequency of their consumption. Home food preparation may be critical to weight control for impulsive individuals. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Delay discounting and intake of ready-to-eat and away-from-home foods in overweight and obese women

PubMed Central

Appelhans, Bradley M.; Waring, Molly E.; Schneider, Kristin L.; Pagoto, Sherry L.; DeBiasse, Michelle A.; Whited, Matthew C.; Lynch, Elizabeth B.

2012-01-01

A shift from home-prepared to away-from-home and ready-to-eat foods has occurred in recent decades, which has implications for obesity and health. This study tested whether delay discounting, a facet of impulsivity reflecting sensitivity to immediate reward, is associated with the frequency of consumption and typical amount consumed of home-prepared, away-from-home, and ready-to-eat foods among overweight and obese women. Seventy-eight participants completed a binary choice task assessing discounting of delayed monetary rewards. Nutrient analysis of weighed food records characterized dietary intake over seven consecutive days. Foods were categorized as home-prepared, away-from-home, or ready-to-eat by a registered dietitian from information provided by participants. Delay discounting was not associated with the frequency of consuming home-prepared, away-from-home, and ready-to-eat foods as reflected in the percentages of recorded foods or total energy intake from each category. However, once consuming away-from-home and ready-to-eat foods (but not home-prepared foods), impulsive women consumed more energy than less impulsive women. Exploratory analyses indicated that more impulsive women chose away-from-home foods with a higher energy density (kcal/g). Impulsivity was associated with the quantity of away-from-home and ready-to-eat foods consumed, but not the frequency of their consumption. Home food preparation may be critical to weight control for impulsive individuals. PMID:22819735

"What time is my next meal?" delay-discounting individuals choose smaller portions under conditions of uncertainty.

PubMed

Zimmerman, Annie R; Ferriday, Danielle; Davies, Sarah R; Martin, Ashley A; Rogers, Peter J; Mason, Alice; Brunstrom, Jeffrey M

2017-09-01

'Dietary' delay discounting is typically framed as a trade-off between immediate rewards and long-term health concerns. Our contention is that prospective thinking also occurs over shorter periods, and is engaged to select portion sizes based on the interval between meals (inter-meal interval; IMI). We sought to assess the extent to which the length of an IMI influences portion-size selection. We predicted that delay discounters would show 'IMI insensitivity' (relative lack of concern about hunger or fullness between meals). In particular, we were interested in participants' sensitivity to an uncertain IMI. We hypothesized that when meal times were uncertain, delay discounters would be less responsive and select smaller portion sizes. Participants (N = 90) selected portion sizes for lunch. In different trials, they were told to expect dinner at 5pm, 9pm, and either 5pm or 9pm (uncertain IMI). Individual differences in future-orientation were measured using a monetary delay-discounting task. Participants chose larger portions when the IMI was longer (p < 0.001). When the IMI was uncertain, delay-discounting participants chose smaller portions than the average portion chosen in the certain IMIs (p < 0.05). Furthermore, monetary discounting mediated a relationship between BMI and smaller portion selection in uncertainty (p < 0.05). This is the first study to report an association between delay discounting and IMI insensitivity. We reason that delay discounters selected smaller portions because they were less sensitive to the uncertain IMI, and overlooked concerns about potential future hunger. These findings are important because they illustrate that differences in discounting are expressed in short-term portion-size decisions and suggest that IMI insensitivity increases when meal timings are uncertain. Further research is needed to confirm whether these findings generalise to other populations. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Preserved reward outcome processing in ASD as revealed by event-related potentials.

PubMed

McPartland, James C; Crowley, Michael J; Perszyk, Danielle R; Mukerji, Cora E; Naples, Adam J; Wu, Jia; Mayes, Linda C

2012-05-31

Problems with reward system function have been posited as a primary difficulty in autism spectrum disorders. The current study examined an electrophysiological marker of feedback monitoring, the feedback-related negativity (FRN), during a monetary reward task. The study advanced prior understanding by focusing exclusively on a developmental sample, applying rigorous diagnostic characterization and introducing an experimental paradigm providing more subtly different feedback valence (reward versus non-reward instead of reward versus loss). Twenty-six children with autism spectrum disorder and 28 typically developing peers matched on age and full-scale IQ played a guessing game resulting in monetary gain ("win") or neutral outcome ("draw"). ERP components marking early visual processing (N1, P2) and feedback appraisal (FRN) were contrasted between groups in each condition, and their relationships to behavioral measures of social function and dysfunction, social anxiety, and autism symptomatology were explored. FRN was observed on draw trials relative to win trials. Consistent with prior research, children with ASD exhibited a FRN to suboptimal outcomes that was comparable to typical peers. ERP parameters were unrelated to behavioral measures. Results of the current study indicate typical patterns of feedback monitoring in the context of monetary reward in ASD. The study extends prior findings of normative feedback monitoring to a sample composed exclusively of children and demonstrates that, as in typical development, individuals with autism exhibit a FRN to suboptimal outcomes, irrespective of neutral or negative valence. Results do not support a pervasive problem with reward system function in ASD, instead suggesting any dysfunction lies in more specific domains, such as social perception, or in response to particular feedback-monitoring contexts, such as self-evaluation of one's errors.

The neural transfer effect of working memory training to enhance hedonic processing in individuals with social anhedonia

PubMed Central

Li, Xu; Li, Zhi; Li, Ke; Zeng, Ya-wei; Shi, Hai-song; Xie, Wen-lan; Yang, Zhuo-ya; Lui, Simon S. Y.; Cheung, Eric F. C.; Leung, Ada W. S.; Chan, Raymond C. K.

2016-01-01

Anhedonia, the diminished ability to experience pleasure, is a challenging negative symptom in patients with schizophrenia and can be observed in at-risk individuals with schizotypy. Deficits in hedonic processing have been postulated to be related to decreased motivation to engage in potentially rewarding events. It remains unclear whether non-pharmacological interventions, such as cognitive training, could improve anhedonia. The present study aimed to examine the neural mechanism for alleviating hedonic deficits with working memory (WM) training in individuals with social anhedonia. Fifteen individuals with social anhedonia were recruited and received 20 sessions of training on a dual n-back task, five sessions a week. Functional imaging paradigms of the Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) and the Affective Incentive Delay (AID) tasks were administered both before and after the training to evaluate the neural transfer effects on hedonic processing ability. Enhanced brain activations related to anticipation were observed at the anterior cingulate cortex, the left dorsal striatum and the left precuneus with the AID task, and at the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the supramarginal gyrus with the MID task. The present findings support that WM training may improve monetary-based and affective-based hedonic processing in individuals with social anhedonia. PMID:27752140

Trait Rumination Influences Neural Correlates of the Anticipation but Not the Consumption Phase of Reward Processing

PubMed Central

Kocsel, Natália; Szabó, Edina; Galambos, Attila; Édes, Andrea; Pap, Dorottya; Elliott, Rebecca; Kozák, Lajos R.; Bagdy, György; Juhász, Gabriella; Kökönyei, Gyöngyi

2017-01-01

Cumulative evidence suggests that trait rumination can be defined as an abstract information processing mode, which leads people to constantly anticipate the likely impact of present events on future events and experiences. A previous study with remitted depressed patients suggested that enhanced rumination tendencies distort brain mechanisms of anticipatory processes associated with reward and loss cues. In the present study, we explored the impact of trait rumination on neural activity during reward and loss anticipation among never-depressed people. We analyzed the data of 37 healthy controls, who performed the monetary incentive delay (MID) task which was designed for the simultaneous measurement of the anticipation (motivational) and consumption (hedonic) phase of reward processing, during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Our results show that rumination—after controlling for age, gender, and current mood—significantly influenced neural responses to reward (win) cues compared to loss cues. Blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) activity in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) triangularis, left anterior insula, and left rolandic operculum was positively related to Ruminative Response Scale (RRS) scores. We did not detect any significant rumination-related activations associated with win-neutral or loss-neutral cues and with reward or loss consumption. Our results highlight the influence of trait rumination on reward anticipation in a non-depressed sample. They also suggest that for never-depressed ruminators rewarding cues are more salient than loss cues. BOLD response during reward consumption did not relate to rumination, suggesting that rumination mainly relates to processing of the motivational (wanting) aspect of reward rather than the hedonic (liking) aspect, at least in the absence of pathological mood. PMID:28539875

Reward anticipation revisited- evidence from an fMRI study in euthymic bipolar I patients and healthy first-degree relatives.

PubMed

Kollmann, Bianca; Scholz, Vanessa; Linke, Julia; Kirsch, Peter; Wessa, Michèle

2017-09-01

Symptomatic phases in bipolar disorder (BD) are hypothesized to result from a hypersensitive behavioral activation system (BAS) being sensitive to potential rewards. However, studies on the neuronal underpinnings of reward anticipation in BD are scarce with contradictory findings and possibly confounded by effects of dopaminergic medication, necessitating further research on dysfunctional motivation in BD. Moreover, its role as vulnerability marker for BD is unclear. Functional imaging was conducted in 16 euthymic BD-I patients free from dopaminergic medication and 19 healthy first-degree relatives using a monetary incentive delay task and compared to parallelized control groups. Further, reward proneness, using the BIS/BAS questionnaire, and its relationship to neural reward anticipation was investigated. BD-I patients displayed greater anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) activity during reward anticipation and higher BIS total scores compared to controls, with a positive relationship between the two measures. There were no neural or self-report group differences between relatives and controls. Due to the experimental design, the role of the ACC during receipt of reward remains unknown, sample sizes were rather small, and patients were not naïve to dopaminergic drugs, making an exclusion of medication effects on findings impossible. Our findings give new insights on reward anticipation in BD. BD-I patients rated themselves as more risk avoidant and showed larger recruitment of the ACC rather than ventral striatum compared to controls during reward anticipation, possibly to down-regulate hyperactive limbic reward regions. This activation seems to be a consequence of rather than a vulnerability marker for the disorder. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Money Affects Theory of Mind Differently by Gender

PubMed Central

Ridinger, Garret; McBride, Michael

2015-01-01

Theory of Mind (ToM) ─ the ability to understand other’s thoughts, intentions, and emotions ─ is important for navigating interpersonal relationships, avoiding conflict, and empathizing. Prior research has identified many factors that affect one’s ToM ability, but little work has examined how different kinds of monetary incentives affect ToM ability. We ask: Does money affect ToM ability? If so, how does the effect depend on the structure of monetary incentives? How do the differences depend on gender? We hypothesize that money will affect ToM ability differently by gender: monetary rewards increase males’ motivation to express ToM ability while simultaneously crowding out females’ motivation. This prediction is confirmed in an experiment that varies the structure of monetary rewards for correct answers in the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET). RMET scores decrease for females and increase for males with individual payments, and this effect is stronger with competitively-structured payments. RMET scores do not significantly change when monetary earnings go to a charity. Whether money improves or hinders ToM ability, and, hence, success in social interactions, thus depends on the interaction of gender and monetary incentive structure. PMID:26633171

Money Affects Theory of Mind Differently by Gender.

PubMed

Ridinger, Garret; McBride, Michael

2015-01-01

Theory of Mind (ToM)--the ability to understand other's thoughts, intentions, and emotions--is important for navigating interpersonal relationships, avoiding conflict, and empathizing. Prior research has identified many factors that affect one's ToM ability, but little work has examined how different kinds of monetary incentives affect ToM ability. We ask: Does money affect ToM ability? If so, how does the effect depend on the structure of monetary incentives? How do the differences depend on gender? We hypothesize that money will affect ToM ability differently by gender: monetary rewards increase males' motivation to express ToM ability while simultaneously crowding out females' motivation. This prediction is confirmed in an experiment that varies the structure of monetary rewards for correct answers in the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET). RMET scores decrease for females and increase for males with individual payments, and this effect is stronger with competitively-structured payments. RMET scores do not significantly change when monetary earnings go to a charity. Whether money improves or hinders ToM ability, and, hence, success in social interactions, thus depends on the interaction of gender and monetary incentive structure.

Cocaine addiction is associated with abnormal prefrontal function, increased striatal connectivity and sensitivity to monetary incentives, and decreased connectivity outside the human reward circuit.

PubMed

Vaquero, Lucía; Cámara, Estela; Sampedro, Frederic; Pérez de Los Cobos, José; Batlle, Francesca; Fabregas, Josep Maria; Sales, Joan Artur; Cervantes, Mercè; Ferrer, Xavier; Lazcano, Gerardo; Rodríguez-Fornells, Antoni; Riba, Jordi

2017-05-01

Cocaine addiction has been associated with increased sensitivity of the human reward circuit to drug-related stimuli. However, the capacity of non-drug incentives to engage this network is poorly understood. Here, we characterized the functional sensitivity to monetary incentives and the structural integrity of the human reward circuit in abstinent cocaine-dependent (CD) patients and their matched controls. We assessed the BOLD response to monetary gains and losses in 30 CD patients and 30 healthy controls performing a lottery task in a magnetic resonance imaging scanner. We measured brain gray matter volume (GMV) using voxel-based morphometry and white matter microstructure using voxel-based fractional anisotropy (FA). Functional data showed that, after monetary incentives, CD patients exhibited higher activation in the ventral striatum than controls. Furthermore, we observed an inverted BOLD response pattern in the prefrontal cortex, with activity being highest after unexpected high gains and lowest after losses. Patients showed increased GMV in the caudate and the orbitofrontal cortex, increased white matter FA in the orbito-striatal pathway but decreased FA in antero-posterior association bundles. Abnormal activation in the prefrontal cortex correlated with GMV and FA increases in the orbitofrontal cortex. While functional abnormalities in the ventral striatum were inversely correlated with abstinence duration, structural alterations were not. In conclusion, results suggest abnormal incentive processing in CD patients with high salience for rewards and punishments in subcortical structures but diminished prefrontal control after adverse outcomes. They further suggest that hypertrophy and hyper-connectivity within the reward circuit, to the expense of connectivity outside this network, characterize cocaine addiction. © 2016 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Rewards for Inventors: A Review of Current Practice in UK Universities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Handscombe, R. D.

1996-01-01

Since the British government began allowing universities to exploit the products of their research, universities have developed cash reward systems for inventors. For many researchers, job satisfaction and peer recognition appear more important than monetary rewards. The money is often reinvested in further research. (SK)

Dimensional psychiatry: reward dysfunction and depressive mood across psychiatric disorders.

PubMed

Hägele, Claudia; Schlagenhauf, Florian; Rapp, Michael; Sterzer, Philipp; Beck, Anne; Bermpohl, Felix; Stoy, Meline; Ströhle, Andreas; Wittchen, Hans-Ulrich; Dolan, Raymond J; Heinz, Andreas

2015-01-01

A dimensional approach in psychiatry aims to identify core mechanisms of mental disorders across nosological boundaries. We compared anticipation of reward between major psychiatric disorders, and investigated whether reward anticipation is impaired in several mental disorders and whether there is a common psychopathological correlate (negative mood) of such an impairment. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a monetary incentive delay (MID) task to study the functional correlates of reward anticipation across major psychiatric disorders in 184 subjects, with the diagnoses of alcohol dependence (n = 26), schizophrenia (n = 44), major depressive disorder (MDD, n = 24), bipolar disorder (acute manic episode, n = 13), attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD, n = 23), and healthy controls (n = 54). Subjects' individual Beck Depression Inventory-and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-scores were correlated with clusters showing significant activation during reward anticipation. During reward anticipation, we observed significant group differences in ventral striatal (VS) activation: patients with schizophrenia, alcohol dependence, and major depression showed significantly less ventral striatal activation compared to healthy controls. Depressive symptoms correlated with dysfunction in reward anticipation regardless of diagnostic entity. There was no significant correlation between anxiety symptoms and VS functional activation. Our findings demonstrate a neurobiological dysfunction related to reward prediction that transcended disorder categories and was related to measures of depressed mood. The findings underline the potential of a dimensional approach in psychiatry and strengthen the hypothesis that neurobiological research in psychiatric disorders can be targeted at core mechanisms that are likely to be implicated in a range of clinical entities.

Reward- and attention-related biasing of sensory selection in visual cortex.

PubMed

Buschschulte, Antje; Boehler, Carsten N; Strumpf, Hendrik; Stoppel, Christian; Heinze, Hans-Jochen; Schoenfeld, Mircea A; Hopf, Jens-Max

2014-05-01

Attention to task-relevant features leads to a biasing of sensory selection in extrastriate cortex. Features signaling reward seem to produce a similar bias, but how modulatory effects due to reward and attention relate to each other is largely unexplored. To address this issue, it is critical to separate top-down settings defining reward relevance from those defining attention. To this end, we used a visual search paradigm in which the target's definition (attention to color) was dissociated from reward relevance by delivering monetary reward on search frames where a certain task-irrelevant color was combined with the target-defining color to form the target object. We assessed the state of neural biasing for the attended and reward-relevant color by analyzing the neuromagnetic brain response to asynchronously presented irrelevant distractor probes drawn in the target-defining color, the reward-relevant color, and a completely irrelevant color as a reference. We observed that for the prospect of moderate rewards, the target-defining color but not the reward-relevant color produced a selective enhancement of the neuromagnetic response between 180 and 280 msec in ventral extrastriate visual cortex. Increasing reward prospect caused a delayed attenuation (220-250 msec) of the response to reward probes, which followed a prior (160-180 msec) response enhancement in dorsal ACC. Notably, shorter latency responses in dorsal ACC were associated with stronger attenuation in extrastriate visual cortex. Finally, an analysis of the brain response to the search frames revealed that the presence of the reward-relevant color in search distractors elicited an enhanced response that was abolished after increasing reward size. The present data together indicate that when top-down definitions of reward relevance and attention are separated, the behavioral significance of reward-associated features is still rapidly coded in higher-level cortex areas, thereby commanding effective top-down inhibitory control to counter a selection bias for those features in extrastriate visual cortex.

Modafinil augments brain activation associated with reward anticipation in the nucleus accumbens.

PubMed

Funayama, Takuya; Ikeda, Yumiko; Tateno, Amane; Takahashi, Hidehiko; Okubo, Yoshiro; Fukayama, Haruhisa; Suzuki, Hidenori

2014-08-01

The nucleus accumbens (NAc) works as a key brain structure of the reward system, in which reward-related neural activity is well correlated with dopamine release from mesolimbic dopaminergic neurons. Since modafinil can modulate dopaminergic transmission through re-uptake inhibition of dopamine, we investigated whether modafinil affects the reward-related brain activity in the NAc in healthy subjects. Twenty healthy participants underwent two series of functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing monetary incentive delay task in which they were cued to anticipate and respond to a rapidly presented target to gain or avoid losing varying amounts of money, under modafinil or placebo condition. Blood oxygenation-level dependent (BOLD) activation signals during gain and loss anticipations were analyzed in the NAc as an a priori region of interest as well as the whole brain. Modafinil significantly changed subjective feelings toward positive ones. The activation of BOLD signals was observed during gain anticipation under the placebo and modafinil conditions in the left and bilateral NAc, respectively. The modafinil condition showed significantly higher BOLD signal change at the highest gain (+¥500) cue compared to the placebo condition. The present study showed that modafinil affects reward processing in the NAc in healthy subjects through enhancing more positive anticipation, and it may provide a basis for the use of this drug for treating anhedonia observed in psychiatric disorders.

Longitudinal and reciprocal relations between delay discounting and crime

PubMed Central

Lee, Christine A.; Derefinko, Karen J.; Milich, Richard; Lynam, Donald R.; DeWall, C. Nathan

2017-01-01

Theorists argue that self-control failure is the underlying cause of criminal behavior, with previous research linking poor self-control to delinquency and drug use. The path from self-control to crime is well-established, but less is known about whether criminal behavior contributes to self-control deficits over time. We investigated bi-directional relations between self-control assessed via a delay discounting task and self-reported crime over a three-year period. During their first, second (73.38% retention rate), and third (63.12% retention rate) years of college, 526 undergraduates completed a delay discounting task and reported on their criminal behavior. In order to maximize variability, participants with conduct problems were overrecruited, comprising 23.1% of the final sample. As expected, more discounting of hypothetical monetary rewards significantly predicted future property crime across a one and two-year period, even when controlling for initial levels of both. This study also demonstrated evidence of a bi-directional relationship; violent crime predicted higher rates of delay discounting one year later. These results suggest that bi-directional relations exist between self-control and types of crime. PMID:28970645

An adaptive, individualized fMRI delay discounting procedure to increase flexibility and optimize scanner time.

PubMed

Koffarnus, Mikhail N; Deshpande, Harshawardhan U; Lisinski, Jonathan M; Eklund, Anders; Bickel, Warren K; LaConte, Stephen M

2017-11-01

Research on the rate at which people discount the value of future rewards has become increasingly prevalent as discount rate has been shown to be associated with many unhealthy patterns of behavior such as drug abuse, gambling, and overeating. fMRI research points to a fronto-parietal-limbic pathway that is active during decisions between smaller amounts of money now and larger amounts available after a delay. Researchers in this area have used different variants of delay discounting tasks and reported various contrasts between choice trials of different types from these tasks. For instance, researchers have compared 1) choices of delayed monetary amounts to choices of the immediate monetary amounts, 2) 'hard' choices made near one's point of indifference to 'easy' choices that require little thought, and 3) trials where an immediate choice is available versus trials where one is unavailable, regardless of actual eventual choice. These differences in procedure and analysis make comparison of results across studies difficult. In the present experiment, we designed a delay discounting task with the intended capability of being able to construct contrasts of all three comparisons listed above while optimizing scanning time to reduce costs and avoid participant fatigue. This was accomplished with an algorithm that customized the choice trials presented to each participant with the goal of equalizing choice trials of each type. We compared this task, which we refer to here as the individualized discounting task (IDT), to two other delay discounting tasks previously reported in the literature (McClure et al., 2004; Amlung et al., 2014) in 18 participants. Results show that the IDT can examine each of the three contrasts mentioned above, while yielding a similar degree of activation as the reference tasks. This suggests that this new task could be used in delay discounting fMRI studies to allow researchers to more easily compare their results to a majority of previous research while minimizing scanning duration. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Influence of menarche on the relation between diurnal cortisol production and ventral striatum activity during reward anticipation.

PubMed

LeMoult, Joelle; Colich, Natalie L; Sherdell, Lindsey; Hamilton, J Paul; Gotlib, Ian H

2015-09-01

Adolescence is characterized by an increase in risk-taking and reward-seeking behaviors. In other populations, increased risk taking has been associated with tighter coupling between cortisol production and ventral striatum (VS) activation during reward anticipation; this relation has not yet been examined, however, as a function of adolescent development. This study examined the influence of pubertal development on the association between diurnal cortisol production and VS activity during reward anticipation. Pre- and post-menarcheal girls collected diurnal cortisol and completed an functional magnetic resonance imaging-based monetary incentive delay task, from which we extracted estimates of VS activity during the anticipation of reward, anticipation of loss and anticipation of non-incentive neutral trials. Post-menarcheal girls showed greater coupling between the cortisol awakening response and VS activation during anticipation of reward and loss than did their pre-menarcheal counterparts. Post-menarcheal girls did not differ from pre-menarcheal girls in their cortisol-VS coupling during anticipation of neutral trials, suggesting that puberty-related changes in cortisol-VS coupling are specific to affective stimuli. Interestingly, behavioral responses during the task indicate that post-menarcheal girls are faster to engage with affective stimuli than are pre-menarcheal girls. Thus, post-menarcheal girls exhibit neurobiological and behavioral patterns that have been associated with risk taking and that may underlie the dramatic increase in risk-taking behavior documented during adolescence. © The Author (2015). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Attenuation of Frontostriatal Connectivity During Reward Processing Predicts Response to Psychotherapy in Major Depressive Disorder.

PubMed

Walsh, Erin; Carl, Hannah; Eisenlohr-Moul, Tory; Minkel, Jared; Crowther, Andrew; Moore, Tyler; Gibbs, Devin; Petty, Chris; Bizzell, Josh; Smoski, Moria J; Dichter, Gabriel S

2017-03-01

There are few reliable predictors of response to antidepressant treatments. In the present investigation, we examined pretreatment functional brain connectivity during reward processing as a potential predictor of response to Behavioral Activation Treatment for Depression (BATD), a validated psychotherapy that promotes engagement with rewarding stimuli and reduces avoidance behaviors. Thirty-three outpatients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and 20 matched controls completed two runs of the monetary incentive delay task during functional magnetic resonance imaging after which participants with MDD received up to 15 sessions of BATD. Seed-based generalized psychophysiological interaction analyses focused on task-based connectivity across task runs, as well as the attenuation of connectivity from the first to the second run of the task. The average change in Beck Depression Inventory-II scores due to treatment was 10.54 points, a clinically meaningful response. Groups differed in seed-based functional connectivity among multiple frontostriatal regions. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that improved treatment response to BATD was predicted by greater connectivity between the left putamen and paracingulate gyrus during reward anticipation. In addition, MDD participants with greater attenuation of connectivity between several frontostriatal seeds, and midline subcallosal cortex and left paracingulate gyrus demonstrated improved response to BATD. These findings indicate that pretreatment frontostriatal functional connectivity during reward processing is predictive of response to a psychotherapy modality that promotes improving approach-related behaviors in MDD. Furthermore, connectivity attenuation among reward-processing regions may be a particularly powerful endophenotypic predictor of response to BATD in MDD.

Life stress in adolescence predicts early adult reward-related brain function and alcohol dependence

PubMed Central

Shaw, Daniel S.; Sitnick, Stephanie L.; Musselman, Samuel C.; Forbes, Erika E.

2015-01-01

Stressful life events increase vulnerability to problematic alcohol use, and they may do this by disrupting reward-related neural circuitry. This is particularly relevant for adolescents because alcohol use rises sharply after mid-adolescence and alcohol abuse peaks at age 20. Adolescents also report more stressors compared with children, and neural reward circuitry may be especially vulnerable to stressors during adolescence because of prefrontal cortex remodeling. Using a large sample of male participants in a longitudinal functional magnetic resonance imaging study (N = 157), we evaluated whether cumulative stressful life events between the ages of 15 and 18 were associated with reward-related brain function and problematic alcohol use at age 20 years. Higher cumulative stressful life events during adolescence were associated with decreased response in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) during monetary reward anticipation and following the receipt of monetary rewards. Stress-related decreases in mPFC response during reward anticipation and following rewarding outcomes were associated with the severity of alcohol dependence. Furthermore, mPFC response mediated the association between stressful life events and later symptoms of alcohol dependence. These data are consistent with neurobiological models of addiction that propose that stressors during adolescence increase risk for problematic alcohol use by disrupting reward circuit function. PMID:24795442

Altered striatal activation predicting real-world positive affect in adolescent major depressive disorder.

PubMed

Forbes, Erika E; Hariri, Ahmad R; Martin, Samantha L; Silk, Jennifer S; Moyles, Donna L; Fisher, Patrick M; Brown, Sarah M; Ryan, Neal D; Birmaher, Boris; Axelson, David A; Dahl, Ronald E

2009-01-01

Alterations in reward-related brain function and phenomenological aspects of positive affect are increasingly examined in the development of major depressive disorder. The authors tested differences in reward-related brain function in healthy and depressed adolescents, and the authors examined direct links between reward-related brain function and positive mood that occurred in real-world contexts. Fifteen adolescents with major depressive disorder and 28 adolescents with no history of psychiatric disorder, ages 8-17 years, completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging guessing task involving monetary reward. Participants also reported their subjective positive affect in natural environments during a 4-day cell-phone-based ecological momentary assessment. Adolescents with major depressive disorder exhibited less striatal response than healthy comparison adolescents during reward anticipation and reward outcome, but more response in dorsolateral and medial prefrontal cortex. Diminished activation in a caudate region associated with this depression group difference was correlated with lower subjective positive affect in natural environments, particularly within the depressed group. Results support models of altered reward processing and related positive affect in young people with major depressive disorder and indicate that depressed adolescents' brain response to monetary reward is related to their affective experience in natural environments. Additionally, these results suggest that reward-processing paradigms capture brain function relevant to real-world positive affect.

Differential Effects of Acute Stress on Anticipatory and Consummatory Phases of Reward Processing

PubMed Central

Kumar, Poornima; Berghorst, Lisa H.; Nickerson, Lisa D.; Dutra, Sunny J.; Goer, Franziska; Greve, Douglas; Pizzagalli, Diego A.

2014-01-01

Anhedonia is one of the core symptoms of depression and has been linked to blunted responses to rewarding stimuli in striatal regions. Stress, a key vulnerability factor for depression, has been shown to induce anhedonic behavior, including reduced reward responsiveness in both animals and humans, but the brain processes associated with these effects remain largely unknown in humans. Emerging evidence suggests that stress has dissociable effects on distinct components of reward processing, as it has been found to potentiate motivation/‘wanting’ during the anticipatory phase but reduce reward responsiveness/‘liking’ during the consummatory phase. To examine the impact of stress on reward processing, we used a monetary incentive delay (MID) task and an acute stress manipulation (negative performance feedback) in conjunction with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Fifteen healthy participants performed the MID task under no-stress and stress conditions. We hypothesized that stress would have dissociable effects on the anticipatory and consummatory phases in reward-related brain regions. Specifically, we expected reduced striatal responsiveness during reward consumption (mirroring patterns previously observed in clinical depression) and increased striatal activation during reward anticipation consistent with non-human findings. Supporting our hypotheses, significant Phase (Anticipation/Consumption) x Stress (Stress/No-stress) interactions emerged in the putamen, nucleus accumbens, caudate and amygdala. Post-hoc tests revealed that stress increased striatal and amygdalar activation during anticipation but decreased striatal activation during consumption. Importantly, stress-induced striatal blunting was similar to the profile observed in clinical depression under baseline (no-stress) conditions in prior studies. Given that stress is a pivotal vulnerability factor for depression, these results offer insight to better understand the etiology of this prevalent disorder. PMID:24508744

Increased ventral striatal BOLD activity during non-drug reward anticipation in cannabis users.

PubMed

Nestor, Liam; Hester, Robert; Garavan, Hugh

2010-01-01

Despite an increased understanding of the pharmacology and long-term cognitive effects of cannabis in humans, there has been no research to date examining its chronic effects upon reward processing in the brain. Motivational theories regarding long-term drug use posit contrasting predictions with respect to how drug users are likely to process non-drug incentives. The reward deficiency syndrome (RDS) of addiction posits that there are deficits in dopamine (DA) motivational circuitry for non-drug rewards, such that only drugs of abuse are capable of normalizing DA in the ventral striatum (VS). Alternatively, the opponent process theory (OPT) holds that in individuals prone to drug use, there exists some form of mesolimbic hyperactivity, in which there is a bias towards reward-centred behaviour concomitant with impulsivity. The current study examined BOLD responses during reward and loss anticipation and their outcome deliveries in 14 chronic cannabis users and 14 drug-naive controls during a monetary incentive delay (MID) task. Despite no significant behavioural differences between the two groups, cannabis users had significantly more right VS BOLD activity during reward anticipation. Correlation analyses demonstrated that this right VS BOLD response was significantly correlated with life-time use and reported life-time cannabis joints consumed. No correlations between cannabis abstinence and BOLD responses were observed. We also observed a number of group differences following outcome deliveries, most notably hypoactivity in the left insula cortex in response to loss and loss avoidance outcome notifications in the cannabis group. These results may suggest hypersensitivity during instrumental response anticipation for non-drug rewards and a hyposensitivity to loss outcomes in chronic cannabis users; the implications of which are discussed with respect to the potentially sensitizing effects of cannabis for other rewards.

Ketamine Suppresses the Ventral Striatal Response to Reward Anticipation: A Cross-Species Translational Neuroimaging Study

PubMed Central

Francois, Jennifer; Grimm, Oliver; Schwarz, Adam J; Schweiger, Janina; Haller, Leila; Risterucci, Celine; Böhringer, Andreas; Zang, Zhenxiang; Tost, Heike; Gilmour, Gary; Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas

2016-01-01

Convergent evidence implicates regional neural responses to reward anticipation in the pathogenesis of several psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, where blunted ventral striatal responses to positive reward are observed in patients and at-risk populations. In vivo oxygen amperometry measurements in the ventral striatum in awake, behaving rats reveal reward-related tissue oxygen changes that closely parallel blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal changes observed in human functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), suggesting that a cross-species approach targeting this mechanism might be feasible in psychopharmacology. The present study explored modulatory effects of acute, subanaesthetic doses of ketamine—a pharmacological model widely used in psychopharmacological research, both preclinically and clinically—on ventral striatum activity during performance of a reward anticipation task in both species, using fMRI in humans and in vivo oxygen amperometry in rats. In a region-of-interest analysis conducted following a cross-over placebo and ketamine study in human subjects, an attenuated ventral striatal response during reward anticipation was observed following ketamine relative to placebo during performance of a monetary incentive delay task. In rats, a comparable attenuation of ventral striatal signal was found after ketamine challenge, relative to vehicle, in response to a conditioned stimulus that predicted delivery of reward. This study provides the first data in both species demonstrating an attenuating effect of acute ketamine on reward-related ventral striatal (O2) and fMRI signals. These findings may help elucidate a deeper mechanistic understanding of the potential role of ketamine as a model for psychosis, show that cross-species pharmacological experiments targeting reward signaling are feasible, and suggest this phenotype as a promising translational biomarker for the development of novel compounds, assessment of disease status, and treatment efficacy. PMID:26388147

Competencies for Young European Higher Education Graduates: Labor Market Mismatches and Their Payoffs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garcia-Aracil, Adela; Van der Velden, Rolf

2008-01-01

Labor market rewards based on competencies are analyzed using a sample of young European higher education (HE) graduates. Estimates of monetary rewards are obtained from conventional earnings regressions, while estimates total rewards are based on job satisfaction and derived through ordered probit regressions. Results for income show that jobs…

Distinct age-related differences in temporal discounting and risk taking in adolescents and young adults.

PubMed

de Water, Erik; Cillessen, Antonius H N; Scheres, Anouk

2014-01-01

Age-related differences in temporal discounting (TD) and risk taking, and their association, were examined in adolescents and young adults (n = 337) aged 12-27 years. Since monetary rewards are typically used in TD and risk-taking tasks, the association between monetary reward valuation and age and decision making in these tasks was explored as well. TD declined linearly with age, with a particularly sharp decline from 15 to 16 years. In contrast, risk taking was not correlated with age and TD. Reward valuation was not associated with TD and risk taking, and age-related differences in TD remained significant after controlling for reward valuation. Together, these findings suggest that risk taking and TD are two separate constructs with distinct age-related differences in adolescence and young adulthood. © 2014 The Authors. Child Development © 2014 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Mesolimbic recruitment by nondrug rewards in detoxified alcoholics: effort anticipation, reward anticipation, and reward delivery.

PubMed

Bjork, James M; Smith, Ashley R; Chen, Gang; Hommer, Daniel W

2012-09-01

Aberrant sensitivity of incentive neurocircuitry to nondrug rewards has been suggested as either a risk factor for or consequence of drug addiction. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we tested whether alcohol-dependent patients (ADP: n = 29) showed altered recruitment of ventral striatal (VS) incentive neurocircuitry compared to controls (n = 23) by: (1) cues to respond for monetary rewards, (2) post-response anticipation of rewards, or (3) delivery of rewards. Using an instrumental task with two-stage presentation of reward-predictive information, subjects saw cues signaling opportunities to win $0, $1, or $10 for responding to a target. Following this response, subjects were notified whether their success would be indicated by a lexical notification (“Hit?”) or by delivery of a monetary reward (“Win?”). After a variable interval, subjects then viewed the trial outcome. We found no significant group differences in voxelwise activation by task contrasts, or in signal change extracted from VS. Both ADP and controls showed significant VS and other limbic recruitment by pre-response reward anticipation. In addition, controls also showed VS recruitment by post-response reward-anticipation, and ADP had appreciable subthreshold VS activation. Both groups also showed similar mesolimbic responses to reward deliveries. Across all subjects, a questionnaire measure of “hot” impulsivity correlated with VS recruitment by post-response anticipation of low rewards and with VS recruitment by delivery of low rewards. These findings indicate that incentive-motivational processing of nondrug rewards is substantially maintained in recovering alcoholics, and that reward-elicited VS recruitment correlates more with individual differences in trait impulsivity irrespective of addiction.

Effects of monetary reward and punishment on information checking behaviour: An eye-tracking study.

PubMed

Li, Simon Y W; Cox, Anna L; Or, Calvin; Blandford, Ann

2018-07-01

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of error consequence, as reward or punishment, on individuals' checking behaviour following data entry. This study comprised two eye-tracking experiments that replicate and extend the investigation of Li et al. (2016) into the effect of monetary reward and punishment on data-entry performance. The first experiment adopted the same experimental setup as Li et al. (2016) but additionally used an eye tracker. The experiment validated Li et al. (2016) finding that, when compared to no error consequence, both reward and punishment led to improved data-entry performance in terms of reducing errors, and that no performance difference was found between reward and punishment. The second experiment extended the earlier study by associating error consequence to each individual trial by providing immediate performance feedback to participants. It was found that gradual increment (i.e. reward feedback) also led to significantly more accurate performance than no error consequence. It is unclear whether gradual increment is more effective than gradual decrement because of the small sample size tested. However, this study reasserts the effectiveness of reward on data-entry performance. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The risk variant in ODZ4 for bipolar disorder impacts on amygdala activation during reward processing.

PubMed

Heinrich, Angela; Lourdusamy, Anbarasu; Tzschoppe, Jelka; Vollstädt-Klein, Sabine; Bühler, Mira; Steiner, Sabina; Bach, Christiane; Poustka, Luise; Banaschewski, Tobias; Barker, Gareth; Büchel, Christian; Conrod, Patricia; Garavan, Hugh; Gallinat, Jürgen; Heinz, Andreas; Ittermann, Bernd; Loth, Eva; Mann, Karl; Martinot, Jean-Luc; Paus, Tomáš; Pausova, Zdenka; Smolka, Michael; Ströhle, Andreas; Struve, Maren; Witt, Stephanie; Flor, Herta; Schumann, Gunter; Rietschel, Marcella; Nees, Frauke

2013-06-01

Bipolar disorder is a severe mood disorder, which normally begins during adolescence or early adulthood and has a heritability of up to 80%. The largest genome-wide association analysis of bipolar disorder recently identified a new genome-wide associated variant in OZD4 (rs12576775). The aim of the present study was to further elucidate the role of this risk variant in the disease process using an imaging genetics approach. As increased amygdala and striatal responses during the processing of reward and emotion are characteristic for bipolar disorder patients, it was tested whether the risk variant has an influence on this endophenotype in healthy adolescents. We examined the impact of the risk variant rs12576775 on functional magnetic resonance imaging data in an adolescent sample (N = 485). Differential activation between carriers of the risk allele (G-allele) and homozygous A-allele carriers in the amygdala and the striatum during a modification of the monetary incentive delay task (examining reward) and a face task (examining emotion) was analyzed. Carriers of the risk allele showed an increased blood oxygen level-dependent response in the amygdala during reward sensitivity (p = 0.05) and reward expectation (p < 0.05) but not during the face task. No significant group differences were found in the striatum during both reward and emotion processing. Our results indicate that the ODZ4 risk variant influences reward processing in the amygdala. Alterations in the processing of emotion may have different underlying mechanisms and need to be further examined. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Role of delay-based reward in the spatial cooperation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xu-Wen; Nie, Sen; Jiang, Luo-Luo; Wang, Bing-Hong; Chen, Shi-Ming

2017-01-01

Strategy selection in games, a typical decision making, usually brings noticeable reward for players which have discounted value if the delay appears. The discounted value is measure: earning sooner with a small reward or later with a delayed larger reward. Here, we investigate effects of delayed rewards on the cooperation in structured population. It is found that delayed reward supports the spreading of cooperation in square lattice, small-world and random networks. In particular, intermediate reward differences between delays impel the highest cooperation level. Interestingly, cooperative individuals with the same delay time steps form clusters to resist the invasion of defects, and cooperative individuals with lowest delay reward survive because they form the largest clusters in the lattice.

Decreased prefrontal cortical sensitivity to monetary reward is associated with impaired motivation and self-control in cocaine addiction

PubMed Central

Goldstein, Rita Z.; Alia-Klein, Nelly; Tomasi, Dardo; Zhang, Lei; Cottone, Lisa A.; Maloney, Thomas; Telang, Frank; Caparelli, Elisabeth C.; Chang, Linda; Ernst, Thomas; Samaras, Dimitris; Squires, Nancy K.; Volkow, Nora D.

2008-01-01

Objective To examine the brain’s sensitivity to monetary rewards of different magnitudes in cocaine abusers and to study its association with motivation and self-control. Method Sixteen cocaine abusers and 13 matched healthy comparison subjects performed a forced-choice task under three monetary value conditions while brain activation was measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging. Objective measures of state motivation were assessed by reaction time and accuracy, and subjective measures were assessed by self-reports of task engagement. Measures of trait motivation and self-control were assessed with the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire. Results The cocaine abusers demonstrated an overall reduced regional brain responsivity to differences between the monetary value conditions. Also, in comparison subjects but not in cocaine abusers reward-induced improvements in performance were associated with self-reports of task engagement, and money-induced activations in the lateral prefrontal cortex were associated with activations in the orbitofrontal cortex. For cocaine subjects, prefrontal cortex sensitivity to money was instead associated with motivation and self-control. Conclusions These findings suggest that in cocaine addiction (1) activation of the corticolimbic reward circuit to gradations of money is altered; (2) lack of a correlation between objective and subjective measures of state motivation may be indicative of disrupted perception of motivational drive, which could contribute to impairments in self-control; and (3) the lateral prefrontal cortex modulates trait motivation and deficits in self-control, and a possible underlying mechanism may encompass a breakdown in prefrontal-orbitofrontal cortical communication. PMID:17202543

Measuring Social Motivation Using Signal Detection and Reward Responsiveness.

PubMed

Chevallier, Coralie; Tonge, Natasha; Safra, Lou; Kahn, David; Kohls, Gregor; Miller, Judith; Schultz, Robert T

2016-01-01

Recent trends in psychiatry have emphasized the need for a shift from categorical to dimensional approaches. Of critical importance to this transformation is the availability of tools to objectively quantify behaviors dimensionally. The present study focuses on social motivation, a dimension of behavior that is central to a range of psychiatric conditions but for which a particularly small number of assays currently exist. In Study 1 (N = 48), healthy adults completed a monetary reward task and a social reward task, followed by completion of the Chapman Physical and Social Anhedonia Scales. In Study 2 (N = 26), an independent sample was recruited to assess the robustness of Study 1's findings. The reward tasks were analyzed using signal detection theory to quantify how much reward cues bias participants' responses. In both Study 1 and Study 2, social anhedonia scores were negatively correlated with change in response bias in the social reward task but not in the monetary reward task. A median split on social anhedonia scores confirmed that participants with high social anhedonia showed less change in response bias in the social reward task compared to participants with low social anhedonia. This study confirms that social anhedonia selectively affects how much an individual changes their behavior based on the presence of socially rewarding cues and establishes a tool to quantify social reward responsiveness dimensionally.

Effects of emotion and reward motivation on neural correlates of episodic memory encoding: a PET study.

PubMed

Shigemune, Yayoi; Abe, Nobuhito; Suzuki, Maki; Ueno, Aya; Mori, Etsuro; Tashiro, Manabu; Itoh, Masatoshi; Fujii, Toshikatsu

2010-05-01

It is known that emotion and reward motivation promote long-term memory formation. It remains unclear, however, how and where emotion and reward are integrated during episodic memory encoding. In the present study, subjects were engaged in intentional encoding of photographs under four different conditions that were made by combining two factors (emotional valence, negative or neutral; and monetary reward value, high or low for subsequent successful recognition) during H2 15O positron emission tomography (PET) scanning. As for recognition performance, we found significant main effects of emotional valence (negative>neutral) and reward value (high value>low value), without an interaction between the two factors. Imaging data showed that the left amygdala was activated during the encoding conditions of negative pictures relative to neutral pictures, and the left orbitofrontal cortex was activated during the encoding conditions of high reward pictures relative to low reward pictures. In addition, conjunction analysis of these two main effects detected right hippocampal activation. Although we could not find correlations between recognition performance and activity of these three regions, we speculate that the right hippocampus may integrate the effects of emotion (processed in the amygdala) and monetary reward (processed in the orbitofrontal cortex) on episodic memory encoding. 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd and the Japan Neuroscience Society. All rights reserved.

Multidimensional Assessment of Impulsivity in Relation to Obesity and Food Addiction

PubMed Central

VanderBroek-Stice, Lauren; Stojek, Monika K.; Beach, Steven R. H.; vanDellen, Michelle R.; MacKillop, James

2017-01-01

Based on similarities between overconsumption of food and addictive drugs, there is increasing interest in “food addiction,” a compulsive eating pattern defined using symptoms parallel to substance use disorders. Impulsivity, a multidimensional construct robustly linked to drug addiction, has been increasingly examined as an obesity determinant, but with mixed findings. This study sought to clarify relations between three major domains of impulsivity (i.e., impulsive personality traits, discounting of delayed rewards, and behavioral inhibition) in both obesity and food addiction. Based on the association between impulsivity and compulsive drug use, the general hypothesis was that the impulsivity-food addiction relation would be stronger than and responsible for the impulsivity-obesity relation. Using a cross-sectional dimensional design, participants (N = 181; 32% obese) completed a biometric assessment, the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS), the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scales, a Go/NoGo task, and measures of monetary delay discounting. Results revealed significantly higher prevalence of food addiction among obese participants and stronger zero-order associations between impulsivity indices and YFAS compared to obesity. Two aspects of impulsivity were independently significantly associated with food addiction: (a) a composite of Positive and Negative Urgency, reflecting proneness to act impulsively during intense mood states, and (b) steep discounting of delayed rewards. Furthermore, the results supported food addiction as a mediator connecting both urgency and delay discounting with obesity. These findings provide further evidence linking impulsivity to food addiction and obesity, and suggest that food addiction may be a candidate etiological pathway to obesity for individuals exhibiting elevations in these domains. PMID:28087369

Multidimensional assessment of impulsivity in relation to obesity and food addiction.

PubMed

VanderBroek-Stice, Lauren; Stojek, Monika K; Beach, Steven R H; vanDellen, Michelle R; MacKillop, James

2017-05-01

Based on similarities between overconsumption of food and addictive drugs, there is increasing interest in "food addiction," a compulsive eating pattern defined using symptoms parallel to substance use disorders. Impulsivity, a multidimensional construct robustly linked to drug addiction, has been increasingly examined as an obesity determinant, but with mixed findings. This study sought to clarify relations between three major domains of impulsivity (i.e., impulsive personality traits, discounting of delayed rewards, and behavioral inhibition) in both obesity and food addiction. Based on the association between impulsivity and compulsive drug use, the general hypothesis was that the impulsivity-food addiction relation would be stronger than and responsible for the impulsivity-obesity relation. Using a cross-sectional dimensional design, participants (N = 181; 32% obese) completed a biometric assessment, the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS), the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scales, a Go/NoGo task, and measures of monetary delay discounting. Results revealed significantly higher prevalence of food addiction among obese participants and stronger zero-order associations between impulsivity indices and YFAS compared to obesity. Two aspects of impulsivity were independently significantly associated with food addiction: (a) a composite of Positive and Negative Urgency, reflecting proneness to act impulsively during intense mood states, and (b) steep discounting of delayed rewards. Furthermore, the results supported food addiction as a mediator connecting both urgency and delay discounting with obesity. These findings provide further evidence linking impulsivity to food addiction and obesity, and suggest that food addiction may be a candidate etiological pathway to obesity for individuals exhibiting elevations in these domains. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Virtual reality conditioned place preference using monetary reward

PubMed Central

Childs, Emma; Astur, Robert S.; de Wit, Harriet

2017-01-01

Computerized tasks based on conditioned place preference (CPP) methodology offer the opportunity to study learning mechanisms involved in conditioned reward in humans. In this study, we examined acquisition and extinction of a CPP for virtual environments associated with monetary reward ($). Healthy men and women (N=57) completed a computerized CPP task in which they controlled an avatar within a virtual environment. On day 1, subjects completed 6 conditioning trials in which one room was paired with high $ and another with low $. Acquisition of place conditioning was assessed by measuring the time spent in each room during an exploration test of the virtual environments and using self-reported ratings of room liking and preference. Twenty-four hours later, retention and extinction of CPP were assessed during 4 successive exploration tests of the virtual environments. Participants exhibited a place preference for (spent significantly more time in) the virtual room paired with high $ over the one paired with low $ (p=0.015). They also reported that they preferred the high $ room (p<0.001) and liked it significantly more than the low $ room (p<0.001). However, these preferences were short-lived: 24h later subjects did not exhibit a behavioral or subjective preference for the high $ room. These findings show that individuals exhibit transient behavioral and subjective preferences for a virtual environment paired with monetary reward. Variations on this task may be useful to study mechanisms and brain substrates involved in conditioned reward and to examine the influence of drugs upon appetitive conditioning. PMID:28108321

Segregated and integrated coding of reward and punishment in the cingulate cortex.

PubMed

Fujiwara, Juri; Tobler, Philippe N; Taira, Masato; Iijima, Toshio; Tsutsui, Ken-Ichiro

2009-06-01

Reward and punishment have opposite affective value but are both processed by the cingulate cortex. However, it is unclear whether the positive and negative affective values of monetary reward and punishment are processed by separate or common subregions of the cingulate cortex. We performed a functional magnetic resonance imaging study using a free-choice task and compared cingulate activations for different levels of monetary gain and loss. Gain-specific activation (increasing activation for increasing gain, but no activation change in relation to loss) occurred mainly in the anterior part of the anterior cingulate and in the posterior cingulate cortex. Conversely, loss-specific activation (increasing activation for increasing loss, but no activation change in relation to gain) occurred between these areas, in the middle and posterior part of the anterior cingulate. Integrated coding of gain and loss (increasing activation throughout the full range, from biggest loss to biggest gain) occurred in the dorsal part of the anterior cingulate, at the border with the medial prefrontal cortex. Finally, unspecific activation increases to both gains and losses (increasing activation to increasing gains and increasing losses, possibly reflecting attention) occurred in dorsal and middle regions of the cingulate cortex. Together, these results suggest separate and common coding of monetary reward and punishment in distinct subregions of the cingulate cortex. Further meta-analysis suggested that the presently found reward- and punishment-specific areas overlapped with those processing positive and negative emotions, respectively.

Neuronal correlates of reward and loss in Cluster B personality disorders: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

PubMed

Völlm, Birgit; Richardson, Paul; McKie, Shane; Elliott, Rebecca; Dolan, Mairead; Deakin, Bill

2007-11-15

Decision making is guided by the likely consequences of behavioural choices. Neuronal correlates of financial reward have been described in a number of functional imaging studies in humans. Areas implicated in reward include ventral striatum, dopaminergic midbrain, amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex. Response to loss has not been as extensively studied but may involve prefrontal and medial temporal cortices. It has been proposed that increased sensitivity to reward and reduced sensitivity to punishment underlie some of the psychopathology in impulsive personality disordered individuals. However, few imaging studies using reinforcement tasks have been conducted in this group. In this fMRI study, we investigate the effects of positive (monetary reward) and negative (monetary loss) outcomes on BOLD responses in two target selection tasks. The experimental group comprised eight people with Cluster B (antisocial and borderline) personality disorder, whilst the control group contained fourteen healthy participants. A key finding was the absence of prefrontal responses and reduced BOLD signal in the subcortical reward system in the PD group during positive reinforcement. Impulsivity scores correlated negatively with prefrontal responses in the PD but not the control group during both, reward and loss. Our results suggest dysfunctional responses to rewarding and aversive stimuli in Cluster B personality disordered individuals but do not support the notion of hypersensitivity to reward and hyposensitivity to loss.

Money Enhances Memory Consolidation--But Only for Boring Material

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murayama, Kou; Kuhbandner, Christof

2011-01-01

Money's ability to enhance memory has received increased attention in recent research. However, previous studies have not directly addressed the time-dependent nature of monetary effects on memory, which are suggested to exist by research in cognitive neuroscience, and the possible detrimental effects of monetary rewards on learning interesting…

Mesolimbic recruitment by nondrug rewards in detoxified alcoholics: effort anticipation, reward anticipation and reward delivery

PubMed Central

Bjork, James M.; Smith, Ashley R.; Chen, Gang; Hommer, Daniel W.

2011-01-01

Aberrant sensitivity of incentive neurocircuitry to nondrug rewards has been suggested as either a risk factor for or consequence of drug addiction. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we tested whether alcohol-dependent patients (ADP: n = 29) showed altered recruitment of ventral striatal (VS) incentive neurocircuitry compared to controls (n = 23) by: 1) cues to respond for monetary rewards, 2) post-response anticipation of rewards, or 3) delivery of rewards. Using an instrumental task with two-stage presentation of reward-predictive information, subjects saw cues signaling opportunities to win $0, $1, or $10 for responding to a target. Following this response, subjects were notified whether their success would be indicated by a lexical notification (“Hit?”) or by delivery of a monetary reward (“Win?”). After a variable interval, subjects then viewed the trial outcome. We found no significant group differences in voxelwise activation by task contrasts, or in signal change extracted from VS. Both ADP and controls showed significant VS and other limbic recruitment by pre-response reward anticipation. In addition, controls also showed VS recruitment by post-response reward-anticipation, and ADP had appreciable subthreshold VS activation. Both groups also showed similar mesolimbic responses to reward deliveries. Across all subjects, a questionnaire measure of “hot” impulsivity correlated with VS recruitment by post-response anticipation of low rewards and with VS recruitment by delivery of low rewards. These findings indicate that incentive-motivational processing of nondrug rewards is substantially maintained in recovering alcoholics, and that reward-elicited VS recruitment correlates more with individual differences in trait impulsivity irrespective of addiction. PMID:22281932

Monetary reward processing in obese individuals with and without binge eating disorder.

PubMed

Balodis, Iris M; Kober, Hedy; Worhunsky, Patrick D; White, Marney A; Stevens, Michael C; Pearlson, Godfrey D; Sinha, Rajita; Grilo, Carlos M; Potenza, Marc N

2013-05-01

An important step in obesity research involves identifying neurobiological underpinnings of nonfood reward processing unique to specific subgroups of obese individuals. Nineteen obese individuals seeking treatment for binge eating disorder (BED) were compared with 19 non-BED obese individuals (OB) and 19 lean control subjects (LC) while performing a monetary reward/loss task that parses anticipatory and outcome components during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Differences in regional activation were investigated in BED, OB, and LC groups during reward/loss prospect, anticipation, and notification. Relative to the LC group, the OB group demonstrated increased ventral striatal and ventromedial prefrontal cortex activity during anticipatory phases. In contrast, the BED group relative to the OB group demonstrated diminished bilateral ventral striatal activity during anticipatory reward/loss processing. No differences were observed between the BED and LC groups in the ventral striatum. Heterogeneity exists among obese individuals with respect to the neural correlates of reward/loss processing. Neural differences in separable groups with obesity suggest that multiple, varying interventions might be important in optimizing prevention and treatment strategies for obesity. Copyright © 2013 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The dark side of monetary incentive: how does extrinsic reward crowd out intrinsic motivation.

PubMed

Ma, Qingguo; Jin, Jia; Meng, Liang; Shen, Qiang

2014-02-12

It was widely believed that incentives could effectively enhance the motivation of both students and employees. However, psychologists reported that extrinsic reward actually could undermine individuals' intrinsic motivation to a given interesting task, which challenged viewpoints from traditional incentive theories. Numerous studies have been carried out to test and explain the undermining effect; however, the neural basis of this effect is still elusive. Here, we carried out an electrophysiological study with a simple but interesting stopwatch task to explore to what extent the performance-based monetary reward undermines individuals' intrinsic motivation toward the task. The electrophysiological data showed that the differentiated feedback-related negativity amplitude toward intrinsic success failure divergence was prominently reduced once the extrinsic reward was imposed beforehand. However, such a difference was not observed in the control group, in which no extrinsic reward was provided throughout the experiment. Furthermore, such a pattern was not observed for P300 amplitude. Therefore, the current results indicate that extrinsic reward demotivates the intrinsic response of individuals toward success-failure outcome, which was reflected in the corresponding reduced motivational-related differentiated feedback-related negativity, but not in amplitude of P300.

A behavioral economic analysis of texting while driving: Delay discounting processes

PubMed Central

Hayashi, Yusuke; Miller, Kimberly; Foreman, Anne M.; Wirth, Oliver

2016-01-01

The purpose of the present study was to examine an impulsive decision-making process underlying texting while driving from a behavioral economic perspective. A sample of 108 college students completed a novel discounting task that presented participants with a hypothetical scenario in which, after receiving a text message while driving, they rated the likelihood of replying to a text message immediately versus waiting to reply for a specific period of time. Participants also completed a delay discounting task in which they made repeated hypothetical choices between obtaining a larger amount of money available after a delay and an equal or lesser amount of money available immediately. The results show that the duration of the delay is a critical variable that strongly determines whether participants choose to wait to reply to a text message, and that the decrease in the likelihood of waiting as a function of delay is best described by a hyperbolic delay discounting function. The results also show that participants who self-reported higher frequency of texting while driving discounted the opportunity to reply to a text message at greater rates, whereas there was no relation between the rates of discounting of hypothetical monetary rewards and the frequency of texting while driving. The results support the conclusion that texting while driving is fundamentally an impulsive choice. PMID:27614547

Voluntary control over prestimulus activity related to encoding

PubMed Central

Gruber, Matthias J.; Otten, Leun J.

2010-01-01

A new development in our understanding of human long-term memory is that effective memory formation relies on neural activity just before an event. It is unknown whether such prestimulus activity is under voluntary control or a reflection of random fluctuations over time. In the present study, we addressed two issues: (i) whether prestimulus activity is influenced by an individual's motivation to encode, and (ii) at what point in time encoding-related activity emerges. Electrical brain activity was recorded while healthy male and female adults memorized series of words. Each word was preceded by a cue, which indicated the monetary reward that would be received if the following word was later remembered. Memory was tested after a short delay with a five-way recognition task to separate different sources of recognition. Electrical activity elicited by the reward cue predicted later memory of a word. Crucially, however, this was only observed when the incentive to memorize a word was high. Encoding-related activity preceded high reward words that were later recollected. This activity started shortly after cue onset and persisted until word onset. Prestimulus activity thus not only signals cue-related processing, but also an ensuing preparatory state. In contrast, reward-related activity was limited to the time period immediately following the reward cue. These findings indicate that engaging neural activity that benefits the encoding of an upcoming event is under voluntary control, reflecting a strategic preparatory state in anticipation of processing an event. PMID:20660262

No differences in ventral striatum responsivity between adolescents with a positive family history of alcoholism and controls.

PubMed

Müller, Kathrin U; Gan, Gabriela; Banaschewski, Tobias; Barker, Gareth J; Bokde, Arun L W; Büchel, Christian; Conrod, Patricia; Fauth-Bühler, Mira; Flor, Herta; Gallinat, Jürgen; Garavan, Hugh; Gowland, Penny; Heinz, Andreas; Ittermann, Bernd; Lawrence, Claire; Loth, Eva; Mann, Karl; Martinot, Jean-Luc; Nees, Frauke; Paus, Tomáš; Pausova, Zdenka; Rietschel, Marcella; Ströhle, Andreas; Struve, Maren; Schumann, Gunter; Smolka, Michael N

2015-05-01

Individuals with alcohol-dependent parents show an elevated risk of developing alcohol-related problems themselves. Modulations of the mesolimbic reward circuit have been postulated as a pre-existing marker of alcoholism. We tested whether a positive family history of alcoholism is correlated with ventral striatum functionality during a reward task. All participants performed a modified version of the monetary incentive delay task while their brain responses were measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging. We compared 206 healthy adolescents (aged 13-15) who had any first- or second-degree relative with alcoholism to 206 matched controls with no biological relative with alcoholism. Reward anticipation as well as feedback of win recruited the ventral striatum in all participants, but adolescents with a positive family history of alcoholism did not differ from their matched peers. Also we did not find any correlation between family history density and reward anticipation or feedback of win. This finding of no differences did not change when we analyzed a subsample of 77 adolescents with at least one parent with alcohol use disorder and their matched controls. Because this result is in line with another study reporting no differences between children with alcohol-dependent parents and controls at young age, but contrasts with studies of older individuals, one might conclude that at younger age the effect of family history has not yet exerted its influence on the still developing mesolimbic reward circuit. © 2014 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Sustained anterior cingulate cortex activation during reward processing predicts response to psychotherapy in major depressive disorder.

PubMed

Carl, Hannah; Walsh, Erin; Eisenlohr-Moul, Tory; Minkel, Jared; Crowther, Andrew; Moore, Tyler; Gibbs, Devin; Petty, Chris; Bizzell, Josh; Dichter, Gabriel S; Smoski, Moria J

2016-10-01

The purpose of the present investigation was to evaluate whether pre-treatment neural activation in response to rewards is a predictor of clinical response to Behavioral Activation Therapy for Depression (BATD), an empirically validated psychotherapy that decreases depressive symptoms by increasing engagement with rewarding stimuli and reducing avoidance behaviors. Participants were 33 outpatients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and 20 matched controls. We examined group differences in activation, and the capacity to sustain activation, across task runs using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and the monetary incentive delay (MID) task. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to investigate whether pre-treatment neural responses predicted change in depressive symptoms over the course of BATD treatment. MDD and Control groups differed in sustained activation during reward outcomes in the right nucleus accumbens, such that the MDD group experienced a significant decrease in activation in this region from the first to second task run relative to controls. Pretreatment anhedonia severity and pretreatment task-related reaction times were predictive of response to treatment. Furthermore, sustained activation in the anterior cingulate cortex during reward outcomes predicted response to psychotherapy; patients with greater sustained activation in this region were more responsive to BATD treatment. The current study only included a single treatment condition, thus it unknown whether these predictors of treatment response are specific to BATD or psychotherapy in general. Findings add to the growing body of literature suggesting that the capacity to sustain neural responses to rewards may be a critical endophenotype of MDD. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Perceived Chronic Stress Exposure Modulates Reward-Related Medial Prefrontal Cortex Responses to Acute Stress in Depression

PubMed Central

Kumar, Poornima; Slavich, George M.; Berghorst, Lisa H.; Treadway, Michael T.; Brooks, Nancy H.; Dutra, Sunny J.; Greve, Douglas N.; O'Donovan, Aoife; Bleil, Maria E.; Maninger, Nicole; Pizzagalli, Diego A.

2015-01-01

Introduction Major depressive disorder (MDD) is often precipitated by life stress and growing evidence suggests that stress-induced alterations in reward processing may contribute to such risk. However, no human imaging studies have examined how recent life stress exposure modulates the neural systems that underlie reward processing in depressed and healthy individuals. Methods In this proof-of-concept study, 12 MDD and 10 psychiatrically healthy individuals were interviewed using the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule (LEDS) to assess their perceived levels of recent acute and chronic life stress exposure. Additionally, each participant performed a monetary incentive delay task under baseline (no-stress) and stress (social-evaluative) conditions during functional MRI. Results Across groups, medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) activation to reward feedback was greater during acute stress versus no-stress conditions in individuals with greater perceived stressor severity. Under acute stress, depressed individuals showed a positive correlation between perceived stressor severity levels and reward-related mPFC activation (r = 0.79, p = 0.004), whereas no effect was found in healthy controls. Moreover, for depressed (but not healthy) individuals, the correlations between the stress (r = 0.79) and no-stress (r = −0.48) conditions were significantly different. Finally, relative to controls, depressed participants showed significantly reduced mPFC grey matter, but functional findings remained when accounting for structural differences. Limitation Small sample size, which warrants replication. Conclusion Depressed individuals experiencing greater recent life stress recruited the mPFC more under stress when processing rewards. Our results represent an initial step toward elucidating mechanisms underlying stress sensitization and recurrence in depression. PMID:25898329

Neural signature of reward-modulated unconscious inhibitory control.

PubMed

Diao, Liuting; Qi, Senqing; Xu, Mengsi; Li, Zhiai; Ding, Cody; Chen, Antao; Zheng, Yan; Yang, Dong

2016-09-01

Consciously initiated cognitive control is generally determined by motivational incentives (e.g., monetary reward). Recent studies have revealed that human cognitive control processes can nevertheless operate without awareness. However, whether monetary reward can impinge on unconscious cognitive control remains unclear. To clarify this issue, a task consisting of several runs was designed to combine a modified version of the reward-priming paradigm with an unconscious version of the Go/No-Go task. At the beginning of each run, participants were exposed to a high- or low-value coin, followed by the modified Go/No-Go task. Participants could earn the coin only if they responded correctly to each trial of the run. Event-related potential (ERP) results indicated that high-value rewards (vs. low-value rewards) induced a greater centro-parietal P3 component associated with conscious and unconscious inhibitory control. Moreover, the P3 amplitude correlated positively with the magnitude of reaction time slowing reflecting the intensity of activation of unconscious inhibitory control in the brain. These findings suggest that high-value reward may facilitate human higher-order inhibitory processes that are independent of conscious awareness, which provides insights into the brain processes that underpin motivational modulation of cognitive control. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A common currency for the computation of motivational values in the human striatum

PubMed Central

Li, Yansong; Dreher, Jean-Claude

2015-01-01

Reward comparison in the brain is thought to be achieved through the use of a ‘common currency’, implying that reward value representations are computed on a unique scale in the same brain regions regardless of the reward type. Although such a mechanism has been identified in the ventro-medial prefrontal cortex and ventral striatum in the context of decision-making, it is less clear whether it similarly applies to non-choice situations. To answer this question, we scanned 38 participants with fMRI while they were presented with single cues predicting either monetary or erotic rewards, without the need to make a decision. The ventral striatum was the main brain structure to respond to both cues while showing increasing activity with increasing expected reward intensity. Most importantly, the relative response of the striatum to monetary vs erotic cues was correlated with the relative motivational value of these rewards as inferred from reaction times. Similar correlations were observed in a fronto-parietal network known to be involved in attentional focus and motor readiness. Together, our results suggest that striatal reward value signals not only obey to a common currency mechanism in the absence of choice but may also serve as an input to adjust motivated behaviour accordingly. PMID:24837478

Testosterone levels correspond with increased ventral striatum activation in response to monetary rewards in adolescents.

PubMed

Op de Macks, Zdeňa A; Gunther Moor, Bregtje; Overgaauw, Sandy; Güroğlu, Berna; Dahl, Ronald E; Crone, Eveline A

2011-10-01

Risk taking is an integral part of learning and development, particularly during adolescence the prevalence of risky behaviors peak. It is hypothesized that the tendency to take risks is related to pubertal maturation, where there is interplay between gonadal hormones, the neural mechanisms that underlie affective (e.g., reward) processing, and risky behavior. To test this hypothesis, fifty healthy adolescents (aged 10-16 years; 33 girls, 17 boys) at different stages of puberty performed a gambling task while lying in the MRI scanner, and provided saliva samples for hormone assessment. Gonadal hormone levels were correlated with the neural response to receiving a monetary reward. Results showed that testosterone level correlated positively with activation in the striatum for both boys and girls, suggesting that individual differences in hormones at puberty are related to the way adolescents respond to reward, which can ultimately affect risk-taking behavior. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dissociation between musical and monetary reward responses in specific musical anhedonia.

PubMed

Mas-Herrero, Ernest; Zatorre, Robert J; Rodriguez-Fornells, Antoni; Marco-Pallarés, Josep

2014-03-17

Music has been present in all human cultures since prehistory [1, 2], although it is not associated with any apparent biological advantages (such as food, sex, etc.) or utility value (such as money). Nevertheless, music is ranked among the highest sources of pleasure [3], and its important role in our society and culture has led to the assumption that the ability of music to induce pleasure is universal. However, this assumption has never been empirically tested. In the present report, we identified a group of healthy individuals without depression or generalized anhedonia who showed reduced behavioral pleasure ratings and no autonomic responses to pleasurable music, despite having normal musical perception capacities. These persons showed preserved behavioral and physiological responses to monetary reward, indicating that the low sensitivity to music was not due to a global hypofunction of the reward network. These results point to the existence of specific musical anhedonia and suggest that there may be individual differences in access to the reward system. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sensitivity to monetary reward is most severely compromised in recently abstaining cocaine addicted individuals: A cross-sectional ERP study

PubMed Central

Parvaz, Muhammad A.; Maloney, Thomas; Moeller, Scott J.; Woicik, Patricia A.; Alia-Klein, Nelly; Telang, Frank; Wang, Gene-Jack; Squires, Nancy K.; Volkow, Nora D.; Goldstein, Rita Z.

2012-01-01

Recent studies suggest that drug addicted individuals have a dampened cortical response to non-drug rewards. However, it remains unclear whether recency of drug use impacts this impairment. Therefore, in this study, recency of cocaine use was objectively determined by measuring cocaine in urine on study day. Thirty-five individuals with current cocaine use disorder [CUD: 21 testing positive (CUD+) and 14 testing negative (CUD−) for cocaine in urine] and 23 healthy controls completed a sustained attention task with graded monetary incentives (0¢, 1¢ and 45¢). Unlike in controls, in both CUD subgroups P300 amplitude was not modulated by the varying amounts of money and the CUD− showed the most severe impairment as documented by the lowest P300 amplitudes and task accuracy. Moreover, while recency of drug use was associated with better accuracy and higher P300 amplitudes, chronic drug use was associated with lower sensitivity to money. These results extend our previous findings of decreased sustained sensitivity to monetary reward in CUD+ to recently abstaining individuals, where level of impairment was most severe. Taken together, these results support the self-medication hypothesis, where CUD may be self-administering cocaine to avoid or compensate for underlying cognitive and emotional difficulties albeit with a long-term detrimental effect on sensitivity to non-drug reward. PMID:22841343

Apathy but not diminished expression in schizophrenia is associated with discounting of monetary rewards by physical effort.

PubMed

Hartmann, Matthias N; Hager, Oliver M; Reimann, Anna V; Chumbley, Justin R; Kirschner, Matthias; Seifritz, Erich; Tobler, Philippe N; Kaiser, Stefan

2015-03-01

Negative symptoms in schizophrenia have been grouped into the 2 factors of apathy and diminished expression, which might be caused by separable pathophysiological mechanisms. Recently, it has been proposed that apathy could be due to dysfunctional integration of reward and effort during decision making. We asked whether apathy in particular is associated with stronger devaluation ("discounting") of monetary rewards that require physical effort. Thirty-one patients with schizophrenia and 20 healthy control participants performed a computerized effort discounting task in which they could choose to exert physical effort on a handgrip to obtain monetary rewards. This procedure yields an individual measure for the strength of effort discounting. The degree of effort discounting was strongly correlated with apathy, but not with diminished expression. Importantly, the association between apathy and effort discounting was not driven by cognitive ability, antipsychotic medication, or other clinical and demographic variables. This study provides the first evidence for a highly specific association of apathy with effort-based decision making in patients with schizophrenia. Within a translational framework, the present effort discounting task could provide a bridge between apathy as a psychopathological phenomenon and established behavioral tasks to address similar states in animals. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Association between pubertal stage at first drink and neural reward processing in early adulthood.

PubMed

Boecker-Schlier, Regina; Holz, Nathalie E; Hohm, Erika; Zohsel, Katrin; Blomeyer, Dorothea; Buchmann, Arlette F; Baumeister, Sarah; Wolf, Isabella; Esser, Günter; Schmidt, Martin H; Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas; Banaschewski, Tobias; Brandeis, Daniel; Laucht, Manfred

2017-09-01

Puberty is a critical time period during human development. It is characterized by high levels of risk-taking behavior, such as increased alcohol consumption, and is accompanied by various neurobiological changes. Recent studies in animals and humans have revealed that the pubertal stage at first drink (PSFD) significantly impacts drinking behavior in adulthood. Moreover, neuronal alterations of the dopaminergic reward system have been associated with alcohol abuse or addiction. This study aimed to clarify the impact of PSFD on neuronal characteristics of reward processing linked to alcohol-related problems. One hundred sixty-eight healthy young adults from a prospective study covering 25 years participated in a monetary incentive delay task measured with simultaneous EEG-fMRI. PSFD was determined according to the age at menarche or Tanner stage of pubertal development, respectively. Alcohol-related problems in early adulthood were assessed with the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT). During reward anticipation, decreased fMRI activation of the frontal cortex and increased preparatory EEG activity (contingent negative variation) occurred with pubertal compared to postpubertal first alcohol intake. Moreover, alcohol-related problems during early adulthood were increased in pubertal compared to postpubertal beginners, which was mediated by neuronal activation of the right medial frontal gyrus. At reward delivery, increased fMRI activation of the left caudate and higher feedback-related EEG negativity were detected in pubertal compared to postpubertal beginners. Together with animal findings, these results implicate PSFD as a potential modulator of psychopathology, involving altered reward anticipation. Both PSFD timing and reward processing might thus be potential targets for early prevention and intervention. © 2016 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Age associations with neural processing of reward anticipation in adolescents with bipolar disorders

PubMed Central

Urošević, Snežana; Luciana, Monica; Jensen, Jonathan B.; Youngstrom, Eric A.; Thomas, Kathleen M.

2016-01-01

Reward/behavioral approach system hypersensitivity is implicated in bipolar disorders (BD) and in normative development during adolescence. Pediatric onset of BD is associated with a more severe illness course. However, little is known about neural processing of rewards in adolescents with BD or developmental (i.e., age) associations with activation of these neural systems. The present study aims to address this knowledge gap. The present sample included 21 adolescents with BD and 26 healthy adolescents, ages 13 to 19. Participants completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) protocol using the Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) task. Behavioral performance was similar between groups. Group differences in BOLD activation during target anticipation and feedback anticipation periods of the task were examined using whole-brain analyses, as were group differences in age effects. During both target anticipation and feedback anticipation, adolescents with BD, compared to adolescents without psychopathology, exhibited decreased engagement of frontal regions involved in cognitive control (i.e., dorsolateral prefrontal cortex). Healthy adolescents exhibited age-related decreases, while adolescents with BD exhibited age-related increases, in activity of other cognitive control frontal areas (i.e., right inferior frontal gyrus), suggesting altered development in the BD group. Longitudinal research is needed to examine potentially abnormal development of cognitive control during reward pursuit in adolescent BD and whether early therapeutic interventions can prevent these potential deviations from normative development. PMID:27114896

Age associations with neural processing of reward anticipation in adolescents with bipolar disorders.

PubMed

Urošević, Snežana; Luciana, Monica; Jensen, Jonathan B; Youngstrom, Eric A; Thomas, Kathleen M

2016-01-01

Reward/behavioral approach system hypersensitivity is implicated in bipolar disorders (BD) and in normative development during adolescence. Pediatric onset of BD is associated with a more severe illness course. However, little is known about neural processing of rewards in adolescents with BD or developmental (i.e., age) associations with activation of these neural systems. The present study aims to address this knowledge gap. The present sample included 21 adolescents with BD and 26 healthy adolescents, ages 13 to 19. Participants completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) protocol using the Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) task. Behavioral performance was similar between groups. Group differences in BOLD activation during target anticipation and feedback anticipation periods of the task were examined using whole-brain analyses, as were group differences in age effects. During both target anticipation and feedback anticipation, adolescents with BD, compared to adolescents without psychopathology, exhibited decreased engagement of frontal regions involved in cognitive control (i.e., dorsolateral prefrontal cortex). Healthy adolescents exhibited age-related decreases, while adolescents with BD exhibited age-related increases, in activity of other cognitive control frontal areas (i.e., right inferior frontal gyrus), suggesting altered development in the BD group. Longitudinal research is needed to examine potentially abnormal development of cognitive control during reward pursuit in adolescent BD and whether early therapeutic interventions can prevent these potential deviations from normative development.

Brain reward region responsivity of adolescents with and without parental substance use disorders.

PubMed

Stice, Eric; Yokum, Sonja

2014-09-01

The present study tested the competing hypotheses that adolescents at risk for future substance abuse and dependence by virtue of parental substance use disorders show either weaker or stronger responsivity of brain regions implicated in reward relative to youth without parental history of substance use disorders. Adolescents (n = 52) matched on demographics with and without parental substance use disorders, as determined by diagnostic interviews, who denied substance use in the past year were compared on functional MRI (fMRI) paradigms assessing neural response to receipt and anticipated receipt of monetary and food reward. Parental-history-positive versus -negative adolescents showed greater activation in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and bilateral putamen, and less activation in the fusiform gyrus and inferior temporal gyrus in response to anticipating winning money, as well as greater activation in the left midbrain and right paracentral lobule, and less activation in the right middle frontal gyrus in response to milkshake receipt. Results indicate that adolescents at risk for future onset of substance use disorders show elevated responsivity of brain regions implicated in reward, extending results from 2 smaller prior studies that found that individuals with versus without parental alcohol use disorders showed greater reward region response to anticipated monetary reward and pictures of alcohol. Collectively, results provide support for the reward surfeit model of substance use disorders, rather than the reward deficit model.

A Genetic Polymorphism of the Endogenous Opioid Dynorphin Modulates Monetary Reward Anticipation in the Corticostriatal Loop

PubMed Central

Votinov, Mikhail; Pripfl, Juergen; Windischberger, Christian; Kalcher, Klaudius; Zimprich, Alexander; Zimprich, Fritz; Moser, Ewald

2014-01-01

The dynorphin/κ-opioid receptor (KOP-R) system has been shown to play a role in different types of behavior regulation, including reward-related behavior and drug craving. It has been shown that alleles with 3 or 4 repeats (HH genotype) of the variable nucleotide tandem repeat (68-bp VNTR) functional polymorphism of the prodynorphin (PDYN) gene are associated with higher levels of dynorphin peptides than alleles with 1 or 2 repeats (LL genotype). We used fMRI on N = 71 prescreened healthy participants to investigate the effect of this polymorphism on cerebral activation in the limbic-corticostriatal loop during reward anticipation. Individuals with the HH genotype showed higher activation than those with the LL genotype in the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) when anticipating a possible monetary reward. In addition, the HH genotype showed stronger functional coupling (as assessed by effective connectivity analyses) of mOFC with VMPFC, subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, and ventral striatum during reward anticipation. This hints at a larger sensitivity for upcoming rewards in individuals with the HH genotype, resulting in a higher motivation to attain these rewards. These findings provide first evidence in humans that the PDYN polymorphism modulates neural processes associated with the anticipation of rewards, which ultimately may help to explain differences between genotypes with respect to addiction and drug abuse. PMID:24587148

A genetic polymorphism of the endogenous opioid dynorphin modulates monetary reward anticipation in the corticostriatal loop.

PubMed

Votinov, Mikhail; Pripfl, Juergen; Windischberger, Christian; Kalcher, Klaudius; Zimprich, Alexander; Zimprich, Fritz; Moser, Ewald; Lamm, Claus; Sailer, Uta

2014-01-01

The dynorphin/κ-opioid receptor (KOP-R) system has been shown to play a role in different types of behavior regulation, including reward-related behavior and drug craving. It has been shown that alleles with 3 or 4 repeats (HH genotype) of the variable nucleotide tandem repeat (68-bp VNTR) functional polymorphism of the prodynorphin (PDYN) gene are associated with higher levels of dynorphin peptides than alleles with 1 or 2 repeats (LL genotype). We used fMRI on N = 71 prescreened healthy participants to investigate the effect of this polymorphism on cerebral activation in the limbic-corticostriatal loop during reward anticipation. Individuals with the HH genotype showed higher activation than those with the LL genotype in the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) when anticipating a possible monetary reward. In addition, the HH genotype showed stronger functional coupling (as assessed by effective connectivity analyses) of mOFC with VMPFC, subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, and ventral striatum during reward anticipation. This hints at a larger sensitivity for upcoming rewards in individuals with the HH genotype, resulting in a higher motivation to attain these rewards. These findings provide first evidence in humans that the PDYN polymorphism modulates neural processes associated with the anticipation of rewards, which ultimately may help to explain differences between genotypes with respect to addiction and drug abuse.

Temporal discounting rates and their relation to exercise behavior in older adults.

PubMed

Tate, Linda M; Tsai, Pao-Feng; Landes, Reid D; Rettiganti, Mallikarjuna; Lefler, Leanne L

2015-12-01

As our nation's population ages, the rates of chronic illness and disability are expected to increase significantly. Despite the knowledge that exercise may prevent chronic disease and promote health among older adults, many still are inactive. Factors related to exercise behaviors have been explored in recent years. However, temporal discounting is a motivational concept that has not been explored in regard to exercise in older adults. Temporal discounting is a decision making process by which an individual chooses a smaller more immediate reward over a larger delayed reward. The aim of this study was to determine if temporal discounting rates vary between exercising and non-exercising older adults. This study used cross-sectional survey of 137 older adults living in the community. Older adults were recruited from 11 rural Arkansas churches. The Kirby delay-discounting Monetary Choice Questionnaire was used to collect discounting rates and then bivariate analysis was performed to compare temporal discounting rate between the exercisers and non-exercisers. Finally, multivariate analysis was used to compare discounting rate controlling for other covariates. The results indicated that exercising older adults display lower temporal discounting rates than non-exercising older adults. After controlling for education, exercisers still have lower temporal discounting rates than non-exercisers (p<0.001). These findings are important as several chronic health conditions relate to lack of exercise especially in older adults. This research suggests that if we can find appropriate incentives for discounting individuals, some type of immediate reward, then potentially we can design programs to engage and retain older adults in exercise. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Monetary Rewards of Migration Within the U.S.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wertheimer, Richard F., II

This study focuses on the economic benefits derived by the migrant from migration. The report presents a methodology for computing monetary benefits, an estimate of these benefits, and implications of the findings for public policy. Included are a discussion of domestic migration and public policy, an economic theory of migration, an explanation…

Neural correlates of reward processing in healthy siblings of patients with schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Hanssen, Esther; van der Velde, Jorien; Gromann, Paula M.; Shergill, Sukhi S.; de Haan, Lieuwe; Bruggeman, Richard; Krabbendam, Lydia; Aleman, André; van Atteveldt, Nienke

2015-01-01

Deficits in motivational behavior and psychotic symptoms often observed in schizophrenia (SZ) may be driven by dysfunctional reward processing (RP). RP can be divided in two different stages; reward anticipation and reward consumption. Aberrant processing during reward anticipation seems to be related to SZ. Studies in patients with SZ have found less activation in the ventral striatum (VS) during anticipation of reward, but these findings do not provide information on effect of the genetic load on reward processing. Therefore, this study investigated RP in healthy first-degree relatives of SZ patients. The sample consisted of 94 healthy siblings of SZ patients and 57 healthy controls. Participants completed a classic RP task, the Monetary Incentive Delay task, during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). As expected, there were no behavioral differences between groups. In contrast to our expectations, we found no differences in any of the anticipatory reward related brain areas (region of interest analyses). Whole-brain analyses did reveal group differences during both reward anticipation and reward consumption; during reward anticipation siblings showed less deactivation in the insula, posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and medial frontal gyrus (MFG) than controls. During reward consumption siblings showed less deactivation in the PCC and the right MFG compared to controls and activation in contrast to deactivation in controls in the precuneus and the left MFG. Exclusively in siblings, MFG activity correlated positively with subclinical negative symptoms. These regions are typically associated with the default mode network (DMN), which normally shows decreases in activation during task-related cognitive processes. Thus, in contrast to prior literature in patients with SZ, the results do not point to altered brain activity in classical RP brain areas, such as the VS. However, the weaker deactivation found outside the reward-related network in siblings could indicate reduced task-related suppression (i.e., hyperactivation) of the DMN. The presence of DMN hyperactivation during reward anticipation and reward consumption might indicate that siblings of patients with SZ have a higher baseline level of DMN activation and possible abnormal network functioning. PMID:26441601

The relationship between addiction and reward bundling: an experiment comparing smokers and non-smokers.

PubMed

Hofmeyr, Andre; Ainslie, George; Charlton, Richard; Ross, Don

2011-02-01

Previous studies indicate that addicts show reduced preference for more delayed versus more immediate rewards compared to non-addicts. This may reflect a lower propensity to view such decisions in terms of the larger sequences to which they typically belong (e.g. smoking is a frequently repeated act). Therefore, this study aims to test whether, in a sequence of decisions involving smaller, sooner (SS) versus larger, later (LL) rewards, suggesting or forcing people with a propensity to addiction to make the decision for the series as a whole would increase LL preference. It is hypothesized that people without a propensity to addiction should benefit less from being encouraged to think of reward sequences because they already tend to take that view. Thirty regular smokers (as exemplars of addicted individuals) and 30 non-smokers chose between small short-term and larger long-term monetary rewards over a sequence of four decisions spaced 2 weeks apart. Subjects were divided into three groups: one who made each decision independently with no suggestion that they be considered as a series ('free'), a group to whom it was suggested from the start that they consider each decision as part of the series ('suggested') and a group who were told that their very first choice in the series would be used for the remaining decisions ('forced'). All subjects were paid the amounts they had chosen. A laboratory room at the University of Cape Town (UCT). UCT undergraduate volunteers. The proportion of LL choices in each subgroup was evaluated by χ(2) tests and a probit model. Smokers increased their preference for LL rewards when 'bundling' of individual decisions into a sequence was either suggested or forced. This preference increased with repeated experience. Non-smokers showed neither pattern. The propensity of smokers to prefer small short-term rewards over larger delayed rewards may be mitigated, over a sequence of decisions of this kind, by encouraging or forcing them to think of the sequence as a whole. If replicated, this finding may form the basis of an intervention that could attenuate the choice patterns characteristic of addiction. © 2010 The Authors, Addiction © 2010 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Virtual reality conditioned place preference using monetary reward.

PubMed

Childs, Emma; Astur, Robert S; de Wit, Harriet

2017-03-30

Computerized tasks based on conditioned place preference (CPP) methodology offer the opportunity to study learning mechanisms involved in conditioned reward in humans. In this study, we examined acquisition and extinction of a CPP for virtual environments associated with monetary reward ($). Healthy men and women (N=57) completed a computerized CPP task in which they controlled an avatar within a virtual environment. On day 1, subjects completed 6 conditioning trials in which one room was paired with high $ and another with low $. Acquisition of place conditioning was assessed by measuring the time spent in each room during an exploration test of the virtual environments and using self-reported ratings of room liking and preference. Twenty-four hours later, retention and extinction of CPP were assessed during 4 successive exploration tests of the virtual environments. Participants exhibited a place preference for (spent significantly more time in) the virtual room paired with high $ over the one paired with low $ (p=0.015). They also reported that they preferred the high $ room (p<0.001) and liked it significantly more than the low $ room (p<0.001). However, these preferences were short-lived: 24h later subjects did not exhibit a behavioral or subjective preference for the high $ room. These findings show that individuals exhibit transient behavioral and subjective preferences for a virtual environment paired with monetary reward. Variations on this task may be useful to study mechanisms and brain substrates involved in conditioned reward and to examine the influence of drugs upon appetitive conditioning. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Attitude toward money modulates outcome processing: an ERP study.

PubMed

Jia, Shiwei; Zhang, Wenxin; Li, Peng; Feng, Tingyong; Li, Hong

2013-01-01

Love of money (LOM) is concerned with the attitude toward money, which can be measured by the LOM scale through affective, behavioral, and cognitive dimensions. Research has observed that monetary attitude was tightly related to reward processing and could affect economic behavior. This study examined how monetary attitude modulated risky behavior and the underlying neural mechanisms of reward processing using event-related potential (ERP) technique. We compared both the risk level and brain responses of a high-level LOM (HLOM) group to a low-level LOM (LLOM) group using a simple gambling task. The behavioral results showed that the HLOM group was more risky than the LLOM group, particularly after loss. The feedback-related negativity (FRN) was measured as the difference wave (gain-related ERP was subtracted from loss-related ERP). The FRN difference wave was larger in the HLOM group than that in the LLOM group. The P3 in the HLOM group was more positive than that in the LLOM group. These results suggest that monetary attitude can modulate both the underlying neural mechanisms and behavioral performance in a reward-related task. The HLOM participants are more sensitive to gain/loss than the LLOM participants.

A longitudinal examination of event-related potentials sensitive to monetary reward and loss feedback from late childhood to middle adolescence.

PubMed

Kujawa, Autumn; Carroll, Ashley; Mumper, Emma; Mukherjee, Dahlia; Kessel, Ellen M; Olino, Thomas; Hajcak, Greg; Klein, Daniel N

2017-11-04

Brain regions involved in reward processing undergo developmental changes from childhood to adolescence, and alterations in reward-related brain function are thought to contribute to the development of psychopathology. Event-related potentials (ERPs), such as the reward positivity (RewP) component, are valid measures of reward responsiveness that are easily assessed across development and provide insight into temporal dynamics of reward processing. Little work has systematically examined developmental changes in ERPs sensitive to reward. In this longitudinal study of 75 youth assessed 3 times across 6years, we used principal components analyses (PCA) to differentiate ERPs sensitive to monetary reward and loss feedback in late childhood, early adolescence, and middle adolescence. We then tested reliability of, and developmental changes in, ERPs. A greater number of ERP components differentiated reward and loss feedback in late childhood compared to adolescence, but components in childhood accounted for only a small proportion of variance. A component consistent with RewP was the only one to consistently emerge at each of the 3 assessments. RewP demonstrated acceptable reliability, particularly from early to middle adolescence, though reliability estimates varied depending on scoring approach and developmental period. The magnitude of the RewP component did not significantly change across time. Results provide insight into developmental changes in the structure of ERPs sensitive to reward, and indicate that RewP is a consistently observed and relatively stable measure of reward responsiveness, particularly across adolescence. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Comparing Apples and Oranges: Using Reward-Specific and Reward-General Subjective Value Representation in the Brain

PubMed Central

Glimcher, Paul W.

2011-01-01

The ability of human subjects to choose between disparate kinds of rewards suggests that the neural circuits for valuing different reward types must converge. Economic theory suggests that these convergence points represent the subjective values (SVs) of different reward types on a common scale for comparison. To examine these hypotheses and to map the neural circuits for reward valuation we had food and water-deprived subjects make risky choices for money, food, and water both in and out of a brain scanner. We found that risk preferences across reward types were highly correlated; the level of risk aversion an individual showed when choosing among monetary lotteries predicted their risk aversion toward food and water. We also found that partially distinct neural networks represent the SVs of monetary and food rewards and that these distinct networks showed specific convergence points. The hypothalamic region mainly represented the SV for food, and the posterior cingulate cortex mainly represented the SV for money. In both the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and striatum there was a common area representing the SV of both reward types, but only the vmPFC significantly represented the SVs of money and food on a common scale appropriate for choice in our data set. A correlation analysis demonstrated interactions across money and food valuation areas and the common areas in the vmPFC and striatum. This may suggest that partially distinct valuation networks for different reward types converge on a unified valuation network, which enables a direct comparison between different reward types and hence guides valuation and choice. PMID:21994386

Psychometric properties of neural responses to monetary and social rewards across development.

PubMed

Ethridge, Paige; Weinberg, Anna

2018-02-02

Reward-related event-related potentials (ERPs) are often used to index individual differences that signal the presence or predict the onset of psychopathology. However, relatively little research has explored the psychometric properties of reward-related ERPs. Without understanding their psychometric properties, the value of using ERPs as biomarkers for psychopathology is limited. The present study, therefore, sought to establish the internal consistency reliability and convergent validity of the reward positivity (RewP) and feedback negativity (FN) elicited by two types of incentives commonly used in individual differences research - monetary and social rewards. A large, developmentally-diverse sample completed a forced-choice guessing task in which they won or lost money, as well as a social interaction task in which they received acceptance and rejection feedback. Data were analyzed at both Cz and at a frontocentral region of interest (ROI) using techniques derived from classical test theory and generalizability theory. Results demonstrated good to excellent internal consistency of the RewP and FN within 20 trials in both tasks, in addition to convergent validity between the two tasks. Results from a regression-based approach to isolating activity specific to a single response demonstrated acceptable to good internal consistency within 20 trials in both tasks, while a subtraction-based approach (∆RewP) did not achieve acceptable internal consistency in either task. Internal consistency was not moderated by age and did not differ between Cz and the frontocentral ROI; however, the magnitudes of the RewP and FN were significantly associated with age at Cz but not at the ROI. This work replicates previous studies demonstrating good psychometric properties of the monetary RewP/FN and provides novel information about the psychometric properties of the social RewP/FN. These data support the use of reward-related ERPs elicited by multiple reward types in studies of biomarkers of psychopathology. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Blunted Neural Response to Rewards as a Prospective Predictor of the Development of Depression in Adolescent Girls.

PubMed

Nelson, Brady D; Perlman, Greg; Klein, Daniel N; Kotov, Roman; Hajcak, Greg

2016-12-01

A blunted neural response to rewards has recently emerged as a potential mechanistic biomarker of adolescent depression. The reward positivity, an event-related potential elicited by feedback indicating monetary gain relative to loss, has been associated with risk for depression. The authors examined whether the reward positivity prospectively predicted the development of depression 18 months later in a large community sample of adolescent girls. The sample included 444 girls 13.5-15.5 years old with no lifetime history of a depressive disorder, along with a biological parent for each girl. At baseline, the adolescents' reward positivity was measured using a monetary guessing task, their current depressive symptoms were assessed using a self-report questionnaire, and the adolescents' and parents' lifetime psychiatric histories were evaluated with diagnostic interviews. The same interview and questionnaire were administered to the adolescents again approximately 18 months later. A blunted reward positivity at baseline predicted first-onset depressive disorder and greater depressive symptom scores 18 months later. The reward positivity was also a significant predictor independent of other prominent risk factors, including baseline depressive symptoms and adolescent and parental lifetime psychiatric history. The combination of a blunted reward positivity and greater depressive symptom scores at baseline provided the greatest positive predictive value for first-onset depressive disorder. This study provides strong converging evidence that a blunted neural response to rewards precedes adolescent-onset depression and symptom emergence. Blunted neural response may therefore constitute an important target for screening and prevention.

The Gist of Delay of Gratification: Understanding and Predicting Problem Behaviors

PubMed Central

REYNA, VALERIE F.; WILHELMS, EVAN A.

2017-01-01

Delay of gratification captures elements of temptation and self-denial that characterize real-life problems with money and other problem behaviors such as unhealthy risk taking. According to fuzzy-trace theory, decision makers mentally represent social values such as delay of gratification in a coarse but meaningful form of memory called “gist.” Applying this theory, we developed a gist measure of delay of gratification that does not involve quantitative trade-offs (as delay discounting does) and hypothesize that this construct explains unique variance beyond sensation seeking and inhibition in accounting for problem behaviors. Across four studies, we examine this Delay-of-gratification Gist Scale by using principal components analyses and evaluating convergent and divergent validity with other potentially related scales such as Future Orientation, Propensity to Plan, Time Perspectives Inventory, Spendthrift-Tightwad, Sensation Seeking, Cognitive Reflection, Barratt Impulsiveness, and the Monetary Choice Questionnaire (delay discounting). The new 12-item measure captured a single dimension of delay of gratification, correlated as predicted with other scales, but accounted for unique variance in predicting such outcomes as overdrawing bank accounts, substance abuse, and overall subjective well-being. Results support a theoretical distinction between reward-related approach motivation, including sensation seeking, and inhibitory faculties, including cognitive reflection. However, individuals’ agreement with the qualitative gist of delay of gratification, as expressed in many cultural traditions, could not be reduced to such dualist distinctions nor to quantitative conceptions of delay discounting, shedding light on mechanisms of self-control and risk taking. PMID:28808356

The Gist of Delay of Gratification: Understanding and Predicting Problem Behaviors.

PubMed

Reyna, Valerie F; Wilhelms, Evan A

2017-04-01

Delay of gratification captures elements of temptation and self-denial that characterize real-life problems with money and other problem behaviors such as unhealthy risk taking. According to fuzzy-trace theory, decision makers mentally represent social values such as delay of gratification in a coarse but meaningful form of memory called "gist." Applying this theory, we developed a gist measure of delay of gratification that does not involve quantitative trade-offs (as delay discounting does) and hypothesize that this construct explains unique variance beyond sensation seeking and inhibition in accounting for problem behaviors. Across four studies, we examine this Delay-of-gratification Gist Scale by using principal components analyses and evaluating convergent and divergent validity with other potentially related scales such as Future Orientation, Propensity to Plan, Time Perspectives Inventory, Spendthrift-Tightwad, Sensation Seeking, Cognitive Reflection, Barratt Impulsiveness, and the Monetary Choice Questionnaire (delay discounting). The new 12-item measure captured a single dimension of delay of gratification, correlated as predicted with other scales, but accounted for unique variance in predicting such outcomes as overdrawing bank accounts, substance abuse, and overall subjective well-being. Results support a theoretical distinction between reward-related approach motivation, including sensation seeking, and inhibitory faculties, including cognitive reflection. However, individuals' agreement with the qualitative gist of delay of gratification, as expressed in many cultural traditions, could not be reduced to such dualist distinctions nor to quantitative conceptions of delay discounting, shedding light on mechanisms of self-control and risk taking.

Monetary delay discounting in gambling and cocaine dependence with personality comorbidities.

PubMed

Albein-Urios, Natalia; Martinez-González, José M; Lozano, Oscar; Verdejo-Garcia, Antonio

2014-11-01

Cocaine addiction and pathological gambling are commonly associated with steeper (impulsive) discounting of delayed rewards, which promotes ongoing drug and gambling behaviors. However, it is yet unclear whether impulsive delay discounting is a stable trait in cocaine and gambling disorders during abstinence, and whether it is significantly impacted by dysfunctional personality beliefs. The aim of this study was to compare the delay discounting rates of four groups: 47 cocaine users with comorbid personality disorders, 41 cocaine users without psychiatric comorbidities, 28 pathological gamblers without psychiatric comorbidities, and 36 healthy comparison individuals. We also examined the association between dysfunctional personality beliefs and delay discounting rates. Participants completed the Kirby Delay Discounting Questionnaire and the Beck Personality Belief Questionnaire as part of a larger battery. We used non-parametric tests to compare discounting rates between the groups, and bivariate correlation analyses to examine the association between beliefs and discounting rates within each of the groups. We found that discounting rates were significantly higher in individuals with disordered gambling compared to controls. Specifically in cocaine users with Cluster B personality disorders, higher discounting rates were associated with the intensity of "dependent" dysfunctional beliefs (e.g., "I am needy and weak"). Conclusion:We conclude that impulsive delay discounting is increased in gambling relative to controls and linked to personality beliefs in cocaine users with Cluster B personality disorders. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Individualism, innovation, and long-run growth.

PubMed

Gorodnichenko, Yuriy; Roland, Gerard

2011-12-27

Countries having a more individualist culture have enjoyed higher long-run growth than countries with a more collectivist culture. Individualist culture attaches social status rewards to personal achievements and thus, provides not only monetary incentives for innovation but also social status rewards, leading to higher rates of innovation and economic growth.

Individualism, innovation, and long-run growth

PubMed Central

Gorodnichenko, Yuriy; Roland, Gerard

2011-01-01

Countries having a more individualist culture have enjoyed higher long-run growth than countries with a more collectivist culture. Individualist culture attaches social status rewards to personal achievements and thus, provides not only monetary incentives for innovation but also social status rewards, leading to higher rates of innovation and economic growth. PMID:22198759

Social comparison modulates reward-driven attentional capture.

PubMed

Jiao, Jun; Du, Feng; He, Xiaosong; Zhang, Kan

2015-10-01

It is well established that attention can be captured by task irrelevant and non-salient objects associated with value through reward learning. However, it is unknown whether social comparison influences reward-driven attentional capture. The present study created four social contexts to examine whether different social comparisons modulate the reward-driven capture of attention. The results showed that reward-driven attentional capture varied with different social comparison conditions. Most prominently, reward-driven attentional capture is dramatically reduced in the disadvantageous social comparison context, in which an individual is informed that the other participant is earning more monetary reward for performing the same task. These findings suggest that social comparison can affect the reward-driven capture of attention.

Waiting to win: elevated striatal and orbitofrontal cortical activity during reward anticipation in euthymic bipolar disorder adults

PubMed Central

Nusslock, Robin; Almeida, Jorge RC; Forbes, Erika E; Versace, Amelia; Frank, Ellen; LaBarbara, Edmund J; Klein, Crystal R; Phillips, Mary L

2012-01-01

Objective Bipolar disorder may be characterized by a hypersensitivity to reward-relevant stimuli, potentially underlying the emotional lability and dysregulation that characterizes the illness. In parallel, research highlights the predominant role of striatal and orbitofrontal cortical (OFC) regions in reward-processing and approach-related affect. We aimed to examine whether bipolar disorder, relative to healthy, participants displayed elevated activity in these regions during reward processing. Methods Twenty-one euthymic bipolar I disorder and 20 healthy control participants with no lifetime history of psychiatric disorder underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning during a card-guessing paradigm designed to examine reward-related brain function to anticipation and receipt of monetary reward and loss. Data were collected using a 3T Siemens Trio scanner. Results Region-of-interest analyses revealed that bipolar disorder participants displayed greater ventral striatal and right-sided orbitofrontal [Brodmann area (BA) 11] activity during anticipation, but not outcome, of monetary reward, relative to healthy controls (p < 0.05, corrected). Wholebrain analyses indicated that bipolar disorder, relative to healthy, participants also displayed elevated left-lateral OFC activity (BA 47) activity during reward anticipation (p < 0.05, corrected). Conclusions Elevated ventral striatal and OFC activity during reward anticipation may represent a neural mechanism for predisposition to expansive mood and hypo/mania in response to reward-relevant cues that characterizes bipolar disorder. Our findings contrast with research reporting blunted activity in the ventral striatum during reward processing in unipolar depressed individuals, relative to healthy controls. Examination of reward-related neural activity in bipolar disorder is a promising research focus to facilitate identification of biological markers of the illness. PMID:22548898

Neural correlates of sample-coding and reward-coding in the delay activity of neurons in the entopallium and nidopallium caudolaterale of pigeons (Columba livia).

PubMed

Johnston, Melissa; Anderson, Catrona; Colombo, Michael

2017-01-15

We recorded neuronal activity from the nidopallium caudolaterale, the avian equivalent of mammalian prefrontal cortex, and the entopallium, the avian equivalent of the mammalian visual cortex, in four birds trained on a differential outcomes delayed matching-to-sample procedure in which one sample stimulus was followed by reward and the other was not. Despite similar incidence of reward-specific and reward-unspecific delay cell types across the two areas, overall entopallium delay activity occurred following both rewarded and non-rewarded stimuli, whereas nidopallium caudolaterale delay activity tended to occur following the rewarded stimulus but not the non-rewarded stimulus. These findings are consistent with the view that delay activity in entopallium represents a code of the sample stimulus whereas delay activity in nidopallium caudolaterale represents a code of the possibility of an upcoming reward. However, based on the types of delay cells encountered, cells in NCL also code the sample stimulus and cells in ENTO are influenced by reward. We conclude that both areas support the retention of information, but that the activity in each area is differentially modulated by factors such as reward and attentional mechanisms. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Neural correlates of pathological gamblers preference for immediate rewards during the iowa gambling task: an fMRI study.

PubMed

Power, Yuri; Goodyear, Bradley; Crockford, David

2012-12-01

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) involves exploratory learning via rewards and penalties, where most advantageous task performance requires subjects to forego potential large immediate rewards for small longer-term rewards to avoid larger punishments. Pathological gambling (PG) subjects perform worse on the IGT compared to controls, relating to their persistence at high risk decisions involving the continued choice of potential large immediate rewards despite experiencing larger punishments. We wished to determine if neural processing of risk and reward within striatal and frontal cortex is associated with this behaviour observed in PG. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to assess brain activity in response to a computerized version of the IGT. Thirteen male PG subjects with no active comorbidities were compared to 13 demographically matched control subjects. In agreement with previous behavioural studies, PG subjects performed worse on the IGT and made more high-risk choices compared to controls, particularly after experiencing wins and losses. During high-risk gambling decisions, fMRI demonstrated that PG subjects exhibited relatively increased frontal lobe and basal ganglia activation, particularly involving the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), caudate and amygdala. Increased activation of regions encompassing the extended reward pathway in PG subjects during high risk choices suggests that the persistence of PG may be due to the increased salience of immediate and greater potential monetary rewards relative to lower monetary rewards or potential future losses. Whether this over activation of the reward pathway is associated with the development of PG warrants further investigation.

Response of neural reward regions to food cues in autism spectrum disorders

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background One hypothesis for the social deficits that characterize autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is diminished neural reward response to social interaction and attachment. Prior research using established monetary reward paradigms as a test of non-social reward to compare with social reward may involve confounds in the ability of individuals with ASD to utilize symbolic representation of money and the abstraction required to interpret monetary gains. Thus, a useful addition to our understanding of neural reward circuitry in ASD includes a characterization of the neural response to primary rewards. Method We asked 17 children with ASD and 18 children without ASD to abstain from eating for at least four hours before an MRI scan in which they viewed images of high-calorie foods. We assessed the neural reward network for increases in the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal in response to the food images Results We found very similar patterns of increased BOLD signal to these images in the two groups; both groups showed increased BOLD signal in the bilateral amygdala, as well as in the nucleus accumbens, orbitofrontal cortex, and insula. Direct group comparisons revealed that the ASD group showed a stronger response to food cues in bilateral insula along the anterior-posterior gradient and in the anterior cingulate cortex than the control group, whereas there were no neural reward regions that showed higher activation for controls than for ASD. Conclusion These results suggest that neural response to primary rewards is not diminished but in fact shows an aberrant enhancement in children with ASD. PMID:22958533

How Does Awareness Modulate Goal-Directed and Stimulus-Driven Shifts of Attention Triggered by Value Learning?

PubMed Central

Bourgeois, Alexia; Neveu, Rémi; Vuilleumier, Patrik

2016-01-01

In order to behave adaptively, attention can be directed in space either voluntarily (i.e., endogenously) according to strategic goals, or involuntarily (i.e., exogenously) through reflexive capture by salient or novel events. The emotional or motivational value of stimuli can also strongly influence attentional orienting. However, little is known about how reward-related effects compete or interact with endogenous and exogenous attention mechanisms, particularly outside of awareness. Here we developed a visual search paradigm to study subliminal value-based attentional orienting. We systematically manipulated goal-directed or stimulus-driven attentional orienting and examined whether an irrelevant, but previously rewarded stimulus could compete with both types of spatial attention during search. Critically, reward was learned without conscious awareness in a preceding phase where one among several visual symbols was consistently paired with a subliminal monetary reinforcement cue. Our results demonstrated that symbols previously associated with a monetary reward received higher attentional priority in the subsequent visual search task, even though these stimuli and reward were no longer task-relevant, and despite reward being unconsciously acquired. Thus, motivational processes operating independent of conscious awareness may provide powerful influences on mechanisms of attentional selection, which could mitigate both stimulus-driven and goal-directed shifts of attention. PMID:27483371

Distinct effects of ASD and ADHD symptoms on reward anticipation in participants with ADHD, their unaffected siblings and healthy controls: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

van Dongen, Eelco V; von Rhein, Daniel; O'Dwyer, Laurence; Franke, Barbara; Hartman, Catharina A; Heslenfeld, Dirk J; Hoekstra, Pieter J; Oosterlaan, Jaap; Rommelse, Nanda; Buitelaar, Jan

2015-01-01

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) traits are continuously distributed throughout the population, and ASD symptoms are also frequently observed in patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Both ASD and ADHD have been linked to alterations in reward-related neural processing. However, whether both symptom domains interact and/or have distinct effects on reward processing in healthy and ADHD populations is currently unknown. We examined how variance in ASD and ADHD symptoms in individuals with ADHD and healthy participants was related to the behavioural and neural response to reward during a monetary incentive delay (MID) task. Participants (mean age: 17.7 years, range: 10-28 years) from the NeuroIMAGE study with a confirmed diagnosis of ADHD (n = 136), their unaffected siblings (n = 83), as well as healthy controls (n = 105) performed an MID task in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner. ASD and ADHD symptom scores were used as predictors of the neural response to reward anticipation and reward receipt. Behavioural responses were modeled using linear mixed models; neural responses were analysed using FMRIB's Software Library (FSL) proprietary mixed effects analysis (FLAMEO). ASD and ADHD symptoms were associated with alterations in BOLD activity during reward anticipation, but not reward receipt. Specifically, ASD scores were related to increased insular activity during reward anticipation across the sample. No interaction was found between this effect and the presence of ADHD, suggesting that ASD symptoms had no differential effect in ADHD and healthy populations. ADHD symptom scores were associated with reduced dorsolateral prefrontal activity during reward anticipation. No interactions were found between the effects of ASD and ADHD symptoms on reward processing. Variance in ASD and ADHD symptoms separately influence neural processing during reward anticipation in both individuals with (an increased risk of) ADHD and healthy participants. Our findings therefore suggest that both symptom domains affect reward processing through distinct mechanisms, underscoring the importance of multidimensional and multimodal assessment in psychiatry.

Savoring the past: Positive memories evoke value representations in the striatum

PubMed Central

Speer, Megan E.; Bhanji, Jamil P.; Delgado, Mauricio R.

2014-01-01

Summary Reminders of happy memories can bring back pleasant feelings tied to the original experience, suggesting an intrinsic value in reminiscing about the positive past. However, the neural circuitry underlying the rewarding aspects of autobiographical memory is poorly understood. Using fMRI, we observed enhanced activity during the recall of positive relative to neutral autobiographical memories in corticostriatal circuits that also responded to monetary rewards. Enhanced activity in the striatum and medial prefrontal cortex was associated with increases in positive emotion during recall and striatal engagement further correlated with individual measures of resiliency. Striatal response to the recall of positive memories was greater in individuals whose mood improved after the task. Notably, participants were willing to sacrifice more tangible monetary rewards in order to reminisce about positive past experiences. Our findings suggest that recalling positive autobiographical memories is intrinsically valuable, which may be adaptive for regulating positive emotion and promoting better well-being. PMID:25451197

Impulsivity, Rejection Sensitivity, and Reactions to Stressors in Borderline Personality Disorder

PubMed Central

Berenson, Kathy R.; Gregory, Wesley Ellen; Glaser, Erin; Romirowsky, Aliza; Rafaeli, Eshkol; Yang, Xiao; Downey, Geraldine

2016-01-01

This research investigated baseline impulsivity, rejection sensitivity, and reactions to stressors in individuals with borderline personality disorder compared to healthy individuals and those with avoidant personality disorder. The borderline group showed greater impulsivity than the avoidant and healthy groups both in a delay-discounting task with real monetary rewards and in self-reported reactions to stressors; moreover, these findings could not be explained by co-occurring substance use disorders. Distress reactions to stressors were equally elevated in both personality disorder groups (relative to the healthy group). The borderline and avoidant groups also reported more maladaptive reactions to a stressor of an interpersonal vs. non-interpersonal nature, whereas the healthy group did not. Finally, self-reported impulsive reactions to stressors were associated with baseline impulsivity in the delay-discounting task, and greater self-reported reactivity to interpersonal than non-interpersonal stressors was associated with rejection sensitivity. This research highlights distinct vulnerabilities contributing to impulsive behavior in borderline personality disorder. PMID:27616800

BIS impulsivity and acute nicotine exposure are associated with discounting global consequences in the Harvard game.

PubMed

Hogarth, Lee; Stillwell, David J; Tunney, Richard J

2013-01-01

The Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS) provides a transdiagnostic marker for a number of psychiatric conditions and drug abuse, but the precise psychological trait(s) tapped by this questionnaire remain obscure. To address this, 51 smokers completed in counterbalanced order the BIS, a delay discounting task and a Harvard game that measured choice between a response that yielded a high immediate monetary payoff but decreased opportunity to earn money overall (local choice) versus a response that yielded a lower immediate payoff but afforded a greater opportunity to earn overall (global choice). Individual level of BIS impulsivity and self-elected smoking prior to the study were independently associated with increased preference for the local over the global choice in the Harvard game, but not delay discounting. BIS impulsivity and acute nicotine exposure reflect a bias in the governance of choice by immediate reward contingencies over global consequences, consistent with contemporary dual-process instrumental learning theories. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Differential mesolimbic and prefrontal alterations during reward anticipation and consummation in positive and negative schizotypy.

PubMed

Yan, Chao; Wang, Yi; Su, Li; Xu, Ting; Yin, Da-Zhi; Fan, Ming-Xia; Deng, Ci-Ping; Wang, Zhao-Xin; Lui, Simon S Y; Cheung, Eric F C; Chan, Raymond C K

2016-08-30

Schizotypy is associated with anhedonia. However, previous findings on the neural substrates of anhedonia in schizotypy are mixed. In the present study, we measured the neural substrates associated with reward anticipation and consummation in positive and negative schizotypy using functional MRI. The Monetary Incentive Delay task was administered to 33 individuals with schizotypy (18 positive schizotypy (PS),15 negative schizotypy (NS)) and 22 healthy controls. Comparison between schizotypy individuals and controls were performed using two-sample T tests for contrast images involving gain versus non-gain anticipation condition and gain versus non-gain consummation condition. Multiple comparisons were corrected using Monte Carlo Simulation correction of p<.05. The results showed no significant difference in brain activity between controls and schizotypy individuals as a whole during gain anticipation or consummation. However, during the consummatory phase, NS individuals rather than PS individuals showed diminished left amygdala and left putamen activity compared with controls. We observed significantly weaker activation at the left ventral striatum during gain anticipation in NS individuals compared with controls. PS individuals, however, exhibited enhanced right ventral lateral prefrontal activity. These findings suggest that different dimensions of schizotypy may be underlied by different neural dysfunctions in reward anticipation and consummation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The ICCAM platform study: An experimental medicine platform for evaluating new drugs for relapse prevention in addiction. Part B: fMRI description

PubMed Central

McGonigle, John; Murphy, Anna; Paterson, Louise M; Reed, Laurence J; Nestor, Liam; Nash, Jonathan; Elliott, Rebecca; Ersche, Karen D; Flechais, Remy SA; Newbould, Rexford; Orban, Csaba; Smith, Dana G; Taylor, Eleanor M; Waldman, Adam D; Robbins, Trevor W; Deakin, JF William; Nutt, David J; Lingford-Hughes, Anne R; Suckling, John

2016-01-01

Objectives: We aimed to set up a robust multi-centre clinical fMRI and neuropsychological platform to investigate the neuropharmacology of brain processes relevant to addiction – reward, impulsivity and emotional reactivity. Here we provide an overview of the fMRI battery, carried out across three centres, characterizing neuronal response to the tasks, along with exploring inter-centre differences in healthy participants. Experimental design: Three fMRI tasks were used: monetary incentive delay to probe reward sensitivity, go/no-go to probe impulsivity and an evocative images task to probe emotional reactivity. A coordinate-based activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis was carried out for the reward and impulsivity tasks to help establish region of interest (ROI) placement. A group of healthy participants was recruited from across three centres (total n=43) to investigate inter-centre differences. Principle observations: The pattern of response observed for each of the three tasks was consistent with previous studies using similar paradigms. At the whole brain level, significant differences were not observed between centres for any task. Conclusions: In developing this platform we successfully integrated neuroimaging data from three centres, adapted validated tasks and applied whole brain and ROI approaches to explore and demonstrate their consistency across centres. PMID:27703042

The ICCAM platform study: An experimental medicine platform for evaluating new drugs for relapse prevention in addiction. Part B: fMRI description.

PubMed

McGonigle, John; Murphy, Anna; Paterson, Louise M; Reed, Laurence J; Nestor, Liam; Nash, Jonathan; Elliott, Rebecca; Ersche, Karen D; Flechais, Remy Sa; Newbould, Rexford; Orban, Csaba; Smith, Dana G; Taylor, Eleanor M; Waldman, Adam D; Robbins, Trevor W; Deakin, Jf William; Nutt, David J; Lingford-Hughes, Anne R; Suckling, John

2017-01-01

We aimed to set up a robust multi-centre clinical fMRI and neuropsychological platform to investigate the neuropharmacology of brain processes relevant to addiction - reward, impulsivity and emotional reactivity. Here we provide an overview of the fMRI battery, carried out across three centres, characterizing neuronal response to the tasks, along with exploring inter-centre differences in healthy participants. Three fMRI tasks were used: monetary incentive delay to probe reward sensitivity, go/no-go to probe impulsivity and an evocative images task to probe emotional reactivity. A coordinate-based activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis was carried out for the reward and impulsivity tasks to help establish region of interest (ROI) placement. A group of healthy participants was recruited from across three centres (total n=43) to investigate inter-centre differences. Principle observations: The pattern of response observed for each of the three tasks was consistent with previous studies using similar paradigms. At the whole brain level, significant differences were not observed between centres for any task. In developing this platform we successfully integrated neuroimaging data from three centres, adapted validated tasks and applied whole brain and ROI approaches to explore and demonstrate their consistency across centres.

Dissociable Brain Signatures of Choice Conflict and Immediate Reward Preferences in Alcohol Use Disorders

PubMed Central

Amlung, Michael; Sweet, Lawrence H.; Acker, John; Brown, Courtney L.; MacKillop, James

2013-01-01

Impulsive delayed reward discounting (DRD) is an important behavioral process in alcohol use disorders (AUDs), reflecting incapacity to delay gratification. Recent work in neuroeconomics has begun to unravel the neural mechanisms supporting DRD, but applications of neuroeconomics in relation to AUDs have been limited. This study examined the neural mechanisms of DRD preferences in AUDs, with emphasis on dissociating activation patterns based on DRD choice type and level of cognitive conflict. Heavy drinking adult males with (n = 13) and without (n = 12) a diagnosis of an AUD completed a monetary DRD task during a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan. Participant responses were coded based on choice type (impulsive vs. restrained) and level of cognitive conflict (easy vs. hard). AUD+ participants exhibited significantly more impulsive DRD decision-making. Significant activation during DRD was found in several decision-making regions, including dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), insula, posterior parietal cortex (PPC), and posterior cingulate. An axis of cognitive conflict was also observed, with hard choices associated with anterior cingulate cortex and easy choices associated with activation in supplementary motor area. AUD+ individuals exhibited significant hyperactivity in regions associated with cognitive control (DLPFC) and prospective thought (PPC) and exhibited less task-related deactivation of areas associated with the brain's default network during DRD decisions. This study provides further clarification of the brain systems supporting DRD in general and in relation to AUDs. PMID:23231650

Sensitivity to monetary reward is most severely compromised in recently abstaining cocaine addicted individuals: a cross-sectional ERP study.

PubMed

Parvaz, Muhammad A; Maloney, Thomas; Moeller, Scott J; Woicik, Patricia A; Alia-Klein, Nelly; Telang, Frank; Wang, Gene-Jack; Squires, Nancy K; Volkow, Nora D; Goldstein, Rita Z

2012-07-30

Recent studies suggest that drug-addicted individuals have a dampened cortical response to non-drug rewards. However, it remains unclear whether recency of drug use impacts this impairment. Therefore, in this event-related potential study, recency of cocaine use was objectively determined by measuring cocaine in urine on study day. Thirty-five individuals with current cocaine use disorder [CUD: 21 testing positive (CUD+) and 14 testing negative (CUD-) for cocaine in urine] and 23 healthy controls completed a sustained attention task with graded monetary incentives (0¢, 1¢ and 45¢). Unlike in controls, in both CUD subgroups P300 amplitude was not modulated by the varying amounts of money and the CUD- showed the most severe impairment as documented by the lowest P300 amplitudes and task accuracy. Moreover, while recency of drug use was associated with better accuracy and higher P300 amplitudes, chronic drug use was associated with lower sensitivity to money. These results extend our previous findings of decreased sustained sensitivity to monetary reward in CUD+ to recently abstaining individuals, where level of impairment was most severe. Taken together, these results support the self-medication hypothesis, where CUD may be self-administering cocaine to avoid or compensate for underlying cognitive and emotional difficulties albeit with a long-term detrimental effect on sensitivity to non-drug reward. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Strategic attention deployment for delay of gratification in working and waiting situations.

PubMed

Peake, Philip K; Mischel, Walter; Hebl, Michelle

2002-03-01

Two studies examined whether the detrimental effects of attention to rewards on delay of gratification in waiting situations holds-or reverses-in working situations. In Study 1, preschoolers waited or worked for desired delayed rewards. Delay times increased when children worked in the presence of rewards but, as predicted, this increase was due to the distraction provided by the work itself. not because attention to rewards motivated children to sustain work. Analysis of spontaneous attention deployment showed that attending to rewards reduces delay time regardless of the working or waiting nature of the task. Fixing attention on rewards was a particularly detrimental strategy regardless of the type of task. Study 2 showed that when the work is not engaging, however, attention to rewards can motivate instrumental work and facilitate delay of gratification as long as attention deployment does not become fixed on the rewards.

Perceived life stress exposure modulates reward-related medial prefrontal cortex responses to acute stress in depression.

PubMed

Kumar, Poornima; Slavich, George M; Berghorst, Lisa H; Treadway, Michael T; Brooks, Nancy H; Dutra, Sunny J; Greve, Douglas N; O'Donovan, Aoife; Bleil, Maria E; Maninger, Nicole; Pizzagalli, Diego A

2015-07-15

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is often precipitated by life stress and growing evidence suggests that stress-induced alterations in reward processing may contribute to such risk. However, no human imaging studies have examined how recent life stress exposure modulates the neural systems that underlie reward processing in depressed and healthy individuals. In this proof-of-concept study, 12 MDD and 10 psychiatrically healthy individuals were interviewed using the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule (LEDS) to assess their perceived levels of recent acute and chronic life stress exposure. Additionally, each participant performed a monetary incentive delay task under baseline (no-stress) and stress (social-evaluative) conditions during functional MRI. Across groups, medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) activation to reward feedback was greater during acute stress versus no-stress conditions in individuals with greater perceived stressor severity. Under acute stress, depressed individuals showed a positive correlation between perceived stressor severity levels and reward-related mPFC activation (r=0.79, p=0.004), whereas no effect was found in healthy controls. Moreover, for depressed (but not healthy) individuals, the correlations between the stress (r=0.79) and no-stress (r=-0.48) conditions were significantly different. Finally, relative to controls, depressed participants showed significantly reduced mPFC gray matter, but functional findings remained robust while accounting for structural differences. Small sample size, which warrants replication. Depressed individuals experiencing greater recent life stress recruited the mPFC more under stress when processing rewards. Our results represent an initial step toward elucidating mechanisms underlying stress sensitization and recurrence in depression. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Emotional arousal predicts intertemporal choice

PubMed Central

Lempert, Karolina M.; Johnson, Eli; Phelps, Elizabeth A.

2016-01-01

People generally prefer immediate rewards to rewards received after a delay, often even when the delayed reward is larger. This phenomenon is known as temporal discounting. It has been suggested that preferences for immediate rewards may be due to their being more concrete than delayed rewards. This concreteness may evoke an enhanced emotional response. Indeed, manipulating the representation of a future reward to make it more concrete has been shown to heighten the reward’s subjective emotional intensity, making people more likely to choose it. Here we use an objective measure of arousal – pupil dilation – to investigate if emotional arousal mediates the influence of delayed reward concreteness on choice. We recorded pupil dilation responses while participants made choices between immediate and delayed rewards. We manipulated concreteness through time interval framing: delayed rewards were presented either with the date on which they would be received (e.g., “$30, May 3”; DATE condition, more concrete) or in terms of delay to receipt (e.g., “$30, 7 days; DAYS condition, less concrete). Contrary to prior work, participants were not overall more patient in the DATE condition. However, there was individual variability in response to time framing, and this variability was predicted by differences in pupil dilation between conditions. Emotional arousal increased as the subjective value of delayed rewards increased, and predicted choice of the delayed reward on each trial. This study advances our understanding of the role of emotion in temporal discounting. PMID:26882337

It's about time: Earlier rewards increase intrinsic motivation.

PubMed

Woolley, Kaitlin; Fishbach, Ayelet

2018-06-01

Can immediate (vs. delayed) rewards increase intrinsic motivation? Prior research compared the presence versus absence of rewards. By contrast, this research compared immediate versus delayed rewards, predicting that more immediate rewards increase intrinsic motivation by creating a perceptual fusion between the activity and its goal (i.e., the reward). In support of the hypothesis, framing a reward from watching a news program as more immediate (vs. delayed) increased intrinsic motivation to watch the program (Study 1), and receiving more immediate bonus (vs. delayed, Study 2; and vs. delayed and no bonus, Study 3) increased intrinsic motivation in an experimental task. The effect of reward timing was mediated by the strength of the association between an activity and a reward, and was specific to intrinsic (vs. extrinsic) motivation-immediacy influenced the positive experience of an activity, but not perceived outcome importance (Study 4). In addition, the effect of the timing of rewards was independent of the effect of the magnitude of the rewards (Study 5). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

ERPs Associated with Monitoring and Evaluation of Monetary Reward and Punishment in Children with ADHD

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Meel, Catharina S.; Heslenfeld, Dirk J.; Oosterlaan, Jaap; Luman, Marjolein; Sergeant, Joseph A.

2011-01-01

Background: Several models of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) propose abnormalities in the response to behavioural contingencies. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), the present study investigated the monitoring and subsequent evaluation of performance feedback resulting in either reward or punishment in children with ADHD (N =…

42 CFR 422.134 - Reward and incentive programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 42 Public Health 3 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Reward and incentive programs. 422.134 Section 422.134 Public Health CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES... monetary cap as determined by CMS of a value that may be expected to impact enrollee behavior but not...

A behavioral economic analysis of texting while driving: Delay discounting processes.

PubMed

Hayashi, Yusuke; Miller, Kimberly; Foreman, Anne M; Wirth, Oliver

2016-12-01

The purpose of the present study was to examine an impulsive decision-making process underlying texting while driving from a behavioral economic perspective. A sample of 108 college students completed a novel discounting task that presented participants with a hypothetical scenario in which, after receiving a text message while driving, they rated the likelihood of replying to a text message immediately versus waiting to reply for a specific period of time. Participants also completed a delay discounting task in which they made repeated hypothetical choices between obtaining a larger amount of money available after a delay and an equal or lesser amount of money available immediately. The results show that the duration of the delay is a critical variable that strongly determines whether participants choose to wait to reply to a text message, and that the decrease in the likelihood of waiting as a function of delay is best described by a hyperbolic delay discounting function. The results also show that participants who self-reported higher frequency of texting while driving discounted the opportunity to reply to a text message at greater rates, whereas there was no relation between the rates of discounting of hypothetical monetary rewards and the frequency of texting while driving. The results support the conclusion that texting while driving is fundamentally an impulsive choice. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Monetary rewards modulate inhibitory control

PubMed Central

Herrera, Paula M.; Speranza, Mario; Hampshire, Adam; Bekinschtein, Tristán A.

2014-01-01

The ability to override a dominant response, often referred to as behavioral inhibition, is considered a key element of executive cognition. Poor behavioral inhibition is a defining characteristic of several neurological and psychiatric populations. Recently, there has been increasing interest in the motivational dimension of behavioral inhibition, with some experiments incorporating emotional contingencies in classical inhibitory paradigms such as the Go/NoGo and Stop Signal Tasks (SSTs). Several studies have reported a positive modulatory effect of reward on performance in pathological conditions such as substance abuse, pathological gambling, and Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). However, experiments that directly investigate the modulatory effects of reward magnitudes on the performance of inhibitory tasks are scarce and little is known about the finer grained relationship between motivation and inhibitory control. Here we probed the effect of reward magnitude and context on behavioral inhibition with three modified versions of the widely used SST. The pilot study compared inhibition performance during six blocks alternating neutral feedback, low, medium, and high monetary rewards. Study One compared increasing vs. decreasing rewards, with low, high rewards, and neutral feedback; whilst Study Two compared low and high reward magnitudes alone also in an increasing and decreasing reward design. The reward magnitude effect was not demonstrated in the pilot study, probably due to a learning effect induced by practice in this lengthy task. The reward effect per se was weak but the context (order of reward) was clearly suggested in Study One, and was particularly strongly confirmed in study two. In addition, these findings revealed a “kick start effect” over global performance measures. Specifically, there was a long lasting improvement in performance throughout the task when participants received the highest reward magnitudes at the beginning of the protocol. These results demonstrate a dynamical behavioral inhibition capacity in humans, as illustrated by the reward magnitude modulation and initial reward history effects. PMID:24860469

Social network modulation of reward-related signals

PubMed Central

Fareri, Dominic S.; Niznikiewicz, Michael A.; Lee, Victoria K.; Delgado, Mauricio R.

2012-01-01

Everyday goals and experiences are often shared with others who may hold different places within our social networks. We investigated whether the experience of sharing a reward differs with respect to social network. Twenty human participants played a card guessing game for shared monetary outcomes with three partners: a computer, a confederate (out-of-network), and a friend (in-network). Participants subjectively rated the experience of sharing a reward more positively with their friend than the other partners. Neuroimaging results support participants’ subjective reports, as ventral striatal BOLD responses were more robust when sharing monetary gains with a friend, as compared to with the confederate or computer, suggesting a higher value for sharing with an in-network partner. Interestingly, ratings of social closeness co-varied with this activity, resulting in a significant partner × closeness interaction: exploratory analysis showed that only participants reporting higher levels of closeness demonstrated partner-related differences in striatal BOLD response. These results suggest that reward valuation in social contexts is sensitive to distinctions of social network, such that sharing positive experiences with in-network others may carry higher value. PMID:22745503

Cigarette smoking modulates medication-associated deficits in a monetary reward task in patients with schizophrenia.

PubMed

Lernbass, Birgit; Grön, Georg; Wolf, Nadine D; Abler, Birgit

2013-09-01

Imaging studies of reward processing have demonstrated a mesolimbic-mesocortical dopaminergic dysfunction in schizophrenia. Such studies on reward processing in patients and also in healthy controls showed that differential activations of dopaminergic brain areas are associated with adaptive changes in response speed related to different reward values. Given this relationship, we investigated reward processing on the behavioural level in a larger sample of 49 medicated patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia (ICD-10 F20) and 49 healthy controls. Subjects were instructed to react by button press upon two different stimuli in order to retain a 60 % chance winning a previously announced high (1$) or low (20¢) amount of money paid to participants after the experiment. Concordant with previous reports on deficits in reward processing, acceleration of reaction times in patients upon low rewards differed significantly (p < 0.05) from healthy controls in our present behavioural study. This effect was pronounced in the non-smoking subgroup of patients (n = 24). In this subgroup, we also observed a significant (p < 0.05) positive correlation with medication type (relatively high vs. low D2 receptor affinity) and with the PANSS score, the latter with a trend to significance (p = 0.08). Our study demonstrates that reaction time measures in a monetary reward task might constitute a feasible behavioural proxy for dopaminergic dysfunction and its different dimensions regarding psychopathology but also medication in patients with schizophrenia. In line with clinical observations, our findings support the notion that smoking modulates medication-associated side effects on reward processing in patients with schizophrenia.

Striatal dopamine transmission in healthy humans during a passive monetary reward task.

PubMed

Hakyemez, Hélène S; Dagher, Alain; Smith, Stephen D; Zald, David H

2008-02-15

Research on dopamine (DA) transmission has emphasized the importance of increased phasic DA cell firing in the presence of unpredictable rewards. Using [(11)C]raclopride PET, we previously reported that DA transmission was both suppressed and enhanced in different regions of the striatum during an unpredictable reward task [Zald, D.H., Boileau, I., El Dearedy, W., Gunn, R., McGlone, F., Dichter, G.S. et al. (2004). Dopamine transmission in the human striatum during monetary reward tasks. J. Neurosci. 24, 4105-4112]. However, it was unclear if reductions in DA release during this task reflected a response to the high proportion of nonrewarding trials, and whether the behavioral demands of the task influenced the observed response. To test these issues, we presented 10 healthy subjects with an automated (passive) roulette wheel game in which the amount of reward and its timing were unpredictable and the rewarding trials greatly outnumbered the nonrewarding ones. As in the previous study, DA transmission in the putamen was significantly suppressed relative to a predictable control condition. A similar suppression occurred when subjects were presented with temporally unpredictable novel pictures and sounds. At present, models of DA functioning during reward do not account for this suppression, but given that it has been observed in two different studies using different reward paradigms, this phenomenon warrants attention. Neither the unpredictable reward nor the novelty conditions produced consistent increases in striatal DA transmission. These data suggest that active behavioral engagement may be necessary to observe robust statewise increases in DA release in the striatum.

Modulation of Saccade Vigor during Value-Based Decision Making.

PubMed

Reppert, Thomas R; Lempert, Karolina M; Glimcher, Paul W; Shadmehr, Reza

2015-11-18

During value-based decision-making, individuals consider the various options and select the one that provides the maximum subjective value. Although the brain integrates abstract information to compute and compare these values, the only behavioral outcome is often the decision itself. However, if the options are visual stimuli, during deliberation the brain moves the eyes from one stimulus to the other. Previous work suggests that saccade vigor, i.e., peak velocity as a function of amplitude, is greater if reward is associated with the visual stimulus. This raises the possibility that vigor during the free viewing of options may be influenced by the valuation of each option. Here, humans chose between a small, immediate monetary reward and a larger but delayed reward. As the deliberation began, vigor was similar for the saccades made to the two options but diverged 0.5 s before decision time, becoming greater for the preferred option. This difference in vigor increased as a function of the difference in the subjective values that the participant assigned to the delayed and immediate options. After the decision was made, participants continued to gaze at the options, but with reduced vigor, making it possible to infer timing of the decision from the sudden drop in vigor. Therefore, the subjective value that the brain assigned to a stimulus during decision-making affected the motor system via the vigor with which the eyes moved toward that stimulus. We find that, as individuals deliberate between two rewarding options and arrive at a decision, the vigor with which they make saccades to each option reflects a real-time evaluation of that option. With deliberation, saccade vigor diverges between the two options, becoming greater for the option that the individual will eventually choose. The results suggest a shared element between the network that assigns value to a stimulus during the process of decision-making and the network that controls vigor of movements toward that stimulus. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/3515369-10$15.00/0.

Modulation of Saccade Vigor during Value-Based Decision Making

PubMed Central

Lempert, Karolina M.; Glimcher, Paul W.; Shadmehr, Reza

2015-01-01

During value-based decision-making, individuals consider the various options and select the one that provides the maximum subjective value. Although the brain integrates abstract information to compute and compare these values, the only behavioral outcome is often the decision itself. However, if the options are visual stimuli, during deliberation the brain moves the eyes from one stimulus to the other. Previous work suggests that saccade vigor, i.e., peak velocity as a function of amplitude, is greater if reward is associated with the visual stimulus. This raises the possibility that vigor during the free viewing of options may be influenced by the valuation of each option. Here, humans chose between a small, immediate monetary reward and a larger but delayed reward. As the deliberation began, vigor was similar for the saccades made to the two options but diverged 0.5 s before decision time, becoming greater for the preferred option. This difference in vigor increased as a function of the difference in the subjective values that the participant assigned to the delayed and immediate options. After the decision was made, participants continued to gaze at the options, but with reduced vigor, making it possible to infer timing of the decision from the sudden drop in vigor. Therefore, the subjective value that the brain assigned to a stimulus during decision-making affected the motor system via the vigor with which the eyes moved toward that stimulus. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT We find that, as individuals deliberate between two rewarding options and arrive at a decision, the vigor with which they make saccades to each option reflects a real-time evaluation of that option. With deliberation, saccade vigor diverges between the two options, becoming greater for the option that the individual will eventually choose. The results suggest a shared element between the network that assigns value to a stimulus during the process of decision-making and the network that controls vigor of movements toward that stimulus. PMID:26586823

The amount effect and marginal value.

PubMed

Rachlin, Howard; Arfer, Kodi B; Safin, Vasiliy; Yen, Ming

2015-07-01

The amount effect of delay discounting (by which the value of larger reward amounts is discounted by delay at a lower rate than that of smaller amounts) strictly implies that value functions (value as a function of amount) are steeper at greater delays than they are at lesser delays. That is, the amount effect and the difference in value functions at different delays are actually a single empirical finding. Amount effects of delay discounting are typically found with choice experiments. Value functions for immediate rewards have been empirically obtained by direct judgment. (Value functions for delayed rewards have not been previously obtained.) The present experiment obtained value functions for both immediate and delayed rewards by direct judgment and found them to be steeper when the rewards were delayed--hence, finding an amount effect with delay discounting. © Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Association of Marijuana Use With Blunted Nucleus Accumbens Response to Reward Anticipation.

PubMed

Martz, Meghan E; Trucco, Elisa M; Cope, Lora M; Hardee, Jillian E; Jester, Jennifer M; Zucker, Robert A; Heitzeg, Mary M

2016-08-01

Marijuana use may alter ventral striatal response to reward, which might heighten susceptibility to substance use disorder. Longitudinal research is needed to determine the effects of marijuana use on neural function involved in reward response. To determine whether marijuana use among young adults prospectively affects nucleus accumbens (NAcc) activation during reward anticipation. One hundred eight young adults were recruited from the Michigan Longitudinal Study, an ongoing study of youth at high risk for substance use disorder and a contrast sample of control families. Participants underwent 3 consecutive functional magnetic resonance imaging scans at approximate ages of 20 (time 1), 22 (time 2), and 24 (time 3) years. Self-report data on marijuana and other drug use occasions were collected annually since age 11 years. Cross-lagged models were used to test the association of marijuana use with neural response in the NAcc to reward anticipation during a monetary incentive delay task controlling for sex, age, other substance use, and family history of substance use disorder. Of 108 participants, 39 (36.1%) were female and mean (SD) age at baseline was 20.1 (1.4) years. Greater marijuana use was associated with later blunted activation in the NAcc during reward anticipation (time 1 to time 2: β = -0.26, P = .04; time 2 to time 3: β = -0.25, P = .01). When the cross-lagged model was tested with the inclusion of previous and concurrent cigarette use, the effect of marijuana use from time 2 to time 3 remained significant (β = -0.29; P = .005) and the effect of cigarette use was nonsignificant. The findings of this study indicate that marijuana use is associated with decreased neural response in the NAcc during the anticipation of nondrug rewards. Over time, marijuana use may alter anticipatory reward processing in the NAcc, which may increase the risk for continued drug use and later addiction.

Monetary effects on fear conditioning.

PubMed

Qu, Chen; Zhang, Aiyi; Chen, Qishan

2013-04-01

Previous research has found that the loss of money as a negative secondary reinforcer was as effective as a primary reinforcer during fear conditioning. The purpose of the present study was to explore the effect of monetary gain as a positive secondary reinforcer in fear conditioning. Participants were assigned to a high-reward group or low-reward group. Three kinds of squares prompting non-compensation shock, compensation shock, and no shock were presented. Skin conductance responses (SCRs) and self-ratings were recorded. The results revealed that (a) both SCRs and self-ratings in the compensation shock condition were lower than in the non-compensation shock condition, suggesting that money might block the learning stage of fear conditioning; and (b) a higher ratio of fear reduction was present in self-rating when compared to SCRs, suggesting that people might overstate the utility of money, subjectively. Monetary effects, the effects of different amounts of money, and the differences between subjective and physiological levels are discussed.

Money makes you reveal more: consequences of monetary cues on preferential disclosure of personal information

PubMed Central

Mukherjee, Sumitava; Manjaly, Jaison A.; Nargundkar, Maithilee

2013-01-01

With continuous growth in information aggregation and dissemination, studies on privacy preferences are important to understand what makes people reveal information about them. Previous studies have demonstrated that short-term gains and possible monetary rewards make people risk disclosing information. Given the malleability of privacy preferences and the ubiquitous monetary cues in daily lives, we measured the contextual effect of reminding people about money on their privacy disclosure preferences. In experiment 1, we found that priming money increased willingness to disclose their personal information that could be shared with an online shopping website. Beyond stated willingness, experiment 2 tested whether priming money increases propensity for actually giving out personal information. Across both experiments, we found that priming money increases both the reported willingness and the actual disclosure of personal information. Our results imply that not only do short-term rewards make people trade-off personal security and privacy, but also mere exposure to money increases self-disclosure. PMID:24273524

Money makes you reveal more: consequences of monetary cues on preferential disclosure of personal information.

PubMed

Mukherjee, Sumitava; Manjaly, Jaison A; Nargundkar, Maithilee

2013-01-01

With continuous growth in information aggregation and dissemination, studies on privacy preferences are important to understand what makes people reveal information about them. Previous studies have demonstrated that short-term gains and possible monetary rewards make people risk disclosing information. Given the malleability of privacy preferences and the ubiquitous monetary cues in daily lives, we measured the contextual effect of reminding people about money on their privacy disclosure preferences. In experiment 1, we found that priming money increased willingness to disclose their personal information that could be shared with an online shopping website. Beyond stated willingness, experiment 2 tested whether priming money increases propensity for actually giving out personal information. Across both experiments, we found that priming money increases both the reported willingness and the actual disclosure of personal information. Our results imply that not only do short-term rewards make people trade-off personal security and privacy, but also mere exposure to money increases self-disclosure.

The influence of motherhood on neural systems for reward processing in low income, minority, young women.

PubMed

Moses-Kolko, Eydie L; Forbes, Erika E; Stepp, Stephanie; Fraser, David; Keenan, Kate E; Guyer, Amanda E; Chase, Henry W; Phillips, Mary L; Zevallos, Carlos R; Guo, Chaohui; Hipwell, Alison E

2016-04-01

Given the association between maternal caregiving behavior and heightened neural reward activity in experimental animal studies, the present study examined whether motherhood in humans positively modulates reward-processing neural circuits, even among mothers exposed to various life stressors and depression. Subjects were 77 first-time mothers and 126 nulliparous young women from the Pittsburgh Girls Study, a longitudinal study beginning in childhood. Subjects underwent a monetary reward task during functional magnetic resonance imaging in addition to assessment of current depressive symptoms. Life stress was measured by averaging data collected between ages 8-15 years. Using a region-of-interest approach, we conducted hierarchical regression to examine the relationship of psychosocial factors (life stress and current depression) and motherhood with extracted ventral striatal (VST) response to reward anticipation. Whole-brain regression analyses were performed post-hoc to explore non-striatal regions associated with reward anticipation in mothers vs nulliparous women. Anticipation of monetary reward was associated with increased neural activity in expected regions including caudate, orbitofrontal, occipital, superior and middle frontal cortices. There was no main effect of motherhood nor motherhood-by-psychosocial factor interaction effect on VST response during reward anticipation. Depressive symptoms were associated with increased VST activity across the entire sample. In exploratory whole brain analysis, motherhood was associated with increased somatosensory cortex activity to reward (FWE cluster forming threshold p<0.001). These findings indicate that motherhood is not associated with reward anticipation-related VST activity nor does motherhood modulate the impact of depression or life stress on VST activity. Future studies are needed to evaluate whether earlier postpartum assessment of reward function, inclusion of mothers with more severe depressive symptoms, and use of reward tasks specific for social reward might reveal an impact of motherhood on reward system activity. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The neural coding of expected and unexpected monetary performance outcomes: dissociations between active and observational learning.

PubMed

Bellebaum, C; Jokisch, D; Gizewski, E R; Forsting, M; Daum, I

2012-02-01

Successful adaptation to the environment requires the learning of stimulus-response-outcome associations. Such associations can be learned actively by trial and error or by observing the behaviour and accompanying outcomes in other persons. The present study investigated similarities and differences in the neural mechanisms of active and observational learning from monetary feedback using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Two groups of 15 subjects each - active and observational learners - participated in the experiment. On every trial, active learners chose between two stimuli and received monetary feedback. Each observational learner observed the choices and outcomes of one active learner. Learning performance as assessed via active test trials without feedback was comparable between groups. Different activation patterns were observed for the processing of unexpected vs. expected monetary feedback in active and observational learners, particularly for positive outcomes. Activity for unexpected vs. expected reward was stronger in the right striatum in active learning, while activity in the hippocampus was bilaterally enhanced in observational and reduced in active learning. Modulation of activity by prediction error (PE) magnitude was observed in the right putamen in both types of learning, whereas PE related activations in the right anterior caudate nucleus and in the medial orbitofrontal cortex were stronger for active learning. The striatum and orbitofrontal cortex thus appear to link reward stimuli to own behavioural reactions and are less strongly involved when the behavioural outcome refers to another person's action. Alternative explanations such as differences in reward value between active and observational learning are also discussed. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Differences in neural responses to reward and punishment processing between anorexia nervosa subtypes: An fMRI study.

PubMed

Murao, Ema; Sugihara, Genichi; Isobe, Masanori; Noda, Tomomi; Kawabata, Michiko; Matsukawa, Noriko; Takahashi, Hidehiko; Murai, Toshiya; Noma, Shun'ichi

2017-09-01

Anorexia nervosa (AN) includes the restricting (AN-r) and binge-eating/purging (AN-bp) subtypes, which have been reported to differ regarding their underlying pathophysiologies as well as their behavioral patterns. However, the differences in neural mechanisms of reward systems between AN subtypes remain unclear. The aim of the present study was to explore differences in the neural processing of reward and punishment between AN subtypes. Twenty-three female patients with AN (11 AN-r and 12 AN-bp) and 20 healthy women underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing a monetary incentive delay task. Whole-brain one-way analysis of variance was conducted to test between-group differences. There were significant group differences in brain activation in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex and right posterior insula during loss anticipation, with increased brain activation in the AN-bp group relative to the AN-r and healthy women groups. No significant differences were found during gain anticipation. AN-bp patients showed altered neural responses to punishment in brain regions implicated in emotional arousal. Our findings suggest that individuals with AN-bp are more sensitive to potential punishment than individuals with AN-r and healthy individuals at the neural level. The present study provides preliminary evidence that there are neurobiological differences between AN subtypes with regard to the reward system, especially punishment processing. © 2017 The Authors. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences © 2017 Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Delay Discounting as an Index of Sustainable Behavior: Devaluation of Future Air Quality and Implications for Public Health.

PubMed

Berry, Meredith S; Nickerson, Norma P; Odum, Amy L

2017-09-01

Poor air quality and resulting annual deaths represent significant public health concerns. Recently, rapid delay discounting (the devaluation of future outcomes) of air quality has been considered a potential barrier for engaging in long term, sustainable behaviors that might help to reduce emissions (e.g., reducing private car use, societal support for clean air initiatives). Delay discounting has been shown to be predictive of real world behavior outside of laboratory settings, and therefore may offer an important framework beyond traditional variables thought to measure sustainable behavior such as importance of an environmental issue, or environmental attitudes/values, although more research is needed in this area. We examined relations between discounting of air quality, respiratory health, and monetary gains and losses. We also examined, relations between discounting and self-reported importance of air quality and respiratory health, and nature relatedness. Results showed rapid delay discounting of all outcomes across the time frames assessed, and significant positive correlations between delay discounting of air quality, respiratory health, and monetary outcomes. Steeper discounting of monetary outcomes relative to air quality and respiratory health outcomes was observed in the context of gains; however, no differences in discounting were observed across losses of monetary, air quality, and respiratory health. Replicating the sign effect, monetary outcomes were discounted more steeply than monetary losses. Importance of air quality, respiratory health and nature relatedness were significantly and positively correlated with one another, but not with degree of delay discounting of any outcome, demonstrating the need for more comprehensive measures that predict pro-environmental behaviors that might benefit individuals and public health over time. These results add to our understanding of decision-making, and demonstrate alarming rates of delay discounting of air quality and health. These results implicate a major public health concern and potential barriers to individual and societal behavior that reduce pollution and emissions for conservation of clean air.

Delay Discounting as an Index of Sustainable Behavior: Devaluation of Future Air Quality and Implications for Public Health

PubMed Central

Berry, Meredith S.; Nickerson, Norma P.; Odum, Amy L.

2017-01-01

Poor air quality and resulting annual deaths represent significant public health concerns. Recently, rapid delay discounting (the devaluation of future outcomes) of air quality has been considered a potential barrier for engaging in long term, sustainable behaviors that might help to reduce emissions (e.g., reducing private car use, societal support for clean air initiatives). Delay discounting has been shown to be predictive of real world behavior outside of laboratory settings, and therefore may offer an important framework beyond traditional variables thought to measure sustainable behavior such as importance of an environmental issue, or environmental attitudes/values, although more research is needed in this area. We examined relations between discounting of air quality, respiratory health, and monetary gains and losses. We also examined, relations between discounting and self-reported importance of air quality and respiratory health, and nature relatedness. Results showed rapid delay discounting of all outcomes across the time frames assessed, and significant positive correlations between delay discounting of air quality, respiratory health, and monetary outcomes. Steeper discounting of monetary outcomes relative to air quality and respiratory health outcomes was observed in the context of gains; however, no differences in discounting were observed across losses of monetary, air quality, and respiratory health. Replicating the sign effect, monetary outcomes were discounted more steeply than monetary losses. Importance of air quality, respiratory health and nature relatedness were significantly and positively correlated with one another, but not with degree of delay discounting of any outcome, demonstrating the need for more comprehensive measures that predict pro-environmental behaviors that might benefit individuals and public health over time. These results add to our understanding of decision-making, and demonstrate alarming rates of delay discounting of air quality and health. These results implicate a major public health concern and potential barriers to individual and societal behavior that reduce pollution and emissions for conservation of clean air. PMID:28862671

Independent effects of reward expectation and spatial orientation on the processing of emotional facial expressions.

PubMed

Kang, Guanlan; Zhou, Xiaolin; Wei, Ping

2015-09-01

The present study investigated the effect of reward expectation and spatial orientation on the processing of emotional facial expressions, using a spatial cue-target paradigm. A colored cue was presented at the left or right side of the central fixation point, with its color indicating the monetary reward stakes of a given trial (incentive vs. non-incentive), followed by the presentation of an emotional facial target (angry vs. neutral) at a cued or un-cued location. Participants were asked to discriminate the emotional expression of the target, with the cue-target stimulus onset asynchrony being 200-300 ms in Experiment 1 and 950-1250 ms in Experiment 2a (without a fixation cue) and Experiment 2b (with a fixation cue), producing a spatial facilitation effect and an inhibition of return effect, respectively. The results of all the experiments revealed faster reaction times in the monetary incentive condition than in the non-incentive condition, demonstrating the effect of reward to facilitate task performance. An interaction between reward expectation and the emotion of the target was evident in all the three experiments, with larger reward effects for angry faces than for neutral faces. This interaction was not affected by spatial orientation. These findings demonstrate that incentive motivation improves task performance and increases sensitivity to angry faces, irrespective of spatial orienting and reorienting processes.

78 FR 8032 - Misuse of Internet Protocol (IP) Captioned Telephone Service; Telecommunications Relay Services...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-02-05

... believe that this growth is being caused by the offering of incentives for referrals to use this service... precipitated largely by new referral programs that offer monetary rewards for the referral of customers who... cost to the consumer. In short, offering such rewards may have the effect of enlisting customers who...

Differential Effects of Social and Non-Social Reward on Response Inhibition in Children and Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kohls, Gregor; Peltzer, Judith; Herpertz-Dahlmann, Beate; Konrad, Kerstin

2009-01-01

An important issue in the field of clinical and developmental psychopathology is whether cognitive control processes, such as response inhibition, can be specifically enhanced by motivation. To determine whether non-social (i.e. monetary) and social (i.e. positive facial expressions) rewards are able to differentially improve response inhibition…

Atypical Brain Responses to Reward Cues in Autism as Revealed by Event-Related Potentials

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kohls, Gregor; Peltzer, Judith; Schulte-Ruther, Martin; Kamp-Becker, Inge; Remschmidt, Helmut; Herpertz-Dahlmann, Beate; Konrad, Kerstin

2011-01-01

Social motivation deficit theories suggest that children with autism do not properly anticipate and appreciate the pleasure of social stimuli. In this study, we investigated event-related brain potentials evoked by cues that triggered social versus monetary reward anticipation in children with autism. Children with autism showed attenuated P3…

Temporal Discounting of Hypothetical Monetary Rewards by Adolescents, Adults, and Older Adults

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whelan, Robert; McHugh, Louise A.

2009-01-01

The present experiment examined temporal discounting across 3 different age bands: adolescents, adults, and older adults (mean ages 14, 46, and 73 years, respectively). A computerized task was employed in which participants were asked to choose between larger rewards available at a specified time in the future--either 100 British Pounds or 1,000…

Delaying gratification depends on social trust

PubMed Central

Michaelson, Laura; de la Vega, Alejandro; Chatham, Christopher H.; Munakata, Yuko

2013-01-01

Delaying gratification is hard, yet predictive of important life outcomes, such as academic achievement and physical health. Prominent theories focus on the role of self-control, hypersensitivity to immediate rewards, and the cost of time spent waiting. However, delaying gratification may also require trust in people delivering future rewards as promised. To test the role of social trust, participants were presented with character vignettes and faces that varied in trustworthiness, and then choose between hypothetical smaller immediate or larger delayed rewards from those characters. Across two experiments, participants were less willing to wait for delayed rewards from less trustworthy characters, and perceived trustworthiness predicted willingness to delay gratification. These findings provide the first demonstration of a causal role for social trust in willingness to delay gratification, independent of other relevant factors, such as self-control or reward history. Thus, delaying gratification requires choosing not only a later reward, but a reward that is potentially less likely to be delivered, when there is doubt about the person promising it. Implications of this work include the need to revise prominent theories of delay of gratification, and new directions for interventions with populations characterized by impulsivity. PMID:23801977

Temporal prediction restores the evaluative processing of delayed action feedback: an electrophysiological study.

PubMed

Kimura, Kenta; Kimura, Motohiro

2016-09-28

The evaluative processing of the valence of action feedback is reflected by an event-related brain potential component called feedback-related negativity (FRN) or reward positivity (RewP). Recent studies have shown that FRN/RewP is markedly reduced when the action-feedback interval is long (e.g. 6000 ms), indicating that an increase in the action-feedback interval can undermine the evaluative processing of the valence of action feedback. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether or not such undermined evaluative processing of delayed action feedback could be restored by improving the accuracy of the prediction in terms of the timing of action feedback. With a typical gambling task in which the participant chose one of two cards and received an action feedback indicating monetary gain or loss, the present study showed that FRN/RewP was significantly elicited even when the action-feedback interval was 6000 ms, when an auditory stimulus sequence was additionally presented during the action-feedback interval as a temporal cue. This result suggests that the undermined evaluative processing of delayed action feedback can be restored by increasing the accuracy of the prediction on the timing of the action feedback.

Delay and probability discounting of multiple commodities in smokers and never-smokers using multiple-choice tasks.

PubMed

Poltavski, Dmitri V; Weatherly, Jeffrey N

2013-12-01

The purpose of the present study was to investigate temporal and probabilistic discounting in smokers and never-smokers, across a number of commodities, using a multiple-choice method. One hundred and eighty-two undergraduate university students, of whom 90 had never smoked, 73 were self-reported light smokers (<10 cigarettes/day), and 17 were heavy smokers (10+cigarettes/day), completed computerized batteries of delay and probability discounting questions pertaining to a total of eight commodities and administered in a multiple-choice format. In addition to cigarettes, monetary rewards, and health outcomes, the tasks included novel commodities such as ideal dating partner and retirement income. The results showed that heavy smokers probability discounted commodities at a significantly shallower rate than never-smokers, suggesting greater risk-taking. No effect of smoking status was observed for delay discounting questions. The only commodity that was probability discounted significantly less than others was 'finding an ideal dating partner'. The results suggest that probability discounting tasks using the multiple-choice format can discriminate between non-abstaining smokers and never-smokers and could be further explored in the context of behavioral and drug addictions.

Delay Discounting of Reward in ADHD: Application in Young Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Vanessa B.; Mitchell, Suzanne H.; Musser, Erica D.; Schmitt, Colleen F.; Nigg, Joel T.

2011-01-01

Background: A key underlying process that may contribute to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) involves alterations in reward evaluation, including assessing the relative value of immediate over delayed rewards. This study examines whether children with ADHD discount the value of delayed rewards to a greater degree than typically…

Altered neural reward representations in pathological gamblers revealed by delay and probability discounting.

PubMed

Miedl, Stephan F; Peters, Jan; Büchel, Christian

2012-02-01

The neural basis of excessive delay discounting and reduced risk sensitivity of pathological gamblers with a particular focus on subjective neural reward representations has not been previously examined. To examine how pathological gamblers represent subjective reward value at a neural level and how this is affected by gambling severity. Model-based functional magnetic resonance imaging study with patients and control subjects. Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. Participants were recruited from the local community by advertisement and through self-help groups. A sample of 16 pathological gamblers (according to the DSM-IV definition) was matched by age, sex, smoking status, income, educational level, and handedness to 16 healthy controls. Pathological gamblers showed increased discounting of delayed rewards and a trend toward decreased discounting of probabilistic rewards compared with matched controls. At the neural level, a significant group × condition interaction indicated that reward representations in the gamblers were modulated in a condition-specific manner, such that they exhibited increased (delay discounting) and decreased (probability discounting) neural value correlations in the reward system. In addition, throughout the reward system, neuronal value signals for delayed rewards were negatively correlated with gambling severity. The results extend previous reports of a generally hypoactive reward system in pathological gamblers by showing that, even when subjective reward valuation is accounted for, gamblers still show altered reward representations. Furthermore, results point toward a gradual degradation of mesolimbic reward representations for delayed rewards during the course of pathological gambling.

The effects of contingency contracts and performance feedback on completing data entries to self-monitor community participation of people with physical disabilities: An ecological momentary study.

PubMed

Gonda-Kotani, Chiaki; White, Glen W

2017-01-01

This article examines the use of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to analyze the effect of contingent contracts and performance feedback in completing data entries to self-monitor community participation of people with mobility-related disabilities. Two participants with mobility-related disabilities were assigned to self-monitor their community participation activities using a personal digital assistant (PDA), which had been preprogrammed to signal four times a day throughout the entire study. At each prompt, participants were asked to complete a brief survey on a PDA. Participants received the monetary rewards based on their PDA completion rate. All participants maintained more than 95% completion and received the full monetary reward available.

Involvement of cannabinoid system in the nucleus accumbens on delay-based decision making in the rat.

PubMed

Fatahi, Zahra; Sadeghi, Bahman; Haghparast, Abbas

2018-01-30

The nucleus accumbens (NAc) plays a fundamental role in decision making and anticipation of reward. In addition, exogenous cannabinoids affect the behavior of humans and animals including disruption of short-term memory and cognitive impairments. Therefore, in this study, cannabinoid agonist and antagonist were administrated into the NAc to determine the effect of cannabinoid activation in the entire NAc on delay-based decision making. Rats were trained on a cost-benefit T-maze decision making task in which the animals were well-trained to choose between a small/immediate reward and a large/delay reward. After training, the animals were implanted with guide cannulae in the NAc. On test day, they received cannabinoid agonist (Win 55,212-2; 10, 50 and 100μM) and/or antagonist (AM251; 45μM) into the NAc. Percentage of high reward choice and latency of reward achievement were evaluated. Results showed that cannabinoid agonist administration caused a decrease in high reward choice such that rats selected small/immediate reward instead of large/delay reward. Moreover, in agonist-treated animals latency of reward achievement increased. Effects of cannabinoid activation on delay-based decision making with equivalent delays demonstrated that if the delay was equated on both arm goals, animals still had a preference for the high/delay reward, showing the results was not caused by an impairment of spatial preference or memory. These finding clarified that cannabinoid system activation in the entire NAc plays a critical role in the regulation of delay-based decision making. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Acute ethanol effects on neural encoding of reward size and delay in the nucleus accumbens

PubMed Central

Gutman, Andrea L.

2016-01-01

Acute ethanol administration can cause impulsivity, resulting in increased preference for immediately available rewards over delayed but more valuable alternatives. The manner in which reward size and delay are represented in neural firing is not fully understood, and very little is known about ethanol effects on this encoding. To address this issue, we used in vivo electrophysiology to characterize neural firing in the core of the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) in rats responding for rewards that varied in size or delay after vehicle or ethanol administration. The NAcc is a central element in the circuit that governs decision-making and importantly, promotes choice of delayed rewards. We found that NAcc firing in response to reward-predictive cues encoded anticipated reward value after vehicle administration, but ethanol administration disrupted this encoding, resulting in a loss of discrimination between immediate and delayed rewards in cue-evoked neural responses. In addition, NAcc firing occurring at the time of the operant response (lever pressing) was inversely correlated with behavioral response latency, such that increased firing rates were associated with decreased latencies to lever press. Ethanol administration selectively attenuated this lever press-evoked firing when delayed but not immediate rewards were expected. These effects on neural firing were accompanied by increased behavioral latencies to respond for delayed rewards. Our results suggest that ethanol effects on NAcc cue- and lever press-evoked encoding may contribute to ethanol-induced impulsivity. PMID:27169507

Utilization of reward-prospect enhances preparatory attention and reduces stimulus conflict.

PubMed

van den Berg, Berry; Krebs, Ruth M; Lorist, Monicque M; Woldorff, Marty G

2014-06-01

The prospect of gaining money is an incentive widely at play in the real world. Such monetary motivation might have particularly strong influence when the cognitive system is challenged, such as when needing to process conflicting stimulus inputs. Here, we employed manipulations of reward-prospect and attentional-preparation levels in a cued-Stroop stimulus conflict task, along with the high temporal resolution of electrical brain recordings, to provide insight into the mechanisms by which reward-prospect and attention interact and modulate cognitive task performance. In this task, the cue indicated whether or not the participant needed to prepare for an upcoming Stroop stimulus and, if so, whether there was the potential for monetary reward (dependent on performance on that trial). Both cued attention and cued reward-prospect enhanced preparatory neural activity, as reflected by increases in the hallmark attention-related negative-polarity ERP slow wave (contingent negative variation [CNV]) and reductions in oscillatory Alpha activity, which was followed by enhanced processing of the subsequent Stroop stimulus. In addition, similar modulations of preparatory neural activity (larger CNVs and reduced Alpha) predicted shorter versus longer response times (RTs) to the subsequent target stimulus, consistent with such modulations reflecting trial-to-trial variations in attention. Particularly striking were the individual differences in the utilization of reward-prospect information. In particular, the size of the reward effects on the preparatory neural activity correlated across participants with the degree to which reward-prospect both facilitated overall task performance (shorter RTs) and reduced conflict-related behavioral interference. Thus, the prospect of reward appears to recruit attentional preparation circuits to enhance processing of task-relevant target information.

Struggling toward reward: Recent experience of anhedonia interacts with motivation to predict reward pursuit in the face of a stressful manipulation.

PubMed

Bryant, Jessica; Winer, E Samuel; Salem, Taban; Nadorff, Michael R

2017-01-01

Anhedonia, or the loss of interest and/or pleasure, is a core symptom of depression. Individuals experiencing anhedonia have difficulty motivating themselves to pursue rewarding stimuli, which can result in dysfunction. Action orientation is a motivational factor that might interact with anhedonia to potentially buffer against this dysfunction, as action-oriented individuals upregulate positive affect to quickly motivate themselves to complete goals in the face of stress. The Effort-Expenditure for Rewards Task (EEfRT) is a promising new method for examining differences in motivation in individuals experiencing anhedonia. In the EEfRT, participants choose either easier tasks associated with smaller monetary rewards or harder tasks associated with larger monetary rewards. We examined the relationship between action orientation and EEfRT performance following a negative mood induction in a sample with varying levels of anhedonia. There were two competing hypotheses: (1) action orientation would act as a buffer against anhedonia such that action-oriented individuals, regardless of anhedonic symptoms, would be motivated to pursue greater rewards despite stress, or (2) anhedonia would act as a debilitating factor such that individuals with elevated anhedonic symptoms, regardless of action orientation, would not pursue greater rewards. We examined these hypotheses via Generalized Estimating Equations and found an interaction between anhedonia and action orientation. At low levels of anhedonia, action orientation was associated with effort for reward, but this relationship was not present at high levels of anhedonia. Thus, at low levels of anhedonia, action orientation acted as a buffer against stress, but at high levels, anhedonia debilitated action orientation so that it was no longer a promotive factor.

Utilization of reward-prospect enhances preparatory attention and reduces stimulus conflict

PubMed Central

van den Berg, Berry; Krebs, Ruth M.; Lorist, Monicque M.; Woldorff, Marty G.

2015-01-01

The prospect of gaining money is an incentive widely at play in the real world. Such monetary motivation might have particularly strong influence when the cognitive system is challenged, such as when needing to process conflicting stimulus inputs. Here, we employed manipulations of reward-prospect and attentional-preparation levels in a cued-Stroop stimulus-conflict task, along with the high temporal resolution of electrical brain recordings, to provide insight into the mechanisms by which reward-prospect and attention interact and modulate cognitive-task performance. In this task the cue indicated whether or not the subject needed to prepare for an upcoming Stroop stimulus, and if so, whether there was the potential for monetary reward (dependent on performance on that trial). Both cued-attention and cued-reward-prospect enhanced preparatory neural activity, as reflected by increases in the hallmark attention-related negative-polarity ERP slow wave (CNV) and reductions in oscillatory Alpha activity, which was followed by enhanced processing of the subsequent Stroop stimulus. In addition, similar modulations of preparatory neural activity (larger CNVs and reduced Alpha) predicted faster versus slower response times (RTs) to the subsequent target stimulus, consistent with such modulations reflecting trial-to-trial variations in attention. Particularly striking were the individual differences in the utilization of reward-prospect information. In particular, the size of the reward effects on the preparatory neural activity correlated across-subjects with the degree to which reward-prospect both facilitated overall task performance (faster RTs) and reduced conflict-related behavioral interference. Thus, the prospect of reward appears to recruit attentional preparation circuits to enhance processing of task-relevant target information. PMID:24820263

Reward sensitivity deficits modulated by dopamine are associated with apathy in Parkinson’s disease

PubMed Central

Manohar, Sanjay; Ben Yehuda, Michael; Chong, Trevor T.-J.; Tofaris, George; Lennox, Graham; Bogdanovic, Marko; Hu, Michele; Husain, Masud

2016-01-01

Abstract Apathy is a debilitating and under-recognized condition that has a significant impact in many neurodegenerative disorders. In Parkinson’s disease, it is now known to contribute to worse outcomes and a reduced quality of life for patients and carers, adding to health costs and extending disease burden. However, despite its clinical importance, there remains limited understanding of mechanisms underlying apathy. Here we investigated if insensitivity to reward might be a contributory factor and examined how this relates to severity of clinical symptoms. To do this we created novel ocular measures that indexed motivation level using pupillary and saccadic response to monetary incentives, allowing reward sensitivity to be evaluated objectively. This approach was tested in 40 patients with Parkinson’s disease, 31 elderly age-matched control participants and 20 young healthy volunteers. Thirty patients were examined ON and OFF their dopaminergic medication in two counterbalanced sessions, so that the effect of dopamine on reward sensitivity could be assessed. Pupillary dilation to increasing levels of monetary reward on offer provided quantifiable metrics of motivation in healthy subjects as well as patients. Moreover, pupillary reward sensitivity declined with age. In Parkinson’s disease, reduced pupillary modulation by incentives was predictive of apathy severity, and independent of motor impairment and autonomic dysfunction as assessed using overnight heart rate variability measures. Reward sensitivity was further modulated by dopaminergic state, with blunted sensitivity when patients were OFF dopaminergic drugs, both in pupillary response and saccadic peak velocity response to reward. These findings suggest that reward insensitivity may be a contributory mechanism to apathy and provide potential new clinical measures for improved diagnosis and monitoring of apathy. 10.1093/brain/aww188_video_abstractaww188_video_abstract PMID:27452600

Good things come to those who wait: attenuated discounting of delayed rewards in aged Fischer 344 rats

PubMed Central

Simon, Nicholas W.; LaSarge, Candi L.; Montgomery, Karienn S.; Williams, Matthew T.; Mendez, Ian A.; Setlow, Barry; Bizon, Jennifer

2010-01-01

The ability to make advantageous choices among outcomes that differ in magnitude, probability, and delay until their arrival is critical for optimal survival and well-being across the lifespan. Aged individuals are often characterized as less impulsive in their choices than their young adult counterparts, demonstrating an increased ability to forgo immediate in favor of delayed (and often more beneficial) rewards. Such “wisdom” is usually characterized as a consequence of learning and life experience. However, aging is also associated with prefrontal cortical dysfunction and concomitant impairments in advantageous choice behavior. Animal models afford the opportunity to isolate the effects of biological aging on decision making from experiential factors. To model one critical component of decision making, young adult and aged Fischer 344 rats were trained on a two-choice delay discounting task in which one choice provided immediate delivery of a small reward and the other provided a large reward delivered after a variable delay period. Whereas young adult rats showed a characteristic pattern of choice behavior (choosing the large reward at short delays and shifting preference to the small reward as delays increased), aged rats maintained a preference for the large reward at all delays (i.e. – attenuated “discounting” of delayed rewards). This increased preference for the large reward in aged rats was not due to perceptual, motor, or motivational factors. The data strongly suggest that, independent of life experience, there are underlying neurobiological factors that contribute to age-related changes in decision making, and particularly the ability to delay gratification. PMID:18657883

Power corrupts co-operation: cognitive and motivational effects in a double EEG paradigm.

PubMed

Kanso, Riam; Hewstone, Miles; Hawkins, Erin; Waszczuk, Monika; Nobre, Anna Christina

2014-02-01

This study investigated the effect of interpersonal power on co-operative performance. We used a paired electro-encephalogram paradigm: pairs of participants performed an attention task, followed by feedback indicating monetary loss or gain on every trial. Participants were randomly allocated to the power-holder, subordinate or neutral group by creating different levels of control over how a joint monetary reward would be allocated. We found that power was associated with reduced behavioural accuracy. Event-related potential analysis showed that power-holders devoted less motivational resources to their targets than did subordinates or neutrals, but did not differ at the level of early conflict detection. Their feedback potential results showed a greater expectation of rewards but reduced subjective magnitude attributed to losses. Subordinates, on the other hand, were asymmetrically sensitive to power-holders' targets. They expected fewer rewards, but attributed greater significance to losses. Our study shows that power corrupts balanced co-operation with subordinates.

Power corrupts co-operation: cognitive and motivational effects in a double EEG paradigm

PubMed Central

Kanso, Riam; Hewstone, Miles; Hawkins, Erin; Waszczuk, Monika; Nobre, Anna Christina

2014-01-01

This study investigated the effect of interpersonal power on co-operative performance. We used a paired electro-encephalogram paradigm: pairs of participants performed an attention task, followed by feedback indicating monetary loss or gain on every trial. Participants were randomly allocated to the power-holder, subordinate or neutral group by creating different levels of control over how a joint monetary reward would be allocated. We found that power was associated with reduced behavioural accuracy. Event-related potential analysis showed that power-holders devoted less motivational resources to their targets than did subordinates or neutrals, but did not differ at the level of early conflict detection. Their feedback potential results showed a greater expectation of rewards but reduced subjective magnitude attributed to losses. Subordinates, on the other hand, were asymmetrically sensitive to power-holders’ targets. They expected fewer rewards, but attributed greater significance to losses. Our study shows that power corrupts balanced co-operation with subordinates. PMID:23160813

Prospect theory and body mass: characterizing psychological parameters for weight-related risk attitudes and weight-gain aversion.

PubMed

Lim, Seung-Lark; Bruce, Amanda S

2015-01-01

We developed a novel decision-making paradigm that allows us to apply prospect theory in behavioral economics to body mass. 67 healthy young adults completed self-report measures and two decision-making tasks for weight-loss, as well as for monetary rewards. We estimated risk-related preference and loss aversion parameters for each individual, separately for weight-loss and monetary rewards choice data. Risk-seeking tendency for weight-loss was positively correlated with body mass index in individuals who desired to lose body weight, whereas the risk-seeking for momentary rewards was not. Risk-seeking for weight-loss was correlated to excessive body shape preoccupations, while aversion to weight-gain was correlated with self-reports of behavioral involvement for successful weight-loss. We demonstrated that prospect theory can be useful in explaining the decision-making process related to body mass. Applying prospect theory is expected to advance our understanding of decision-making mechanisms in obesity, which might prove helpful for improving healthy choices.

Prospect theory and body mass: characterizing psychological parameters for weight-related risk attitudes and weight-gain aversion

PubMed Central

Lim, Seung-Lark; Bruce, Amanda S.

2015-01-01

We developed a novel decision-making paradigm that allows us to apply prospect theory in behavioral economics to body mass. 67 healthy young adults completed self-report measures and two decision-making tasks for weight-loss, as well as for monetary rewards. We estimated risk-related preference and loss aversion parameters for each individual, separately for weight-loss and monetary rewards choice data. Risk-seeking tendency for weight-loss was positively correlated with body mass index in individuals who desired to lose body weight, whereas the risk-seeking for momentary rewards was not. Risk-seeking for weight-loss was correlated to excessive body shape preoccupations, while aversion to weight-gain was correlated with self-reports of behavioral involvement for successful weight-loss. We demonstrated that prospect theory can be useful in explaining the decision-making process related to body mass. Applying prospect theory is expected to advance our understanding of decision-making mechanisms in obesity, which might prove helpful for improving healthy choices. PMID:25852628

Trading Later Rewards for Current Pleasure: Pornography Consumption and Delay Discounting.

PubMed

Negash, Sesen; Sheppard, Nicole Van Ness; Lambert, Nathaniel M; Fincham, Frank D

2016-01-01

Internet pornography is a multi-billion-dollar industry that has grown increasingly accessible. Delay discounting involves devaluing larger, later rewards in favor of smaller, more immediate rewards. The constant novelty and primacy of sexual stimuli as particularly strong natural rewards make Internet pornography a unique activator of the brain's reward system, thereby having implications for decision-making processes. Based on theoretical studies of evolutionary psychology and neuroeconomics, two studies tested the hypothesis that consuming Internet pornography would relate to higher rates of delay discounting. Study 1 used a longitudinal design. Participants completed a pornography use questionnaire and a delay discounting task at Time 1 and then again four weeks later. Participants reporting higher initial pornography use demonstrated a higher delay discounting rate at Time 2, controlling for initial delay discounting. Study 2 tested for causality with an experimental design. Participants were randomly assigned to abstain from either their favorite food or pornography for three weeks. Participants who abstained from pornography use demonstrated lower delay discounting than participants who abstained from their favorite food. The finding suggests that Internet pornography is a sexual reward that contributes to delay discounting differently than other natural rewards. Theoretical and clinical implications of these studies are highlighted.

I endeavor to make it: effort increases valuation of subsequent monetary reward.

PubMed

Ma, Qingguo; Meng, Liang; Wang, Lei; Shen, Qiang

2014-03-15

Although it is commonly accepted that the amount of effort we put into accomplishing a task would exert an influence on subsequent reward processing and outcome evaluation, whether effort is incorporated as a cost or it would increase the valuation of concomitant reward is still under debate. In this study, EEGs were recorded while subjects performed calculation tasks that required different amount of effort, correct responses of which were followed by either no reward or fixed compensation. Results showed that high effort induced larger differentiated FRN responses to the reward and non-reward discrepancy across two experimental conditions. Furthermore, P300 manifested valence effect during reward feedback, with more positive amplitudes for reward than for non-reward only in the high effort condition. These results suggest that effort might increase subjective evaluation toward subsequent reward. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Impact of a Common Genetic Variation Associated With Putamen Volume on Neural Mechanisms of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

PubMed

Xu, Bing; Jia, Tianye; Macare, Christine; Banaschewski, Tobias; Bokde, Arun L W; Bromberg, Uli; Büchel, Christian; Cattrell, Anna; Conrod, Patricia J; Flor, Herta; Frouin, Vincent; Gallinat, Jürgen; Garavan, Hugh; Gowland, Penny; Heinz, Andreas; Ittermann, Bernd; Martinot, Jean-Luc; Paillère Martinot, Marie-Laure; Nees, Frauke; Orfanos, Dimitri Papadopoulos; Paus, Tomáš; Poustka, Luise; Smolka, Michael N; Walter, Henrik; Whelan, Robert; Schumann, Gunter; Desrivières, Sylvane

2017-05-01

In a recent genomewide association study of subcortical brain volumes, a common genetic variation at rs945270 was identified as having the strongest effect on putamen volume, a brain measurement linked to familial risk for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). To determine whether rs945270 might be a genetic determinant of ADHD, its effects on ADHD-related symptoms and neural mechanisms of ADHD, such as response inhibition and reward sensitivity, were explored. A large population sample of 1,834 14-year-old adolescents was used to test the effects of rs945270 on ADHD symptoms assessed through the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and region-of-interest analyses of putamen activation by functional magnetic resonance imaging using the stop signal and monetary incentive delay tasks, assessing response inhibition and reward sensitivity, respectively. There was a significant link between rs945270 and ADHD symptom scores, with the C allele associated with lower symptom scores, most notably hyperactivity. In addition, there were sex-specific effects of this variant on the brain. In boys, the C allele was associated with lower putamen activity during successful response inhibition, a brain response that was not associated with ADHD symptoms. In girls, putamen activation during reward anticipation increased with the number of C alleles, most significantly in the right putamen. Remarkably, right putamen activation during reward anticipation tended to negatively correlate with ADHD symptoms. These results indicate that rs945270 might contribute to the genetic risk of ADHD partly through its effects on hyperactivity and reward processing in girls. Copyright © 2017 American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. All rights reserved.

Ventral striatal hypoactivation is associated with apathy but not diminished expression in patients with schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Kirschner, Matthias; Hager, Oliver M.; Bischof, Martin; Hartmann, Matthias N.; Kluge, Agne; Seifritz, Erich; Tobler, Philippe N.; Kaiser, Stefan

2016-01-01

Background Negative symptoms of schizophrenia can be grouped in 2 dimensions: apathy and diminished expression. Increasing evidence suggests that negative symptoms are associated with altered neural activity of subcortical and cortical regions in the brain reward system. However, the neurobiological basis of the distinct symptom dimensions within negative symptoms is still poorly understood. The primary aim of our study was to examine the neural correlates of the negative symptom dimensions apathy and diminished expression during a reward processing task. Methods Patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls underwent event-related fMRI while performing a variant of the Monetary Incentive Delay Task. We assessed negative symptom dimensions using the Brief Negative Symptom Scale. Results We included 27 patients and 25 controls in our study. Both groups showed neural activation indicated by blood oxygen–level dependent signal in the ventral striatum during reward anticipation. Ventral striatal activation during reward anticipation showed a strong negative correlation with apathy. Importantly, this effect was not driven by cognitive ability, medication, depressive or positive symptoms. In contrast, no significant correlation with the diminished expression dimension was observed. Limitations Although the results remain significant when controlling for chlorpromazine equivalents, we cannot fully exclude potential confounding effects of medication with atypical antipsychotics. Conclusion The specific correlation of ventral striatal hypoactivation during reward anticipation with apathy demonstrates a differentiation of apathy and diminished expression on a neurobiological level and provides strong evidence for different pathophysiological mechanisms underlying these 2 negative symptom dimensions. Our findings contribute to a multilevel framework in which apathy and motivational impairment in patients with schizophrenia can be described on psychopathological, behavioural and neural levels. PMID:26395814

The Influence of Audience and Monetary Reward on the Putting Kinematics of Expert and Novice Golfers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tanaka, Yoshifumi; Sekiya, Hiroshi

2010-01-01

We investigated changes in movement kinematics and attentional focus when expert and novice golfers performed a golf-putting task under pressure. Six male professional golfers and five male novice golfers performed 100 acquisition trials, followed by 10 trials in the pressure condition with a performance-contingent cash reward and small audience.…

Ventral striatum dysfunction in children and adolescents with reactive attachment disorder: functional MRI study

PubMed Central

Takiguchi, Shinichiro; Fujisawa, Takashi X.; Mizushima, Sakae; Saito, Daisuke N.; Okamoto, Yuko; Shimada, Koji; Koizumi, Michiko; Kumazaki, Hirokazu; Jung, Minyoung; Kosaka, Hirotaka; Hiratani, Michio; Ohshima, Yusei; Teicher, Martin H.

2015-01-01

Background Child maltreatment is a major risk factor for psychopathology, including reactive attachment disorder (RAD). Aims To examine whether neural activity during reward processing was altered in children and adolescents with RAD. Method Sixteen children and adolescents with RAD and 20 typically developing (TD) individuals performed tasks with high and low monetary rewards while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. Results Significantly reduced activity in the caudate and nucleus accumbens was observed during the high monetary reward condition in the RAD group compared with the TD group (P=0.015, family-wise error-corrected cluster level). Significant negative correlations between bilateral striatal activity and avoidant attachment were observed in the RAD and TD groups. Conclusions Striatal neural reward activity in the RAD group was markedly decreased. The present results suggest that dopaminergic dysfunction occurs in the striatum of children and adolescents with RAD, leading towards potential future risks for psychopathology. Declaration of interest None. Copyright and usage © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2015. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Non-Commercial, No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) licence. PMID:27703736

Altered brain response to reward and punishment in adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa

PubMed Central

Bischoff-Grethe, Amanda; McCurdy, Danyale; Grenesko-Stevens, Emily; (Zoe) Irvine, Laura E.; Wagner, Angela; Yau, Wai-Ying Wendy; Fennema-Notestine, Christine; Wierenga, Christina E.; Fudge, Julie L.; Delgado, Mauricio R.; Kaye, Walter H.

2013-01-01

Adults recovered from anorexia nervosa (AN) have altered reward modulation within striatal limbic regions associated with the emotional significance of stimuli, and executive regions concerned with planning and consequences. We hypothesized that adolescents with AN would show similar disturbed reward modulation within the striatum and the anterior cingulate cortex, a region connected to the striatum and involved in reward-guided action selection. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, twenty-two adolescent females (10 restricting-type AN, 12 healthy volunteers) performed a monetary guessing task. Time series data associated with monetary wins and losses within striatal and cingulate regions of interest were subjected to a linear mixed effects analysis. All participants responded more strongly to wins versus losses in limbic and anterior executive striatal territories. However, AN participants exhibited an exaggerated response to losses compared to wins in posterior executive and sensorimotor striatal regions, suggesting altered function in circuitry responsible for coding the affective context of stimuli and action selection based upon these valuations. As AN individuals are particularly sensitive to criticism, failure, and making mistakes, these findings may reflect the neural processes responsible for a bias in those with AN to exaggerate negative consequences. PMID:24148909

Altered brain response to reward and punishment in adolescents with Anorexia nervosa.

PubMed

Bischoff-Grethe, Amanda; McCurdy, Danyale; Grenesko-Stevens, Emily; Irvine, Laura E Zoe; Wagner, Angela; Yau, Wai-Ying Wendy; Fennema-Notestine, Christine; Wierenga, Christina E; Fudge, Julie L; Delgado, Mauricio R; Kaye, Walter H

2013-12-30

Adults recovered from Anorexia nervosa (AN) have altered reward modulation within striatal limbic regions associated with the emotional significance of stimuli, and executive regions concerned with planning and consequences. We hypothesized that adolescents with AN would show similar disturbed reward modulation within the striatum and the anterior cingulate cortex, a region connected to the striatum and involved in reward-guided action selection. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, twenty-two adolescent females (10 restricting-type AN, 12 healthy volunteers) performed a monetary guessing task. Time series data associated with monetary wins and losses within striatal and cingulate regions of interest were subjected to a linear mixed effects analysis. All participants responded more strongly to wins versus losses in limbic and anterior executive striatal territories. However, AN participants exhibited an exaggerated response to losses compared to wins in posterior executive and sensorimotor striatal regions, suggesting altered function in circuitry responsible for coding the affective context of stimuli and action selection based upon these valuations. As AN individuals are particularly sensitive to criticism, failure, and making mistakes, these findings may reflect the neural processes responsible for a bias in those with AN to exaggerate negative consequences. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

High temporal discounters overvalue immediate rewards rather than undervalue future rewards: an event-related brain potential study.

PubMed

Cherniawsky, Avital S; Holroyd, Clay B

2013-03-01

Impulsivity is characterized in part by heightened sensitivity to immediate relative to future rewards. Although previous research has suggested that "high discounters" in intertemporal choice tasks tend to prefer immediate over future rewards because they devalue the latter, it remains possible that they instead overvalue immediate rewards. To investigate this question, we recorded the reward positivity, a component of the event-related brain potential (ERP) associated with reward processing, with participants engaged in a task in which they received both immediate and future rewards and nonrewards. The participants also completed a temporal discounting task without ERP recording. We found that immediate but not future rewards elicited the reward positivity. High discounters also produced larger reward positivities to immediate rewards than did low discounters, indicating that high discounters relatively overvalued immediate rewards. These findings suggest that high discounters may be more motivated than low discounters to work for monetary rewards, irrespective of the time of arrival of the incentives.

Feedback processing in adolescence: an event-related potential study of age and gender differences.

PubMed

Grose-Fifer, Jillian; Migliaccio, Renee; Zottoli, Tina M

2014-01-01

Adolescence has frequently been characterized as a period of increased risk taking, which may be largely driven by maturational changes in neural areas that process incentives. To investigate age- and gender-related differences in reward processing, we recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) from 80 participants in a gambling game, in which monetary wins and losses were either large or small. We measured two ERP components: the feedback-related negativity (FRN) and the feedback P3 (fP3). The FRN was sensitive to the size of a win in both adult (aged 23-35 years) and adolescent (aged 13-17 years) males, but not in females. Small wins appeared to be less rewarding for males than for females, which may in part explain more approach-driven behavior in males in general. Furthermore, adolescent boys showed both delayed FRNs to high losses and less differentiation in FRN amplitude between wins and losses in comparison to girls. The fP3, which is thought to index the salience of the feedback at a more conscious level than the FRN, was also larger in boys than in girls. Taken together, these results imply that higher levels of risk taking that are commonly reported in adolescent males may be driven both by hypersensitivity to high rewards and insensitivity to punishment or losses. © 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Temporal Discounting When the Choice Is Between Two Delayed Rewards

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Green, Leonard; Myerson, Joel; Macaux, Eric W.

2005-01-01

The present experiments extend the temporal discounting paradigm from choice between an immediate and a delayed reward to choice between 2 delayed rewards: a smaller amount of money available sooner and a larger amount available later. Across different amounts and delays, the data were consistently well described by a hyperbola-like discounting…

Dissociable brain signatures of choice conflict and immediate reward preferences in alcohol use disorders.

PubMed

Amlung, Michael; Sweet, Lawrence H; Acker, John; Brown, Courtney L; MacKillop, James

2014-07-01

Impulsive delayed reward discounting (DRD) is an important behavioral process in alcohol use disorders (AUDs), reflecting incapacity to delay gratification. Recent work in neuroeconomics has begun to unravel the neural mechanisms supporting DRD, but applications of neuroeconomics in relation to AUDs have been limited. This study examined the neural mechanisms of DRD preferences in AUDs, with emphasis on dissociating activation patterns based on DRD choice type and level of cognitive conflict. Heavy drinking adult men with (n = 13) and without (n = 12) a diagnosis of an AUD completed a monetary DRD task during a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan. Participant responses were coded based on choice type (impulsive versus restrained) and level of cognitive conflict (easy versus hard). AUD+ participants exhibited significantly more impulsive DRD decision-making. Significant activation during DRD was found in several decision-making regions, including dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), insula, posterior parietal cortex (PPC), and posterior cingulate. An axis of cognitive conflict was also observed, with hard choices associated with anterior cingulate cortex and easy choices associated with activation in supplementary motor area. AUD+ individuals exhibited significant hyperactivity in regions associated with cognitive control (DLPFC) and prospective thought (PPC) and exhibited less task-related deactivation of areas associated with the brain's default network during DRD decisions. This study provides further clarification of the brain systems supporting DRD in general and in relation to AUDs. © 2012 The Authors, Addiction Biology © 2012 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Previous Cocaine Exposure Makes Rats Hypersensitive to Both Delay and Reward Magnitude

PubMed Central

Roesch, Matthew R.; Takahashi, Yuji; Gugsa, Nishan; Bissonette, Gregory B.; Schoenbaum, Geoffrey

2008-01-01

Animals prefer an immediate over a delayed reward, just as they prefer a large over a small reward. Exposure to psychostimulants causes long-lasting changes in structures critical for this behavior and might disrupt normal time-discounting performance. To test this hypothesis, we exposed rats to cocaine daily for 2 weeks (30 mg/kg, i.p.). Approximately 6 weeks later, we tested them on a variant of a time-discounting task, in which the rats responded to one of two locations to obtain reward while we independently manipulated the delay to reward and reward magnitude. Performance did not differ between cocaine-treated and saline-treated (control) rats when delay lengths and reward magnitudes were equal at the two locations. However, cocaine-treated rats were significantly more likely to shift their responding when we increased the delay or reward size asymmetrically. Furthermore, they were slower to respond and made more errors when forced to the side associated with the lower value. We conclude that previous exposure to cocaine makes choice behavior hypersensitive to differences in the time to and size of available rewards, consistent with a general effect of cocaine exposure on reward valuation mechanisms. PMID:17202492

Previous cocaine exposure makes rats hypersensitive to both delay and reward magnitude.

PubMed

Roesch, Matthew R; Takahashi, Yuji; Gugsa, Nishan; Bissonette, Gregory B; Schoenbaum, Geoffrey

2007-01-03

Animals prefer an immediate over a delayed reward, just as they prefer a large over a small reward. Exposure to psychostimulants causes long-lasting changes in structures critical for this behavior and might disrupt normal time-discounting performance. To test this hypothesis, we exposed rats to cocaine daily for 2 weeks (30 mg/kg, i.p.). Approximately 6 weeks later, we tested them on a variant of a time-discounting task, in which the rats responded to one of two locations to obtain reward while we independently manipulated the delay to reward and reward magnitude. Performance did not differ between cocaine-treated and saline-treated (control) rats when delay lengths and reward magnitudes were equal at the two locations. However, cocaine-treated rats were significantly more likely to shift their responding when we increased the delay or reward size asymmetrically. Furthermore, they were slower to respond and made more errors when forced to the side associated with the lower value. We conclude that previous exposure to cocaine makes choice behavior hypersensitive to differences in the time to and size of available rewards, consistent with a general effect of cocaine exposure on reward valuation mechanisms.

Linking online gaming and addictive behavior: converging evidence for a general reward deficiency in frequent online gamers.

PubMed

Hahn, Tim; Notebaert, Karolien Hilde; Dresler, Thomas; Kowarsch, Linda; Reif, Andreas; Fallgatter, Andreas J

2014-01-01

Millions of people regularly play so-called massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs). Recently, it has been argued that MMORPG overuse is becoming a significant health problem worldwide. Symptoms such as tolerance, withdrawal, and craving have been described. Based on behavioral, resting state, and task-related neuroimaging data, we test whether frequent players of the MMORPG "World of Warcraft" (WoW) - similar to drug addicts and individuals with an increased risk for addictions - show a generally deficient reward system. In frequent players of the MMORPG "World of Warcraft" (WoW-players) and in a control group of non-gamers we assessed (1) trait sensitivity to reward (SR), (2) BOLD responses during monetary reward processing in the ventral striatum, and (3) ventral-striatal resting-state dynamics. We found a decreased neural activation in the ventral striatum during the anticipation of both small and large monetary rewards. Additionally, we show generally altered neurodynamics in this region independent of any specific task for WoW players (resting state). On the behavioral level, we found differences in trait SR, suggesting that the reward processing deficiencies found in this study are not a consequence of gaming, but predisposed to it. These findings empirically support a direct link between frequent online gaming and the broad field of behavioral and drug addiction research, thus opening new avenues for clinical interventions in addicted gamers and potentially improving the assessment of addiction-risk in the vast population of frequent gamers.

Elevated cognitive control over reward processing in recovered female patients with anorexia nervosa.

PubMed

Ehrlich, Stefan; Geisler, Daniel; Ritschel, Franziska; King, Joseph A; Seidel, Maria; Boehm, Ilka; Breier, Marion; Clas, Sabine; Weiss, Jessika; Marxen, Michael; Smolka, Michael N; Roessner, Veit; Kroemer, Nils B

2015-09-01

Individuals with anorexia nervosa are thought to exert excessive self-control to inhibit primary drives. This study used functional MRI (fMRI) to interrogate interactions between the neural correlates of cognitive control and motivational processes in the brain reward system during the anticipation of monetary reward and reward-related feedback. In order to avoid confounding effects of undernutrition, we studied female participants recovered from anorexia nervosa and closely matched healthy female controls. The fMRI analysis (including node-to-node functional connectivity) followed a region of interest approach based on models of the brain reward system and cognitive control regions implicated in anorexia nervosa: the ventral striatum, medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). We included 30 recovered patients and 30 controls in our study. There were no behavioural differences and no differences in hemodynamic responses of the ventral striatum and the mOFC in the 2 phases of the task. However, relative to controls, recovered patients showed elevated DLPFC activity during the anticipation phase, failed to deactivate this region during the feedback phase and displayed greater functional coupling between the DLPFC and mOFC. Recovered patients also had stronger associations than controls between anticipation-related DLPFC responses and instrumental responding. The results we obtained using monetary stimuli might not generalize to other forms of reward. Unaltered neural responses in ventral limbic reward networks but increased recruitment of and connectivity with lateral-frontal brain circuitry in recovered patients suggests an elevated degree of selfregulatory processes in response to rewarding stimuli. An imbalance between brain systems subserving bottom-up and top-down processes may be a trait marker of the disorder.

Motivators for Alzheimer's disease clinical trial participation.

PubMed

Bardach, Shoshana H; Holmes, Sarah D; Jicha, Gregory A

2018-02-01

Alzheimer's disease (AD) research progress is impeded due to participant recruitment challenges. This study seeks to better understand, from the perspective of individuals engaged in clinical trials (CTs), research motivations. Participants, or their caregivers, from AD treatment and prevention CTs were surveyed about research motivators. The 87 respondents had a mean age of 72.2, were predominantly Caucasian, 55.2% were male, and 56.3% had cognitive impairment. An overwhelming majority rated the potential to help themselves or a loved one and the potential to help others in the future as important motivators. Relatively few respondents were motivated by free healthcare, monetary rewards, or to make others happy. Recruitment efforts should focus on the potential benefit for the individual, their loved ones, and others in the future rather than free healthcare or monetary rewards.

Incentives for Better Performance in Health Care

PubMed Central

Abduljawad, Asaad; Al-Assaf, Assaf F.

2011-01-01

Incentives for better performance in health care have several modes and methods. They are designed to motivate and encourage people to perform well and improve their outcomes. They may include monetary or non-monetary incentives and may be applied to consumers, individual providers or institutions. One such model is the Pay-for-Performance system. In this system, beneficiaries are compared with one another based on a set of performance indicators and those that achieve a high level of performance are rewarded financially. This system is meant to recognise and primarily to reward high performers. Its goal is to encourage beneficiaries to strive for better performance. This system has been applied in several countries and for several recipients and settings. Early indications show that this system has had mixed effects on performance. PMID:21969891

The Effects of Methylphenidate on Discounting of Delayed Rewards in ADHD

PubMed Central

Shiels, Keri; Hawk, Larry W.; Reynolds, Brady; Mazzullo, Rebecca; Rhodes, Jessica; Pelham, William E.; Waxmonsky, James G.; Gangloff, Brian P.

2010-01-01

Impulsivity is a central component of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Delay discounting, or a preference for smaller, immediate rewards over larger, delayed rewards is considered an important aspect of impulsivity, and delay-related impulsivity has been emphasized in etiological models of ADHD. The current study examined whether stimulant medication, an effective treatment for ADHD, reduces discounting of delayed experiential and hypothetical rewards among 49 children (age 9–12 years) with ADHD. Following a practice day, participants completed a 3-day double-blind placebo-controlled acute medication assessment. Active doses were long-acting methylphenidate (Concerta), with the nearest equivalents of 0.3 and 0.6 mg/kg TID immediate-release methylphenidate. On each testing day, participants completed experiential (real-world money in real time) and hypothetical discounting tasks. Relative to placebo, methylphenidate reduced discounting of delayed experiential rewards, but not hypothetical rewards. Broadly consistent with etiological models that emphasize delay-related impulsivity among children with ADHD, these findings provide initial evidence that stimulant medication reduces delay discounting among those with the disorder. The present results also draw attention to task parameters that may influence the sensitivity of various delay discounting measures to medication effects. PMID:19803628

Spontaneous Eye-Blink Rate as an Index of Reward Responsivity: Validation and Links to Bipolar Disorder

PubMed Central

Peckham, Andrew D.; Johnson, Sheri L.

2015-01-01

Extensive research supports the role of striatal dopamine in pursuing and responding to reward, and that eye-blink rate is a valid indicator of striatal dopamine. This study tested whether phasic changes in blink rate could provide an index of reward pursuit. This hypothesis was tested in people with bipolar I disorder (BD; a population with aberrations in reward responsivity), and in those without BD. Thirty-one adults with BD and 28 control participants completed a laboratory task involving effort towards monetary reward. Blink rate was recorded using eye-tracking at baseline, reward anticipation, and post-reward. Those in the BD group completed self-report measures relating to reward and ambition. Results showed that across all participants, blink rates increased from reward anticipation to post-reward. In the BD group, reward-relevant measures were strongly correlated with variation in blink rate. These findings provide validation for phasic changes in blink rate as an index of reward response. PMID:27274949

Reward and Visual Feedback Relative to the Performance and Mechanical Efficiency of High School Girls in the Standing Broad Jump.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zebas, Carole J.

This study focuses on changes occurring in selected mechanical components of high school girls performing the standing broad jump, and collects data pertaining to the effects of monetary reward and videotape feedback upon the following components: (a) distance jumped, (b) maximum angle of knee flexion, (c) maximum angle of hip flexion, (d) hip…

Emotional arousal and discount rate in intertemporal choice are reference dependent.

PubMed

Lempert, Karolina M; Glimcher, Paul W; Phelps, Elizabeth A

2015-04-01

Many decisions involve weighing immediate gratification against future consequences. In such intertemporal choices, people often choose smaller, immediate rewards over larger delayed rewards. It has been proposed that emotional responses to immediate rewards lead us to choose them at our long-term expense. Here we utilize an objective measure of emotional arousal-pupil dilation-to examine the role of emotion in these decisions. We show that emotional arousal responses, as well as choices, in intertemporal choice tasks are reference-dependent and reflect the decision-maker's recent history of offers. Arousal increases when less predictable rewards are better than expected, whether those rewards are immediate or delayed. Furthermore, when immediate rewards are less predictable than delayed rewards, participants tend to be patient. When delayed rewards are less predictable, immediate rewards are preferred. Our findings suggest that we can encourage people to be more patient by changing the context in which intertemporal choices are made. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Statistical Mechanics of the Delayed Reward-Based Learning with Node Perturbation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hiroshi Saito,; Kentaro Katahira,; Kazuo Okanoya,; Masato Okada,

2010-06-01

In reward-based learning, reward is typically given with some delay after a behavior that causes the reward. In machine learning literature, the framework of the eligibility trace has been used as one of the solutions to handle the delayed reward in reinforcement learning. In recent studies, the eligibility trace is implied to be important for difficult neuroscience problem known as the “distal reward problem”. Node perturbation is one of the stochastic gradient methods from among many kinds of reinforcement learning implementations, and it searches the approximate gradient by introducing perturbation to a network. Since the stochastic gradient method does not require a objective function differential, it is expected to be able to account for the learning mechanism of a complex system, like a brain. We study the node perturbation with the eligibility trace as a specific example of delayed reward-based learning, and analyzed it using a statistical mechanics approach. As a result, we show the optimal time constant of the eligibility trace respect to the reward delay and the existence of unlearnable parameter configurations.

Integrating Behavioral Economics and Behavioral Genetics: Delayed Reward Discounting as an Endophenotype for Addictive Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MacKillop, James

2013-01-01

Delayed reward discounting is a behavioral economic index of impulsivity, referring to how much an individual devalues a reward based on its delay in time. As a behavioral process that varies considerably across individuals, delay discounting has been studied extensively as a model for self-control, both in the general population and in clinical…

Reward alters the perception of time.

PubMed

Failing, Michel; Theeuwes, Jan

2016-03-01

Recent findings indicate that monetary rewards have a powerful effect on cognitive performance. In order to maximize overall gain, the prospect of earning reward biases visual attention to specific locations or stimulus features improving perceptual sensitivity and processing. The question we addressed in this study is whether the prospect of reward also affects the subjective perception of time. Here, participants performed a prospective timing task using temporal oddballs. The results show that temporal oddballs, displayed for varying durations, presented in a sequence of standard stimuli were perceived to last longer when they signaled a relatively high reward compared to when they signaled no or low reward. When instead of the oddball the standards signaled reward, the perception of the temporal oddball remained unaffected. We argue that by signaling reward, a stimulus becomes subjectively more salient thereby modulating its attentional deployment and distorting how it is perceived in time. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Distinct Reward Properties are Encoded via Corticostriatal Interactions

PubMed Central

Smith, David V.; Rigney, Anastasia E.; Delgado, Mauricio R.

2016-01-01

The striatum serves as a critical brain region for reward processing. Yet, understanding the link between striatum and reward presents a challenge because rewards are composed of multiple properties. Notably, affective properties modulate emotion while informative properties help obtain future rewards. We approached this problem by emphasizing affective and informative reward properties within two independent guessing games. We found that both reward properties evoked activation within the nucleus accumbens, a subregion of the striatum. Striatal responses to informative, but not affective, reward properties predicted subsequent utilization of information for obtaining monetary reward. We hypothesized that activation of the striatum may be necessary but not sufficient to encode distinct reward properties. To investigate this possibility, we examined whether affective and informative reward properties were differentially encoded in corticostriatal interactions. Strikingly, we found that the striatum exhibited dissociable connectivity patterns with the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, with increasing connectivity for affective reward properties and decreasing connectivity for informative reward properties. Our results demonstrate that affective and informative reward properties are encoded via corticostriatal interactions. These findings highlight how corticostriatal systems contribute to reward processing, potentially advancing models linking striatal activation to behavior. PMID:26831208

Distinct Reward Properties are Encoded via Corticostriatal Interactions.

PubMed

Smith, David V; Rigney, Anastasia E; Delgado, Mauricio R

2016-02-02

The striatum serves as a critical brain region for reward processing. Yet, understanding the link between striatum and reward presents a challenge because rewards are composed of multiple properties. Notably, affective properties modulate emotion while informative properties help obtain future rewards. We approached this problem by emphasizing affective and informative reward properties within two independent guessing games. We found that both reward properties evoked activation within the nucleus accumbens, a subregion of the striatum. Striatal responses to informative, but not affective, reward properties predicted subsequent utilization of information for obtaining monetary reward. We hypothesized that activation of the striatum may be necessary but not sufficient to encode distinct reward properties. To investigate this possibility, we examined whether affective and informative reward properties were differentially encoded in corticostriatal interactions. Strikingly, we found that the striatum exhibited dissociable connectivity patterns with the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, with increasing connectivity for affective reward properties and decreasing connectivity for informative reward properties. Our results demonstrate that affective and informative reward properties are encoded via corticostriatal interactions. These findings highlight how corticostriatal systems contribute to reward processing, potentially advancing models linking striatal activation to behavior.

Mild opioid deprivation increases the degree that opioid-dependent outpatients discount delayed heroin and money.

PubMed

Giordano, Louis A; Bickel, Warren K; Loewenstein, George; Jacobs, Eric A; Marsch, Lisa; Badger, Gary J

2002-09-01

A growing literature suggests that excessive temporal discounting of delayed rewards may be a contributing factor in the etiology of substance abuse problems. Little is known, however, about how drug deprivation may affect temporal discounting of delayed rewards by drug-dependent individuals. To examine the extent to which opioid deprivation affects how opioid-dependent individuals discount small, medium and large quantities of delayed heroin and money. Thirteen opioid-dependent individuals maintained on buprenorphine completed a hypothetical choice task in which they choose between a constant delayed reward amount and an immediate reward amount that was adjusted until they expressed indifference between both outcomes. The task was completed for three values of heroin and money rewards during eight sessions under conditions of opioid deprivation (four sessions) and satiation (four sessions). Across conditions, hyperbolic functions provided a good fit for the discounting data. Degree of discounting was significantly higher when subjects were opioid deprived. Consistent with previous findings, degree of discounting was higher for heroin than money and inversely related to the magnitude of the reward. Opioid deprivation increased the degree to which dependent individuals discounted delayed heroin and money. Understanding the conditions that affect how drug-dependent individuals discount delayed rewards might help us understand the myopic choices made by such individuals and help improve treatment outcomes.

Behavioral and Neural Manifestations of Reward Memory in Carriers of Low-Expressing versus High-Expressing Genetic Variants of the Dopamine D2 Receptor

PubMed Central

Richter, Anni; Barman, Adriana; Wüstenberg, Torsten; Soch, Joram; Schanze, Denny; Deibele, Anna; Behnisch, Gusalija; Assmann, Anne; Klein, Marieke; Zenker, Martin; Seidenbecher, Constanze; Schott, Björn H.

2017-01-01

Dopamine is critically important in the neural manifestation of motivated behavior, and alterations in the human dopaminergic system have been implicated in the etiology of motivation-related psychiatric disorders, most prominently addiction. Patients with chronic addiction exhibit reduced dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) availability in the striatum, and the DRD2 TaqIA (rs1800497) and C957T (rs6277) genetic polymorphisms have previously been linked to individual differences in striatal dopamine metabolism and clinical risk for alcohol and nicotine dependence. Here, we investigated the hypothesis that the variants of these polymorphisms would show increased reward-related memory formation, which has previously been shown to jointly engage the mesolimbic dopaminergic system and the hippocampus, as a potential intermediate phenotype for addiction memory. To this end, we performed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 62 young, healthy individuals genotyped for DRD2 TaqIA and C957T variants. Participants performed an incentive delay task, followed by a recognition memory task 24 h later. We observed effects of both genotypes on the overall recognition performance with carriers of low-expressing variants, namely TaqIA A1 carriers and C957T C homozygotes, showing better performance than the other genotype groups. In addition to the better memory performance, C957T C homozygotes also exhibited a response bias for cues predicting monetary reward. At the neural level, the C957T polymorphism was associated with a genotype-related modulation of right hippocampal and striatal fMRI responses predictive of subsequent recognition confidence for reward-predicting items. Our results indicate that genetic variations associated with DRD2 expression affect explicit memory, specifically for rewarded stimuli. We suggest that the relatively better memory for rewarded stimuli in carriers of low-expressing DRD2 variants may reflect an intermediate phenotype of addiction memory. PMID:28507526

Altered Brain Activity during Reward Anticipation in Pathological Gambling and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

PubMed Central

Choi, Jung-Seok; Shin, Young-Chul; Jung, Wi Hoon; Jang, Joon Hwan; Kang, Do-Hyung; Choi, Chi-Hoon; Choi, Sam-Wook; Lee, Jun-Young; Hwang, Jae Yeon; Kwon, Jun Soo

2012-01-01

Background Pathological gambling (PG) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are conceptualized as a behavioral addiction, with a dependency on repetitive gambling behavior and rewarding effects following compulsive behavior, respectively. However, no neuroimaging studies to date have examined reward circuitry during the anticipation phase of reward in PG compared with in OCD while considering repetitive gambling and compulsion as addictive behaviors. Methods/Principal Findings To elucidate the neural activities specific to the anticipation phase of reward, we performed event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in young adults with PG and compared them with those in patients with OCD and healthy controls. Fifteen male patients with PG, 13 patients with OCD, and 15 healthy controls, group-matched for age, gender, and IQ, participated in a monetary incentive delay task during fMRI scanning. Neural activation in the ventromedial caudate nucleus during anticipation of both gain and loss decreased in patients with PG compared with that in patients with OCD and healthy controls. Additionally, reduced activation in the anterior insula during anticipation of loss was observed in patients with PG compared with that in patients with OCD which was intermediate between that in OCD and healthy controls (healthy controls < PG < OCD), and a significant positive correlation between activity in the anterior insula and South Oaks Gambling Screen score was found in patients with PG. Conclusions Decreased neural activity in the ventromedial caudate nucleus during anticipation may be a specific neurobiological feature for the pathophysiology of PG, distinguishing it from OCD and healthy controls. Correlation of anterior insular activity during loss anticipation with PG symptoms suggests that patients with PG fit the features of OCD associated with harm avoidance as PG symptoms deteriorate. Our findings have identified functional disparities and similarities between patients with PG and OCD related to the neural responses associated with reward anticipation. PMID:23029329

Effects of selective serotonin reuptake inhibition on neural activity related to risky decisions and monetary rewards in healthy males.

PubMed

Macoveanu, Julian; Fisher, Patrick M; Haahr, Mette E; Frokjaer, Vibe G; Knudsen, Gitte M; Siebner, Hartwig R

2014-10-01

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as fluoxetine are commonly prescribed antidepressant drugs targeting the dysfunctional serotonin (5-HT) system, yet little is known about the functional effects of prolonged serotonin reuptake inhibition in healthy individuals. Here we used functional MRI (fMRI) to investigate how a three-week fluoxetine intervention influences neural activity related to risk taking and reward processing. Employing a double-blinded parallel-group design, 29 healthy young males were randomly assigned to receive 3 weeks of a daily dose of 40 mg fluoxetine or placebo. Participants underwent task-related fMRI prior to and after the three-week intervention while performing a card gambling task. The task required participants to choose between two decks of cards. Choices were associated with different risk levels and potential reward magnitudes. Relative to placebo, the SSRI intervention did not alter individual risk-choice preferences, but modified neural activity during decision-making and reward processing: During the choice phase, SSRI reduced the neural response to increasing risk in lateral orbitofrontal cortex, a key structure for value-based decision-making. During the outcome phase, a midbrain region showed an independent decrease in the responsiveness to rewarding outcomes. This midbrain cluster included the raphe nuclei from which serotonergic modulatory projections originate to both cortical and subcortical regions. The findings corroborate the involvement of the normally functioning 5HT-system in decision-making under risk and processing of monetary rewards. The data suggest that prolonged SSRI treatment might reduce emotional engagement by reducing the impact of risk during decision-making or the impact of reward during outcome evaluation. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

ERPs associated with monitoring and evaluation of monetary reward and punishment in children with ADHD.

PubMed

van Meel, Catharina S; Heslenfeld, Dirk J; Oosterlaan, Jaap; Luman, Marjolein; Sergeant, Joseph A

2011-09-01

Several models of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) propose abnormalities in the response to behavioural contingencies. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), the present study investigated the monitoring and subsequent evaluation of performance feedback resulting in either reward or punishment in children with ADHD (N = 18) and normal controls (N = 18) aged 8 to 12 years. Children performed a time production task, in which visual performance feedback was given after each response. To manipulate its motivational salience, feedback was coupled with monetary gains, losses or no incentives. Performance feedback signalling omitted gains as well as omitted losses evoked a feedback-related negativity (FRN) in control children. The FRN, however, was entirely absent in children with ADHD in all conditions. Moreover, while losses elicited enhanced amplitudes of the late positive potential (LPP) in controls, omitted rewards had this effect in ADHD. The lack of modulation of the FRN by contingencies in ADHD suggests deficient detection of environmental cues as a function of their motivational significance. LPP findings suggest diminished response to punishment, but oversensitivity to the loss of desired rewards. These findings suggest that children with ADHD have problems assigning relative motivational significance to outcomes of their actions. © 2011 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry © 2011 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

Delay of Gratification, Delay Discounting and their Associations with Age, Episodic Future Thinking, and Future Time Perspective.

PubMed

Göllner, Lars M; Ballhausen, Nicola; Kliegel, Matthias; Forstmeier, Simon

2017-01-01

The delay of gratification (DoG) in children is widely investigated with an experimental procedure originally called the "marshmallow test," whereas the studies on self-regulation (SR) in adolescents and adults usually use self-report questionnaires. Delay discounting (DD) measures simplify the DoG procedure and focus on monetary rewards. The aim of this study was to investigate age differences in DoG and DD from childhood to old age using a test that is suitable for both children and adults. Furthermore, investigations were conducted on the association between DoG/DD and two future orientation constructs [future time perspective (FTP) and episodic future thinking (EFT)] as well as age differences in these constructs. Participants from five age groups (9-14, 18-25, 35-55, 65-80, 80+) participated in the study ( N = 96). While we found no age difference for DoG, DD was the lowest [i.e., self-control (SC) was the highest] in young/middle adults; however, it was the highest (i.e., SC was the lowest) in children and old/oldest adults. Furthermore, we found significant age differences for DD and FTP. As predicted, there were strong correlations between DoG and FTP and between DD and FTP, but not between DoG/DD and EFT. These results indicate that age differences in SR vary across the measures used. Individuals who generally think and act in a future-oriented manner have a stronger ability to delay gratification.

Measuring and modeling the interaction among reward size, delay to reward, and satiation level on motivation in monkeys.

PubMed

Minamimoto, Takafumi; La Camera, Giancarlo; Richmond, Barry J

2009-01-01

Motivation is usually inferred from the likelihood or the intensity with which behavior is carried out. It is sensitive to external factors (e.g., the identity, amount, and timing of a rewarding outcome) and internal factors (e.g., hunger or thirst). We trained macaque monkeys to perform a nonchoice instrumental task (a sequential red-green color discrimination) while manipulating two external factors: reward size and delay-to-reward. We also inferred the state of one internal factor, level of satiation, by monitoring the accumulated reward. A visual cue indicated the forthcoming reward size and delay-to-reward in each trial. The fraction of trials completed correctly by the monkeys increased linearly with reward size and was hyperbolically discounted by delay-to-reward duration, relations that are similar to those found in free operant and choice tasks. The fraction of correct trials also decreased progressively as a function of the satiation level. Similar (albeit noiser) relations were obtained for reaction times. The combined effect of reward size, delay-to-reward, and satiation level on the proportion of correct trials is well described as a multiplication of the effects of the single factors when each factor is examined alone. These results provide a quantitative account of the interaction of external and internal factors on instrumental behavior, and allow us to extend the concept of subjective value of a rewarding outcome, usually confined to external factors, to account also for slow changes in the internal drive of the subject.

Measuring and Modeling the Interaction Among Reward Size, Delay to Reward, and Satiation Level on Motivation in Monkeys

PubMed Central

Minamimoto, Takafumi; La Camera, Giancarlo; Richmond, Barry J.

2009-01-01

Motivation is usually inferred from the likelihood or the intensity with which behavior is carried out. It is sensitive to external factors (e.g., the identity, amount, and timing of a rewarding outcome) and internal factors (e.g., hunger or thirst). We trained macaque monkeys to perform a nonchoice instrumental task (a sequential red-green color discrimination) while manipulating two external factors: reward size and delay-to-reward. We also inferred the state of one internal factor, level of satiation, by monitoring the accumulated reward. A visual cue indicated the forthcoming reward size and delay-to-reward in each trial. The fraction of trials completed correctly by the monkeys increased linearly with reward size and was hyperbolically discounted by delay-to-reward duration, relations that are similar to those found in free operant and choice tasks. The fraction of correct trials also decreased progressively as a function of the satiation level. Similar (albeit noiser) relations were obtained for reaction times. The combined effect of reward size, delay-to-reward, and satiation level on the proportion of correct trials is well described as a multiplication of the effects of the single factors when each factor is examined alone. These results provide a quantitative account of the interaction of external and internal factors on instrumental behavior, and allow us to extend the concept of subjective value of a rewarding outcome, usually confined to external factors, to account also for slow changes in the internal drive of the subject. PMID:18987119

Episodic Future Thinking: Expansion of the Temporal Window in Individuals with Alcohol Dependence.

PubMed

Snider, Sarah E; LaConte, Stephen M; Bickel, Warren K

2016-07-01

Episodic future thinking (EFT) requires an individual to vividly pre-experience a realistic future event. Inspired by previous reports of reducing delay discounting following EFT in other populations, we examined the effects of engaging alcohol-dependent individuals in EFT or episodic recent thinking (ERT; control) to examine its effects on delay discounting and alcohol purchasing. Participants (n = 50) with alcohol dependence were allocated into EFT or ERT groups and asked to generate positive future or recent past events for each of 5 time points. Participants then completed a delay-discounting task, during which event cues were displayed, and a hypothetical alcohol purchase task. EFT significantly increased valuation of future monetary rewards, while decreasing initial consumption (Q0 ) of alcoholic drinks indicative of lower demand intensity. Two additional findings suggest potential moderators of this effect. EFT more readily influenced individuals with lower Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test scores, and self-reported cue valence differed between groups. Together, these results suggest a widening of alcohol-dependent individuals' temporal window following engagement of EFT. While our data suggest that EFT may be moderated by certain susceptibility criteria, exercises such as EFT could be easily adaptable as a potential therapeutic tool for use in rehabilitation programs. Copyright © 2016 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.

Alcohol Demand, Delayed Reward Discounting, and Craving in relation to Drinking and Alcohol Use Disorders

PubMed Central

MacKillop, James; Miranda, Robert; Monti, Peter M.; Ray, Lara A.; Murphy, James G.; Rohsenow, Damaris J.; McGeary, John E.; Swift, Robert M.; Tidey, Jennifer W.; Gwaltney, Chad J.

2010-01-01

A behavioral economic approach to alcohol use disorders (AUDs) emphasizes both individual and environmental determinants of alcohol use. The current study examined individual differences in alcohol demand (i.e., motivation for alcohol under escalating conditions of price) and delayed reward discounting (i.e., preference for immediate small rewards compared to delayed larger rewards) in 61 heavy drinkers (62% with an AUD). In addition, based on theoretical accounts that emphasize the role of craving in reward valuation and preferences for immediate rewards, craving for alcohol was also examined in relation to these behavioral economic variables and the alcohol-related variables. Intensity of alcohol demand and delayed reward discounting were significantly associated with AUD symptoms, but not with quantitative measures of alcohol use, and were also moderately correlated with each other. Likewise, craving was significantly associated with AUD symptoms, but not with alcohol use, and was also significantly correlated with both intensity of demand and delayed reward discounting. These findings further emphasize the relevance of behavioral economic indices of motivation to alcohol use disorders and the potential importance of craving for alcohol in this relationship. PMID:20141247

Linking Online Gaming and Addictive Behavior: Converging Evidence for a General Reward Deficiency in Frequent Online Gamers

PubMed Central

Hahn, Tim; Notebaert, Karolien Hilde; Dresler, Thomas; Kowarsch, Linda; Reif, Andreas; Fallgatter, Andreas J.

2014-01-01

Millions of people regularly play so-called massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs). Recently, it has been argued that MMORPG overuse is becoming a significant health problem worldwide. Symptoms such as tolerance, withdrawal, and craving have been described. Based on behavioral, resting state, and task-related neuroimaging data, we test whether frequent players of the MMORPG “World of Warcraft” (WoW) – similar to drug addicts and individuals with an increased risk for addictions – show a generally deficient reward system. In frequent players of the MMORPG “World of Warcraft” (WoW-players) and in a control group of non-gamers we assessed (1) trait sensitivity to reward (SR), (2) BOLD responses during monetary reward processing in the ventral striatum, and (3) ventral-striatal resting-state dynamics. We found a decreased neural activation in the ventral striatum during the anticipation of both small and large monetary rewards. Additionally, we show generally altered neurodynamics in this region independent of any specific task for WoW players (resting state). On the behavioral level, we found differences in trait SR, suggesting that the reward processing deficiencies found in this study are not a consequence of gaming, but predisposed to it. These findings empirically support a direct link between frequent online gaming and the broad field of behavioral and drug addiction research, thus opening new avenues for clinical interventions in addicted gamers and potentially improving the assessment of addiction-risk in the vast population of frequent gamers. PMID:25426039

Impulsive Choice, Alcohol Consumption, and Pre-Exposure to Delayed Rewards: II. Potential Mechanisms

PubMed Central

Stein, Jeffrey S.; Renda, C. Renee; Hinnenkamp, Jay E.; Madden, Gregory J.

2014-01-01

In a prior study (Stein et al., 2013), we reported that rats pre-exposed to delayed rewards made fewer impulsive choices, but consumed more alcohol (12% wt/vol), than rats pre-exposed to immediate rewards. To understand the mechanisms that produced these findings, we again pre-exposed rats to either delayed (17.5 s; n = 32) or immediate (n = 30) rewards. In post-tests, delay-exposed rats made significantly fewer impulsive choices at both 15- and 30-s delays to a larger, later food reward than the immediacy-exposed comparison group. Behavior in an open-field test provided little evidence of differential stress exposure between groups. Further, consumption of either 12% alcohol or isocaloric sucrose in subsequent tests did not differ between groups. Because Stein et al. introduced alcohol concentration gradually (3–12%), we speculate that their group differences in 12% alcohol consumption were not determined by alcohol’s pharmacological effects, but by another variable (e.g., taste) that was preserved as an artifact from lower concentrations. We conclude that pre-exposure to delayed rewards generalizes beyond the pre-exposure delay; however, this same experimental variable does not robustly influence alcohol consumption. PMID:25418607

Now for Me, Later for Us? Effects of Group Context on Temporal Discounting

PubMed Central

Charlton, Shawn R.; Yi, Richard; Porter, Caitlin; Carter, Anne E.; Bickel, Warren; Rachlin, Howard

2013-01-01

Delayed rewards are less valuable than immediate rewards. This well-established finding has focused almost entirely on individual outcomes. However, are delayed rewards similarly discounted if they are shared by a group? The current article reports on three experiments exploring the effect of group context on delay discounting. Results indicate that discount rates of individual and group rewards were highly correlated, but that respondents were more willing to wait (decreased discounting) for shared outcomes than for individual outcomes. An explanatory model is proposed suggesting that decreased discount rates in group contexts may be due to the way the effects of both delay and social discounting are combined. That is, in a group context, a person values both a future reward (discounted by delay) and a present reward to another person (discounted by the social distance between them). The results are explained by a combined discount function containing a delay factor and a factor representing the social distance between the decision maker and group members. Practical implications of the fact that shared consequences can increase individual self-control are also discussed. PMID:23641123

Temporal Discounting and Inter-Temporal Choice in Rhesus Monkeys

PubMed Central

Hwang, Jaewon; Kim, Soyoun; Lee, Daeyeol

2009-01-01

Humans and animals are more likely to take an action leading to an immediate reward than actions with delayed rewards of similar magnitudes. Although such devaluation of delayed rewards has been almost universally described by hyperbolic discount functions, the rate of this temporal discounting varies substantially among different animal species. This might be in part due to the differences in how the information about reward is presented to decision makers. In previous animal studies, reward delays or magnitudes were gradually adjusted across trials, so the animals learned the properties of future rewards from the rewards they waited for and consumed previously. In contrast, verbal cues have been used commonly in human studies. In the present study, rhesus monkeys were trained in a novel inter-temporal choice task in which the magnitude and delay of reward were indicated symbolically using visual cues and varied randomly across trials. We found that monkeys could extract the information about reward delays from visual symbols regardless of the number of symbols used to indicate the delay. The rate of temporal discounting observed in the present study was comparable to the previous estimates in other mammals, and the animal's choice behavior was largely consistent with hyperbolic discounting. Our results also suggest that the rate of temporal discounting might be influenced by contextual factors, such as the novelty of the task. The flexibility furnished by this new inter-temporal choice task might be useful for future neurobiological investigations on inter-temporal choice in non-human primates. PMID:19562091

Rewards modulate saccade latency but not exogenous spatial attention.

PubMed

Dunne, Stephen; Ellison, Amanda; Smith, Daniel T

2015-01-01

The eye movement system is sensitive to reward. However, whilst the eye movement system is extremely flexible, the extent to which changes to oculomotor behavior induced by reward paradigms persist beyond the training period or transfer to other oculomotor tasks is unclear. To address these issues we examined the effects of presenting feedback that represented small monetary rewards to spatial locations on the latency of saccadic eye movements, the time-course of learning and extinction of the effects of rewarding saccades on exogenous spatial attention and oculomotor inhibition of return. Reward feedback produced a relative facilitation of saccadic latency in a stimulus driven saccade task which persisted for three blocks of extinction trials. However, this hemifield-specific effect failed to transfer to peripheral cueing tasks. We conclude that rewarding specific spatial locations is unlikely to induce long-term, systemic changes to the human oculomotor or attention systems.

Neural and personality correlates of individual differences related to the effects of acute tryptophan depletion on future reward evaluation.

PubMed

Demoto, Yoshihiko; Okada, Go; Okamoto, Yasumasa; Kunisato, Yoshihiko; Aoyama, Shiori; Onoda, Keiichi; Munakata, Ayumi; Nomura, Michio; Tanaka, Saori C; Schweighofer, Nicolas; Doya, Kenji; Yamawaki, Shigeto

2012-01-01

In general, humans tend to discount the value of delayed reward. An increase in the rate of discounting leads to an inability to select a delayed reward over a smaller immediate reward (reward-delay impulsivity). Although deficits in the serotonergic system are implicated in this reward-delay impulsivity, there is individual variation in response to serotonin depletion. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the effects of serotonin depletion on the ability to evaluate future reward are affected by individual personality traits or brain activation. Personality traits were assessed using the NEO-Five Factor Inventory and Temperament and Character Inventory. The central serotonergic levels of 16 healthy volunteers were manipulated by dietary tryptophan depletion. Subjects performed a delayed reward choice task that required the continuous estimation of reward value during functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning. Discounting rates were increased in 9 participants, but were unchanged or decreased in 7 participants in response to tryptophan depletion. Participants whose discounting rate was increased by tryptophan depletion had significantly higher neuroticism and lower self-directedness. Furthermore, tryptophan depletion differentially affected the groups in terms of hemodynamic responses to the value of predicted future reward in the right insula. These results suggest that individuals who have high neuroticism and low self-directedness as personality traits are particularly vulnerable to the effect of low serotonin on future reward evaluation accompanied by altered brain activation patterns. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Neural correlates of reward processing in adults with 22q11 deletion syndrome.

PubMed

van Duin, Esther D A; Goossens, Liesbet; Hernaus, Dennis; da Silva Alves, Fabiana; Schmitz, Nicole; Schruers, Koen; van Amelsvoort, Therese

2016-01-01

22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) is caused by a microdeletion on chromosome 22q11.2 and associated with an increased risk to develop psychosis. The gene coding for catechol-O-methyl-transferase (COMT) is located at the deleted region, resulting in disrupted dopaminergic neurotransmission in 22q11DS, which may contribute to the increased vulnerability for psychosis. A dysfunctional motivational reward system is considered one of the salient features in psychosis and thought to be related to abnormal dopaminergic neurotransmission. The functional anatomy of the brain reward circuitry has not yet been investigated in 22q11DS. This study aims to investigate neural activity during anticipation of reward and loss in adult patients with 22q11DS. We measured blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) activity in 16 patients with 22q11DS and 12 healthy controls during a monetary incentive delay task using a 3T Philips Intera MRI system. Data were analysed using SPM8. During anticipation of reward, the 22q11DS group alone displayed significant activation in bilateral middle frontal and temporal brain regions. Compared to healthy controls, significantly less activation in bilateral cingulate gyrus extending to premotor, primary motor and somatosensory areas was found. During anticipation of loss, the 22q11DS group displayed activity in the left middle frontal gyrus and anterior cingulate cortex, and relative to controls, they showed reduced brain activation in bilateral (pre)cuneus and left posterior cingulate. Within the 22q11DS group, COMT Val hemizygotes displayed more activation compared to Met hemizygotes in right posterior cingulate and bilateral parietal regions during anticipation of reward. During anticipation of loss, COMT Met hemizygotes compared to Val hemizygotes showed more activation in bilateral insula, striatum and left anterior cingulate. This is the first study to investigate reward processing in 22q11DS. Our preliminary results suggest that people with 22q11DS engage a fronto-temporal neural network. Compared to healthy controls, people with 22q11DS primarily displayed reduced activity in medial frontal regions during reward anticipation. COMT hemizygosity affects responsivity of the reward system in this condition. Alterations in reward processing partly underlain by the dopamine system may play a role in susceptibility for psychosis in 22q11DS.

Trait Anticipatory Pleasure Predicts Effort Expenditure for Reward

PubMed Central

Geaney, Joachim T.; Treadway, Michael T.; Smillie, Luke D.

2015-01-01

Research in motivation and emotion has been increasingly influenced by the perspective that processes underpinning the motivated approach of rewarding goals are distinct from those underpinning enjoyment during reward consummation. This distinction recently inspired the construction of the Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale (TEPS), a self-report measure that distinguishes trait anticipatory pleasure (pre-reward feelings of desire) from consummatory pleasure (feelings of enjoyment and gratification upon reward attainment). In a university community sample (N = 97), we examined the TEPS subscales as predictors of (1) the willingness to expend effort for monetary rewards, and (2) affective responses to a pleasant mood induction procedure. Results showed that both anticipatory pleasure and a well-known trait measure of reward motivation predicted effort-expenditure for rewards when the probability of being rewarded was relatively low. Against expectations, consummatory pleasure was unrelated to induced pleasant affect. Taken together, our findings provide support for the validity of the TEPS anticipatory pleasure scale, but not the consummatory pleasure scale. PMID:26115223

Distinct Motivational Effects of Contingent and Noncontingent Rewards.

PubMed

Manohar, Sanjay G; Finzi, Rebecca Dawn; Drew, Daniel; Husain, Masud

2017-07-01

When rewards are available, people expend more energy, increasing their motivational vigor. In theory, incentives might drive behavior for two distinct reasons: First, they increase expected reward; second, they increase the difference in subjective value between successful and unsuccessful performance, which increases contingency-the degree to which action determines outcome. Previous studies of motivational vigor have never compared these directly. Here, we indexed motivational vigor by measuring the speed of eye movements toward a target after participants heard a cue indicating how outcomes would be determined. Eye movements were faster when the cue indicated that monetary rewards would be contingent on performance than when the cue indicated that rewards would be random. But even when the cue indicated that a reward was guaranteed regardless of speed, movement was still faster than when no reward was available. Motivation by contingent and certain rewards was uncorrelated across individuals, which suggests that there are two separable, independent components of motivation. Contingent motivation generated autonomic arousal, and unlike noncontingent motivation, was effective with penalties as well as rewards.

Neural dynamics of reward probability coding: a Magnetoencephalographic study in humans

PubMed Central

Thomas, Julie; Vanni-Mercier, Giovanna; Dreher, Jean-Claude

2013-01-01

Prediction of future rewards and discrepancy between actual and expected outcomes (prediction error) are crucial signals for adaptive behavior. In humans, a number of fMRI studies demonstrated that reward probability modulates these two signals in a large brain network. Yet, the spatio-temporal dynamics underlying the neural coding of reward probability remains unknown. Here, using magnetoencephalography, we investigated the neural dynamics of prediction and reward prediction error computations while subjects learned to associate cues of slot machines with monetary rewards with different probabilities. We showed that event-related magnetic fields (ERFs) arising from the visual cortex coded the expected reward value 155 ms after the cue, demonstrating that reward value signals emerge early in the visual stream. Moreover, a prediction error was reflected in ERF peaking 300 ms after the rewarded outcome and showing decreasing amplitude with higher reward probability. This prediction error signal was generated in a network including the anterior and posterior cingulate cortex. These findings pinpoint the spatio-temporal characteristics underlying reward probability coding. Together, our results provide insights into the neural dynamics underlying the ability to learn probabilistic stimuli-reward contingencies. PMID:24302894

Negative reinforcement impairs overnight memory consolidation.

PubMed

Stamm, Andrew W; Nguyen, Nam D; Seicol, Benjamin J; Fagan, Abigail; Oh, Angela; Drumm, Michael; Lundt, Maureen; Stickgold, Robert; Wamsley, Erin J

2014-11-01

Post-learning sleep is beneficial for human memory. However, it may be that not all memories benefit equally from sleep. Here, we manipulated a spatial learning task using monetary reward and performance feedback, asking whether enhancing the salience of the task would augment overnight memory consolidation and alter its incorporation into dreaming. Contrary to our hypothesis, we found that the addition of reward impaired overnight consolidation of spatial memory. Our findings seemingly contradict prior reports that enhancing the reward value of learned information augments sleep-dependent memory processing. Given that the reward followed a negative reinforcement paradigm, consolidation may have been impaired via a stress-related mechanism. © 2014 Stamm et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

Delay Discounting: I'm a "K", You're a "K"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Odum, Amy L.

2011-01-01

Delay discounting is the decline in the present value of a reward with delay to its receipt. Across a variety of species, populations, and reward types, value declines hyperbolically with delay. Value declines steeply with shorter delays, but more shallowly with longer delays. Quantitative modeling provides precise measures to characterize the…

ADHD and Delay Aversion: The Influence of Non-Temporal Stimulation on Choice for Delayed Rewards

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Antrop, Inge; Stock, Pieter; Verte, Sylvie; Wiersema, Jan Roelt; Baeyens, Dieter; Roeyers, Herbert

2006-01-01

Background: Delay aversion, the motivation to escape or avoid delay, results in preference for small immediate over large delayed rewards. Delay aversion has been proposed as one distinctive psychological process that may underlie the behavioural symptoms and cognitive deficits of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Furthermore, the…

Anticipatory reward processing among cocaine-dependent individuals with and without concurrent methadone-maintenance treatment: Relationship to treatment response*

PubMed Central

Yip, Sarah W.; DeVito, Elise E.; Kober, Hedy; Worhunsky, Patrick D.; Carroll, Kathleen M.; Potenza, Marc N.

2016-01-01

Background Cocaine dependence among opioid-dependent methadone-maintained individuals is a significant public health problem and is particularly challenging to treat. The neurobiology of this clinically complex population has not been previously assessed using fMRI. Methods fMRI data from cocaine-dependent, methadone-maintained (CD-MM) patients (n=24), cocaine-dependent (CD) patients (n=20) and healthy comparison (HC; n=21) participants were acquired during monetary incentive delay task performance. All patients were scanned prior to treatment for cocaine dependence. Between-group differences in anticipatory reward and loss processing were assessed using whole-brain ANOVAs in SPM12 (pFWE<.05). Correlations between durations of abstinence during treatment and BOLD responses within the insula and caudate were also explored. Results Main effects of diagnostic group, primarily involving decreased BOLD responses among CD-MM patients in comparison to HCs, were observed during anticipatory reward and loss processing within regions of posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus, inferior frontal gyrus and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. BOLD responses within the right caudate were negatively associated with percentage of cocaine-negative urines during treatment among CD-MM patients, but not among non-methadone-maintained CD patients. Conclusions These data suggest neurofunctional differences that may be related to treatment outcomes for behavioral therapies between cocaine-dependent individuals with and without methadone-maintenance treatment. These findings may relate to differences in treatment efficacies and to the elevated relapse rates observed in methadone-maintained populations. PMID:27430401

Two-week administration of the combined serotonin-noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor duloxetine augments functioning of mesolimbic incentive processing circuits.

PubMed

Ossewaarde, Lindsey; Verkes, Robbert J; Hermans, Erno J; Kooijman, Sabine C; Urner, Maren; Tendolkar, Indira; van Wingen, Guido A; Fernández, Guillén

2011-09-15

Anhedonia and lack of motivation are core symptoms of major depressive disorder (MDD). Neuroimaging studies in MDD patients have shown reductions in reward-related activity in terminal regions of the mesolimbic dopamine (DA) system, such as the ventral striatum. Monoamines have been implicated in both mesolimbic incentive processing and the mechanism of action of antidepressant drugs. However, not much is known about antidepressant effects on mesolimbic incentive processing in humans, which might be related to the effects on anhedonia. To investigate the short-term effects of antidepressants on reward-related activity in the ventral striatum, we investigated the effect of the combined serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor duloxetine. Healthy volunteers underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study. After taking duloxetine (60 mg once a day) or placebo for 14 days, participants completed a monetary incentive delay task that activates the ventral striatum during reward anticipation. Our results (n = 19) show enhanced ventral striatal responses after duloxetine administration compared with placebo. Moreover, this increase in ventral striatal activity was positively correlated with duloxetine plasma levels. This is the first study to demonstrate that antidepressants augment neural activity in mesolimbic DA incentive processing circuits in healthy volunteers. These effects are likely caused by the increase in monoamine neurotransmission in the ventral striatum. Our findings suggest that antidepressants may alleviate anhedonia by stimulating incentive processing. Copyright © 2011 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The stability of the feedback negativity and its relationship with depression during childhood and adolescence.

PubMed

Bress, Jennifer N; Meyer, Alexandria; Proudfit, Greg Hajcak

2015-11-01

Feedback negativity (FN) is an event-related potential elicited by monetary reward and loss; it is thought to relate to reward-related neural activity and has been linked to depression in children and adults. In the current study, we examined the stability of FN, and its relationship with depression in adolescents, over 2 years in 45 8- to 13-year-old children. From Time 1 to Time 2, FN in response to monetary loss and in response to monetary gain showed moderate to strong reliability (rs = .64 and .67, respectively); these relationships remained significant even when accounting for related variables. FN also demonstrated high within-session reliability. Moreover, the relationship between a blunted FN and greater depression observed at Time 1 was reproduced at Time 2, and the magnitude of FN at Time 1 predicted depressive symptomatology at Time 2. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that FN and its relationship with depression remain consistent over the course of development, and that FN may prospectively predict later depressive symptomatology. The current results suggest that FN may be suitable as a biomarker of depressive symptoms during adolescence.

Counterfactual thinking affects the excitability of the motor cortex.

PubMed

Vicario, Carmelo M; Rafal, Robert D; Avenanti, Alessio

2015-04-01

Evidence suggests that monetary reward and affective experiences induce activity in the cortical motor system. Nevertheless, it is unclear whether counterfactual thinking related to wrong choices that lead to monetary loss and regret affects motor excitability. Using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the motor cortex, we measured corticospinal excitability of 2 groups of healthy humans asked to actively guess the winning key among two possible alternatives (choice group); or passively assist to monetary outcomes randomly selected by the computer program (follow group). Results document a selective increment of the corticospinal excitability when a monetary loss outcome followed the key selection (i.e., in the choice group). On the other hand, no change in corticospinal excitability was found when participants passively assisted to a monetary loss randomly selected by the computer program (i.e., follow group). These findings suggest that counterfactual thinking and the negative emotional experiences arising from choices causing monetary loss--i.e., "I would have won instead of lost money if I'd made a different choice"--are mapped in the motor system. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cognitive biases in binge eating disorder: the hijacking of decision making.

PubMed

Voon, Valerie

2015-12-01

Binge eating disorder (BED) is the most common of eating disorders and is characterized by excessive, out-of-control, rapid food intake. This review focuses on cognitive impairments in BED, which represent an endophenotype that mediates brain function and behavior. Here we focus on reviewing impulsivity, compulsivity, attentional biases to food cues, and executive function. Behavioral regulation in BED appears to be influenced by the context of motivationally salient food cues and the degree of obesity. Deficits in delay discounting and risk taking under ambiguity are impaired in obesity irrespective of BED status. However, in BED subjects with milder obesity, greater risk seeking under explicit probabilistic risk is observed to monetary rewards, whereas this shifts to risk aversion and enhanced delay discounting in more severe obesity. Relative to non-BED obese subjects, BED is characterized by enhanced behavioral inflexibility or compulsivity across multiple domains, with subjects selecting the same choices despite change in relevance (set shifting), being no longer rewarding (habit formation), or irrespective of outcome (perseveration). The context of food cues was associated with multiple attentional and early and late inhibitory impairments and enhanced memory bias, although BED patients also have generalized cognitive interference in working memory. These findings may help explain the phenotype of binge eating. Motivationally salient food cues provoke attentional and memory biases along with impairing response inhibitory processes. Those with BED are also more susceptible to cognitive interference and have impaired decisional impulsivity, with the tendency to inflexibly stick with the same choices irrespective of changes in context. These findings suggest critical cognitive domains that may guide therapeutic interventions.

Decisions in Motion: Decision Dynamics during Intertemporal Choice reflect Subjective Evaluation of Delayed Rewards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'Hora, Denis; Carey, Rachel; Kervick, Aoife; Crowley, David; Dabrowski, Maciej

2016-02-01

People tend to discount rewards or losses that occur in the future. Such delay discounting has been linked to many behavioral and health problems, since people choose smaller short-term gains over greater long-term gains. We investigated whether the effect of delays on the subjective value of rewards is expressed in how people move when they make choices. Over 600 patrons of the RISK LAB exhibition hosted by the Science Gallery DublinTM played a short computer game in which they used a computer mouse to choose between amounts of money at various delays. Typical discounting effects were observed and decision dynamics indicated that choosing smaller short-term rewards became easier (i.e., shorter response times, tighter trajectories, less vacillation) as the delays until later rewards increased. Based on a sequence of choices, subjective values of delayed outcomes were estimated and decision dynamics during initial choices predicted these values. Decision dynamics are affected by subjective values of available options and thus provide a means to estimate such values.

Positive mood effects on delay discounting.

PubMed

Hirsh, Jacob B; Guindon, Alex; Morisano, Dominique; Peterson, Jordan B

2010-10-01

Delay discounting is the process by which the value of an expected reward decreases as the delay to obtaining that reward increases. Individuals with higher discounting rates tend to prefer smaller immediate rewards over larger delayed rewards. Previous research has indicated that personality can influence an individual's discounting rates, with higher levels of Extraversion predicting a preference for immediate gratification. The current study examined how this relationship would be influenced by situational mood inductions. While main effects were observed for both Extraversion and cognitive ability in the prediction of discounting rates, a significant interaction was also observed between Extraversion and positive affect. Extraverted individuals were more likely to prefer an immediate reward when first put in a positive mood. Extraverts thus appear particularly sensitive to impulsive, incentive-reward-driven behavior by temperament and by situational factors heightening positive affect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

Modulation of meso-limbic reward processing by motivational tendencies in young adolescents and adults

PubMed Central

Joseph, Jane E.; Zhu, Xun; Lynam, Donald; Kelly, Thomas H.

2015-01-01

Adolescence is a particularly vulnerable period for the onset of substance use disorders and other psychopathology. Individual variability in motivational tendencies and temperament and significant changes in functional brain organization during adolescence are important factors to consider in the development of substance use and dependence. Recent conceptualizations suggest that sensitivity to reward is heightened in adolescence and that this motivation tendency may precipitate subsequent substance abuse. The present study examined the role of personality traits in mesolimbic neurobehavioral response on a monetary incentive delay (MID) task in young adolescents (11–14 years) and emerging adults (18–25 years) using functional magnetic resonance imaging. As a group, adolescents were not more sensitive to gains than losses compared to adults during either anticipatory and feedback phases; instead, compared to adults they showed less sensitivity to incentive magnitude in mesolimbic circuitry during anticipation and feedback stages. However, personality modulated this response such that adolescents high in impulsivity or low in avoidance tendencies showed greater gain sensitivity and adolescents high in avoidance showed greater loss sensitivity during cue anticipation. In adults, mesolimbic response was modulated by the impulsivity construct such that high-impulsive adults showed reduced magnitude sensitivity during both anticipation and feedback compared to low impulsive adults. The present findings suggest that impulsive personality significantly modulates mesolimbic reward response during both adolescence and adulthood but avoidance and approach tendencies also modulate this response in adolescents. Moreover, personality modulated incentive valence in adolescents but incentive magnitude in adults. Collectively, these findings suggest that mesolimbic reward circuitry function is modulated by somewhat different parameters in adolescence than in adulthood. PMID:26690806

Influence of supraliminal reward information on unconsciously triggered response inhibition.

PubMed

Diao, Liuting; Ding, Cody; Qi, Senqing; Zeng, Qinghong; Huang, Bo; Xu, Mengsi; Fan, Lingxia; Yang, Dong

2014-01-01

Although executive functions (e.g., response inhibition) are often thought to interact consciously with reward, recent studies have demonstrated that they can also be triggered by unconscious stimuli. Further research has suggested a close relationship between consciously and unconsciously triggered response inhibition. To date, however, the effect of reward on unconsciously triggered response inhibition has not been explored. To address this issue, participants in this study performed runs of a modified Go/No-Go task during which they were exposed to both high and low value monetary rewards presented both supraliminally and subliminally. Participants were informed that they would earn the reward displayed if they responded correctly to each trial of the run. According to the results, when rewards were presented supraliminally, a greater unconsciously triggered response inhibition was observed for high-value rewards than for low-value rewards. In contrast, when rewards were presented subliminally, no enhanced unconsciously triggered response inhibition was observed. Results revealed that supraliminal and subliminal rewards have distinct effects on unconsciously triggered response inhibition. These findings have important implications for extending our understanding of the relationship between reward and response inhibition.

Influence of Supraliminal Reward Information on Unconsciously Triggered Response Inhibition

PubMed Central

Diao, Liuting; Ding, Cody; Qi, Senqing; Zeng, Qinghong; Huang, Bo; Xu, Mengsi; Fan, Lingxia; Yang, Dong

2014-01-01

Although executive functions (e.g., response inhibition) are often thought to interact consciously with reward, recent studies have demonstrated that they can also be triggered by unconscious stimuli. Further research has suggested a close relationship between consciously and unconsciously triggered response inhibition. To date, however, the effect of reward on unconsciously triggered response inhibition has not been explored. To address this issue, participants in this study performed runs of a modified Go/No-Go task during which they were exposed to both high and low value monetary rewards presented both supraliminally and subliminally. Participants were informed that they would earn the reward displayed if they responded correctly to each trial of the run. According to the results, when rewards were presented supraliminally, a greater unconsciously triggered response inhibition was observed for high-value rewards than for low-value rewards. In contrast, when rewards were presented subliminally, no enhanced unconsciously triggered response inhibition was observed. Results revealed that supraliminal and subliminal rewards have distinct effects on unconsciously triggered response inhibition. These findings have important implications for extending our understanding of the relationship between reward and response inhibition. PMID:25268227

Time and decision making: differential contribution of the posterior insular cortex and the striatum during a delay discounting task.

PubMed

Wittmann, Marc; Leland, David S; Paulus, Martin P

2007-06-01

Delay discounting refers to the fact that an immediate reward is valued more than the same reward if it occurs some time in the future. To examine the neural substrates underlying this process, we studied 13 healthy volunteers who repeatedly had to decide between an immediate and parametrically varied delayed hypothetical reward using a delay discounting task during event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging. Subject's preference judgments resulted in different discounting slopes for shorter (<1 year) and for longer (> or =1 year) delays. Neural activation associated with the shorter delays relative to the longer delays was associated with increased activation in the head of the left caudate nucleus and putamen. When individuals selected the delayed relative to the immediate reward, a strong activation was found in bilateral posterior insular cortex. Several brain areas including the left caudate nucleus showed a correlation between the behaviorally determined discounting and brain activation for the contrast of intervals with delays <1 and > or =1 year. These results suggest that (1) the posterior insula, which is a critical component of the decision-making neural network, is involved in delaying gratification and (2) the degree of neural activation in the striatum, which plays a fundamental role in reward prediction and in time estimation, may code for the time delay.

Impaired flexibility in decision making in rats after administration of the pharmacological stressor yohimbine.

PubMed

Schwager, Andrea L; Haack, Andrew K; Taha, Sharif A

2014-10-01

Stress-induced disruption of decision making has been hypothesized to contribute to drug-seeking behaviors and addiction. Noradrenergic signaling plays a central role in mediating stress responses. However, the effects of acute stress on decision making, and the role of noradrenergic signaling in regulating these effects, have not been well characterized. To characterize changes in decision making caused by acute pharmacological stress, the effects of yohimbine (an α2-adrenergic antagonist) were examined in a delay discounting task. Noradrenergic contributions to decision making were further characterized by examining the effects of propranolol (a β antagonist), prazosin (an α1 antagonist), and guanfacine (an α2 agonist). Sprague-Dawley rats were administered drugs prior to performance on a delay discounting task, in which the delay preceding the large reward increased within each session (ascending delays). To dissociate drug-induced changes in delay sensitivity from behavioral inflexibility, drug effects were subsequently tested in a modified version of the discounting task, in which the delay preceding the large reward decreased within each session (descending delays). Yohimbine increased choice of the large reward when tested with ascending delays but decreased choice of the same large reward when tested with descending delays, suggesting that drug effects could be attributed to perseverative choice of the lever preferred at the beginning of the session. Propranolol increased choice of the large reward when tested with ascending delays. Prazosin and guanfacine had no effect on reward choice. The stress-like effects of yohimbine administration may impair decision making by causing inflexible, perseverative behavior.

Electromyographic Activity of Hand Muscles in a Motor Coordination Game: Effect of Incentive Scheme and Its Relation with Social Capital

PubMed Central

Censolo, Roberto; Craighero, Laila; Ponti, Giovanni; Rizzo, Leonzio; Canto, Rosario; Fadiga, Luciano

2011-01-01

Background A vast body of social and cognitive psychology studies in humans reports evidence that external rewards, typically monetary ones, undermine intrinsic motivation. These findings challenge the standard selfish-rationality assumption at the core of economic reasoning. In the present work we aimed at investigating whether the different modulation of a given monetary reward automatically and unconsciously affects effort and performance of participants involved in a game devoid of visual and verbal interaction and without any perspective-taking activity. Methodology/Principal Findings Twelve pairs of participants were submitted to a simple motor coordination game while recording the electromyographic activity of First Dorsal Interosseus (FDI), the muscle mainly involved in the task. EMG data show a clear effect of alternative rewards strategies on subjects' motor behavior. Moreover, participants' stock of relevant past social experiences, measured by a specifically designed questionnaire, was significantly correlated with EMG activity, showing that only low social capital subjects responded to monetary incentives consistently with a standard rationality prediction. Conclusions/Significance Our findings show that the effect of extrinsic motivations on performance may arise outside social contexts involving complex cognitive processes due to conscious perspective-taking activity. More importantly, the peculiar performance of low social capital individuals, in agreement with standard economic reasoning, adds to the knowledge of the circumstances that makes the crowding out/in of intrinsic motivation likely to occur. This may help in improving the prediction and accuracy of economic models and reconcile this puzzling effect of external incentives with economic theory. PMID:21464986

Neurological Correlates of Reward Responding in Adolescents With and Without Externalizing Behavior Disorders

PubMed Central

Gatzke-Kopp, Lisa M.; Beauchaine, Theodore P.; Shannon, Katherine E.; Chipman, Jane; Fleming, Andrew P.; Crowell, Sheila E.; Liang, Olivia; Aylward, Elizabeth; Johnson, L. Clark

2009-01-01

Opposing theories of striatal hyper- and hypodopaminergic functioning have been suggested in the pathophysiology of externalizing behavior disorders. To test these competing theories, the authors used functional MRI to evaluate neural activity during a simple reward task in 12- to 16-year-old boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and/or conduct disorder (n = 19) and in controls with no psychiatric condition (n = 11). The task proceeded in blocks during which participants received either (a) monetary incentives for correct responses or (b) no rewards for correct responses. Controls exhibited striatal activation only during reward, shifting to anterior cingulate activation during nonreward. In contrast, externalizing adolescents exhibited striatal activation during both reward and nonreward. Externalizing psychopathology appears to be characterized by deficits in processing the omission of predicted reward, which may render behaviors that are acquired through environmental contingencies difficult to extinguish when those contingencies change. PMID:19222326

Nucleus accumbens core lesions induce sub-optimal choice and reduce sensitivity to magnitude and delay in impulsive choice tasks

PubMed Central

Steele, Catherine C.; Peterson, Jennifer R.; Marshall, Andrew T.; Stuebing, Sarah L.; Kirkpatrick, Kimberly

2017-01-01

The nucleus accumbens core (NAc) has long been recognized as an important contributor to the computation of reward value that is critical for impulsive choice behavior. Impulsive choice refers to choosing a smaller-sooner (SS) over a larger-later (LL) reward when the LL is more optimal in terms of the rate of reward delivery. Two experiments examined the role of the NAc in impulsive choice and its component processes of delay and magnitude processing. Experiment 1 delivered an impulsive choice task with manipulations of LL reward magnitude, followed by a reward magnitude discrimination task. Experiment 2 tested impulsive choice under manipulations of LL delay, followed by temporal bisection and progressive interval tasks. NAc lesions, in comparison to sham control lesions, produced suboptimal preferences that resulted in lower reward earning rates, and led to reduced sensitivity to magnitude and delay within the impulsive choice task. The secondary tasks revealed intact reward magnitude and delay discrimination abilities, but the lesion rats persisted in responding more as the progressive interval increased during the session. The results suggest that the NAc is most critical for demonstrating good sensitivity to magnitude and delay, and adjusting behavior accordingly. Ultimately, the NAc lesions induced suboptimal choice behavior rather than simply promoting impulsive choice, suggesting that an intact NAc is necessary for optimal decision making. PMID:29146281

Oxytocin modulates hemodynamic responses to monetary incentives in humans

PubMed Central

Mickey, Brian J.; Heffernan, Joseph; Heisel, Curtis; Peciña, Marta; Hsu, David T.; Zubieta, Jon-Kar; Love, Tiffany M.

2016-01-01

Oxytocin is a neuropeptide widely recognized for its role in regulating social and reproductive behavior. Increasing evidence from animal models suggests that oxytocin also modulates reward circuitry in non-social contexts, but evidence in humans is lacking. Here we examined the effects of oxytocin administration on reward circuit function in 18 healthy men as they performed a monetary incentive task. The blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging in the context of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial of intranasal oxytocin. We found that oxytocin increases the BOLD signal in the midbrain (substantia nigra and ventral tegmental area) during the late phase of the hemodynamic response to incentive stimuli. Oxytocin’s effects on midbrain responses correlated positively with its effects on positive emotional state. We did not detect an effect of oxytocin on responses in the nucleus accumbens. Whole-brain analyses revealed that oxytocin attenuated medial prefrontal cortical deactivation specifically during anticipation of loss. Our findings demonstrate that intranasal administration of oxytocin modulates human midbrain and medial prefrontal function during motivated behavior. These findings suggest that endogenous oxytocin is a neurochemical mediator of reward behaviors in humans – even in a non-social context – and that the oxytocinergic system is a potential target of pharmacotherapy for psychiatric disorders that involve dysfunction of reward circuitry. PMID:27614896

The influence of emotion regulation on decision-making under risk.

PubMed

Martin, Laura N; Delgado, Mauricio R

2011-09-01

Cognitive strategies typically involved in regulating negative emotions have recently been shown to also be effective with positive emotions associated with monetary rewards. However, it is less clear how these strategies influence behavior, such as preferences expressed during decision-making under risk, and the underlying neural circuitry. That is, can the effective use of emotion regulation strategies during presentation of a reward-conditioned stimulus influence decision-making under risk and neural structures involved in reward processing such as the striatum? To investigate this question, we asked participants to engage in imagery-focused regulation strategies during the presentation of a cue that preceded a financial decision-making phase. During the decision phase, participants then made a choice between a risky and a safe monetary lottery. Participants who successfully used cognitive regulation, as assessed by subjective ratings about perceived success and facility in implementation of strategies, made fewer risky choices in comparison with trials where decisions were made in the absence of cognitive regulation. Additionally, BOLD responses in the striatum were attenuated during decision-making as a function of successful emotion regulation. These findings suggest that exerting cognitive control over emotional responses can modulate neural responses associated with reward processing (e.g., striatum) and promote more goal-directed decision-making (e.g., less risky choices), illustrating the potential importance of cognitive strategies in curbing risk-seeking behaviors before they become maladaptive (e.g., substance abuse).

P300 amplitude variation is related to ventral striatum BOLD response during gain and loss anticipation: an EEG and fMRI experiment.

PubMed

Pfabigan, Daniela M; Seidel, Eva-Maria; Sladky, Ronald; Hahn, Andreas; Paul, Katharina; Grahl, Arvina; Küblböck, Martin; Kraus, Christoph; Hummer, Allan; Kranz, Georg S; Windischberger, Christian; Lanzenberger, Rupert; Lamm, Claus

2014-08-01

The anticipation of favourable or unfavourable events is a key component in our daily life. However, the temporal dynamics of anticipation processes in relation to brain activation are still not fully understood. A modified version of the monetary incentive delay task was administered during separate functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalogram (EEG) sessions in the same 25 participants to assess anticipatory processes with a multi-modal neuroimaging set-up. During fMRI, gain and loss anticipation were both associated with heightened activation in ventral striatum and reward-related areas. EEG revealed most pronounced P300 amplitudes for gain anticipation, whereas CNV amplitudes distinguished neutral from gain and loss anticipation. Importantly, P300, but not CNV amplitudes, were correlated to neural activation in the ventral striatum for both gain and loss anticipation. Larger P300 amplitudes indicated higher ventral striatum blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) response. Early stimulus evaluation processes indexed by EEG seem to be positively related to higher activation levels in the ventral striatum, indexed by fMRI, which are usually associated with reward processing. The current results, however, point towards a more general motivational mechanism processing salient stimuli during anticipation. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Valence-dependent influence of serotonin depletion on model-based choice strategy

PubMed Central

Worbe, Y; Palminteri, S; Savulich, G; Daw, N D; Fernandez-Egea, E; Robbins, T W; Voon, V

2016-01-01

Human decision-making arises from both reflective and reflexive mechanisms, which underpin goal-directed and habitual behavioural control. Computationally, these two systems of behavioural control have been described by different learning algorithms, model-based and model-free learning, respectively. Here, we investigated the effect of diminished serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) neurotransmission using dietary tryptophan depletion (TD) in healthy volunteers on the performance of a two-stage decision-making task, which allows discrimination between model-free and model-based behavioural strategies. A novel version of the task was used, which not only examined choice balance for monetary reward but also for punishment (monetary loss). TD impaired goal-directed (model-based) behaviour in the reward condition, but promoted it under punishment. This effect on appetitive and aversive goal-directed behaviour is likely mediated by alteration of the average reward representation produced by TD, which is consistent with previous studies. Overall, the major implication of this study is that serotonin differentially affects goal-directed learning as a function of affective valence. These findings are relevant for a further understanding of psychiatric disorders associated with breakdown of goal-directed behavioural control such as obsessive-compulsive disorders or addictions. PMID:25869808

Decisions in Motion: Decision Dynamics during Intertemporal Choice reflect Subjective Evaluation of Delayed Rewards

PubMed Central

O’Hora, Denis; Carey, Rachel; Kervick, Aoife; Crowley, David; Dabrowski, Maciej

2016-01-01

People tend to discount rewards or losses that occur in the future. Such delay discounting has been linked to many behavioral and health problems, since people choose smaller short-term gains over greater long-term gains. We investigated whether the effect of delays on the subjective value of rewards is expressed in how people move when they make choices. Over 600 patrons of the RISK LAB exhibition hosted by the Science Gallery DublinTM played a short computer game in which they used a computer mouse to choose between amounts of money at various delays. Typical discounting effects were observed and decision dynamics indicated that choosing smaller short-term rewards became easier (i.e., shorter response times, tighter trajectories, less vacillation) as the delays until later rewards increased. Based on a sequence of choices, subjective values of delayed outcomes were estimated and decision dynamics during initial choices predicted these values. Decision dynamics are affected by subjective values of available options and thus provide a means to estimate such values. PMID:26867497

Ethanol induces impulsive-like responding in a delay-of-reward operant choice procedure: impulsivity predicts autoshaping.

PubMed

Tomie, A; Aguado, A S; Pohorecky, L A; Benjamin, D

1998-10-01

Autoshaping conditioned responses (CRs) are reflexive and targeted motor responses expressed as a result of experience with reward. To evaluate the hypothesis that autoshaping may be a form of impulsive responding, within-subjects correlations between performance on autoshaping and impulsivity tasks were assessed in 15 Long-Evans hooded rats. Autoshaping procedures [insertion of retractable lever conditioned stimulus (CS) followed by the response-independent delivery of food (US)] were followed by testing for impulsive-like responding in a two-choice lever-press operant delay-of-reward procedure (immediate small food reward versus delayed large food reward). Delay-of-reward functions revealed two distinct subject populations. Subjects in the Sensitive group (n=7) were more impulsive-like, increasing immediate reward choices at longer delays for large reward, while those in the Insensitive group (n=8) responded predominantly on only one lever. During the prior autoshaping phase, the Sensitive group had performed more autoshaping CRs, and correlations revealed that impulsive subjects acquired the autoshaping CR in fewer trials. In the Sensitive group, acute injections of ethanol (0, 0.25, 0.50, 1.00, 1.50 g/kg) given immediately before delay-of-reward sessions yielded an inverted U-shaped dose-response curve with increased impulsivity induced by the 0.25, 0.50, and 1.00 g/kg doses of ethanol, while choice strategy of the Insensitive group was not influenced by ethanol dose. Ethanol induced impulsive-like responding only in rats that were flexible in their response strategy (Sensitive group), and this group also performed more autoshaping CRs. Data support the hypothesis that autoshaping and impulsivity are linked.

Dorsal Raphe Serotonergic Neurons Control Intertemporal Choice under Trade-off.

PubMed

Xu, Sangyu; Das, Gishnu; Hueske, Emily; Tonegawa, Susumu

2017-10-23

Appropriate choice about delayed reward is fundamental to the survival of animals. Although animals tend to prefer immediate reward, delaying gratification is often advantageous. The dorsal raphe (DR) serotonergic neurons have long been implicated in the processing of delayed reward, but it has been unclear whether or when their activity causally directs choice. Here, we transiently augmented or reduced the activity of DR serotonergic neurons, while mice decided between differently delayed rewards as they performed a novel odor-guided intertemporal choice task. We found that these manipulations, precisely targeted at the decision point, were sufficient to bidirectionally influence impulsive choice. The manipulation specifically affected choices with more difficult trade-off. Similar effects were observed when we manipulated the serotonergic projections to the nucleus accumbens (NAc). We propose that DR serotonergic neurons preempt reward delays at the decision point and play a critical role in suppressing impulsive choice by regulating decision trade-off. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Registered nurses' experiences of rewarding in a Finnish University Hospital - an interview study.

PubMed

Seitovirta, Jaana; Partanen, Pirjo; Vehviläinen-Julkunen, Katri; Kvist, Tarja

2015-10-01

The purpose was to describe Finnish registered nurses' experiences of rewarding. The aim was to gather detailed information on the rewarding of nurses to help nurse managers and leaders to update existing reward strategy and to develop an effective reward system. Rewarding has been found positively to influence nurses' occupational well-being and commitment to their work, and the attractiveness of the health care field. A series of focused interviews with 10 registered nurses was conducted in 2011. Qualitative content analysis method was used. The nurses reported positive experiences with rewarding in the form of monetary compensation and other benefits, the positive aspects of nursing work and opportunities for professional development. The experiences of unsatisfactory rewarding generally stemmed from negative emotional experiences, lacking rewards and inequality in rewarding. It is essential to listen to nurses and to provide appropriate acknowledgement and appreciation of their work in order to develop an effective reward system. It is important to listen to nurses' experiences of rewarding because it enables nurse managers to maintain and increase the attractiveness of nursing and health care work in general. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Propranolol reduces reference-dependence in intertemporal choice

PubMed Central

Lempert, Karolina M.; Lackovic, Sandra F.; Tobe, Russell H.; Glimcher, Paul W.

2017-01-01

Abstract In intertemporal choices between immediate and delayed rewards, people tend to prefer immediate rewards, often even when the delayed reward is larger. This is known as temporal discounting. It has been proposed that this tendency emerges because immediate rewards are more emotionally arousing than delayed rewards. However, in our previous research, we found no evidence for this but instead found that arousal responses (indexed with pupil dilation) in intertemporal choice are context-dependent. Specifically, arousal tracks the subjective value of the more variable reward option in the paradigm, whether it is immediate or delayed. Nevertheless, people tend to choose the less variable option in the choice task. In other words, their choices are reference-dependent and depend on variance in their recent history of offers. This suggests that there may be a causal relationship between reference-dependent choice and arousal, which we investigate here by reducing arousal pharmacologically using propranolol. Here, we show that propranolol reduces reference-dependence, leading to choices that are less influenced by recent history and more internally consistent. PMID:28992268

Delay of Gratification, Delay Discounting and their Associations with Age, Episodic Future Thinking, and Future Time Perspective

PubMed Central

Göllner, Lars M.; Ballhausen, Nicola; Kliegel, Matthias; Forstmeier, Simon

2018-01-01

The delay of gratification (DoG) in children is widely investigated with an experimental procedure originally called the “marshmallow test,” whereas the studies on self-regulation (SR) in adolescents and adults usually use self-report questionnaires. Delay discounting (DD) measures simplify the DoG procedure and focus on monetary rewards. The aim of this study was to investigate age differences in DoG and DD from childhood to old age using a test that is suitable for both children and adults. Furthermore, investigations were conducted on the association between DoG/DD and two future orientation constructs [future time perspective (FTP) and episodic future thinking (EFT)] as well as age differences in these constructs. Participants from five age groups (9–14, 18–25, 35–55, 65–80, 80+) participated in the study (N = 96). While we found no age difference for DoG, DD was the lowest [i.e., self-control (SC) was the highest] in young/middle adults; however, it was the highest (i.e., SC was the lowest) in children and old/oldest adults. Furthermore, we found significant age differences for DD and FTP. As predicted, there were strong correlations between DoG and FTP and between DD and FTP, but not between DoG/DD and EFT. These results indicate that age differences in SR vary across the measures used. Individuals who generally think and act in a future-oriented manner have a stronger ability to delay gratification. PMID:29422875

Candy and the Brain: Neural Response to Candy Gains and Losses

PubMed Central

Luking, Katherine R; Barch, Deanna M

2013-01-01

Incentive processing is a critical component of a host of cognitive processes including attention, motivation, and learning. Neuroimaging studies have clarified the neural systems underlying processing of primary and secondary rewards in adults. However, current reward paradigms have hindered comparison across these reward types as well as between age groups. To address methodological issues regarding timing of incentive delivery (during versus post-scan) and the age-appropriateness of the incentive type we utilized fMRI and a modified version of a card guessing game (CGG), where candy pieces delivered post-scan served as the reinforcer, to investigate neural responses to incentives. Healthy young adults aged 22–26 years won and lost large and small amounts of candy based on their ability to guess the number on a mystery card. BOLD activity was compared following candy gain (large/small), loss (large/small) and neutral feedback. During candy gains, adults recruited regions typically involved in response to monetary and other rewards such as the caudate, putamen, and orbitofrontal cortex. During losses, adults displayed greater deactivation in the hippocampus compared to neutral and gain feedback. Additionally, individual difference analyses suggested a negative relationship between reward sensitivity (assessed by behavioral inhibition/behavioral activation scales) and the difference between high and low magnitude losses in the caudate and lateral orbitofrontal cortex. Also within the striatum greater punishment sensitivity was positively related to the difference in activity following high compared to low gains. Overall these results show strong overlap with those from previous monetary versions of the CGG and provide a baseline for future work with developmental populations. PMID:23519971

An experimental examination of the effort-reward imbalance model of occupational stress: Increased financial reward is related to reduced stress physiology.

PubMed

Landolt, Kathleen; O'Donnell, Emma; Hazi, Agnes; Dragano, Nico; Wright, Bradley J

2017-04-01

Effort-reward imbalance in the workplace is linked to a variety of negative health and organisational outcomes, but it has rarely been assessed experimentally. We manipulated reward (while keeping effort constant) in a within-subjects design with female participants (N=60) who were randomly assigned to high and standard reward conditions within a simulated office environment. Self-report, behavioural (task performance), and physiological (heart rate variability, salivary alpha amylase) measures assessed the impact of increased financial reward. Participants reported increased perceptions of reward, performed moderately better on the task, and were less physiologically reactive in the high reward versus the standard condition. These findings highlight the importance of assessing both subjective self-reports of stress together with objective physiological measures of stress, and suggest that increasing monetary rewards has the potential to decrease stress physiological reactivity, and in turn, reduce the risk of ill-health in employees, and may also positively influence task efficacy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Distinct Motivational Effects of Contingent and Noncontingent Rewards

PubMed Central

Manohar, Sanjay G.; Finzi, Rebecca Dawn; Drew, Daniel; Husain, Masud

2017-01-01

When rewards are available, people expend more energy, increasing their motivational vigor. In theory, incentives might drive behavior for two distinct reasons: First, they increase expected reward; second, they increase the difference in subjective value between successful and unsuccessful performance, which increases contingency—the degree to which action determines outcome. Previous studies of motivational vigor have never compared these directly. Here, we indexed motivational vigor by measuring the speed of eye movements toward a target after participants heard a cue indicating how outcomes would be determined. Eye movements were faster when the cue indicated that monetary rewards would be contingent on performance than when the cue indicated that rewards would be random. But even when the cue indicated that a reward was guaranteed regardless of speed, movement was still faster than when no reward was available. Motivation by contingent and certain rewards was uncorrelated across individuals, which suggests that there are two separable, independent components of motivation. Contingent motivation generated autonomic arousal, and unlike noncontingent motivation, was effective with penalties as well as rewards. PMID:28488927

Nucleus Accumbens Mediates Relative Motivation for Rewards in the Absence of Choice

PubMed Central

Clithero, John A.; Reeck, Crystal; Carter, R. McKell; Smith, David V.; Huettel, Scott A.

2011-01-01

To dissociate a choice from its antecedent neural states, motivation associated with the expected outcome must be captured in the absence of choice. Yet, the neural mechanisms that mediate behavioral idiosyncrasies in motivation, particularly with regard to complex economic preferences, are rarely examined in situations without overt decisions. We employed functional magnetic resonance imaging in a large sample of participants while they anticipated earning rewards from two different modalities: monetary and candy rewards. An index for relative motivation toward different reward types was constructed using reaction times to the target for earning rewards. Activation in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and anterior insula (aINS) predicted individual variation in relative motivation between our reward modalities. NAcc activation, however, mediated the effects of aINS, indicating the NAcc is the likely source of this relative weighting. These results demonstrate that neural idiosyncrasies in reward efficacy exist even in the absence of explicit choices, and extend the role of NAcc as a critical brain region for such choice-free motivation. PMID:21941472

Paying for performance: Performance incentives increase desire for the reward object.

PubMed

Hur, Julia D; Nordgren, Loran F

2016-09-01

The current research examines how exposure to performance incentives affects one's desire for the reward object. We hypothesized that the flexible nature of performance incentives creates an attentional fixation on the reward object (e.g., money), which leads people to become more desirous of the rewards. Results from 5 laboratory experiments and 1 large-scale field study provide support for this prediction. When performance was incentivized with monetary rewards, participants reported being more desirous of money (Study 1), put in more effort to earn additional money in an ensuing task (Study 2), and were less willing to donate money to charity (Study 4). We replicated the result with nonmonetary rewards (Study 5). We also found that performance incentives increased attention to the reward object during the task, which in part explains the observed effects (Study 6). A large-scale field study replicated these findings in a real-world setting (Study 7). One laboratory experiment failed to replicate (Study 3). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Social time preferences for health and money elicited with a choice experiment.

PubMed

Meerding, Willem Jan; Bonsel, Gouke J; Brouwer, Werner B F; Stuifbergen, Marja C; Essink-Bot, Marie-Louise

2010-01-01

In economic evaluations future health and monetary outcomes are commonly discounted at equal and constant rates. The theoretical foundation of this practice is being debated and appropriate discount rates for costs and health effects are sought. Here, we have derived social discount rates for health, money, and environmental benefits by means of a choice experiment. All choices were framed from a social perspective. We investigated differences in time preference by domain (health, monetary benefits, environmental benefits), time delay (5, 10, and 40 years), and respondent characteristics. Respondents were 173 health-care professionals and 34 health policymakers. Choice titration was used to determine when the respondent was indifferent between future and present benefits. At least two-thirds of respondents preferred an intervention with immediate benefits to delayed benefits in the different domains. The median (mean) yearly discount rates for health benefits were 2.7% (10.7%), 1.3% (3.5%), and 1.1% (2.3%) assuming a 5, 10, and 40 years delay, respectively. Social time preference for monetary benefits was significantly stronger, with median (mean) yearly discount rates of 6.6% (18.7%) and 4.8% (11.2%) assuming a 5 and 10 years delay, respectively. The social time preference with regard to environmental benefits was similar to the monetary benefits. Social time preference for the different domains was significantly correlated at the individual level. The empirically derived social time preference is in line with current theoretical arguments for a lower discount rate for health benefits than for monetary benefits. Moreover, the implied median discount rates for health were lower than those commonly used or advocated in guidelines.

Strategic Attention Deployment for Delay of Gratification in Working and Waiting Situations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peake, Philip K.; Hebl, Michelle; Mischel, Walter

2002-01-01

Two studies examined whether effects of attention to rewards during a delay of gratification task in waiting situations affects preschoolers' ability to delay gratification in working situations. Findings show that when work provides distraction, attention on rewards reduces delay time whether working or waiting; when work is not engaging,…

When performance and risk taking are related: Working for rewards is related to risk taking when the value of rewards is presented briefly.

PubMed

Veling, Harm; Bijleveld, Erik

2015-12-01

Valuable monetary rewards can boost human performance on various effortful tasks even when the value of the rewards is presented too briefly to allow for strategic decision making. However, the mechanism by which briefly-presented reward information influences performance has remained unclear. One possibility is that performance after briefly-presented reward information is primarily boosted via activation of the dopamine reward system, whereas performance after very visible reward information is driven more by strategic processes. To examine this hypothesis, we first presented participants with a task in which they could earn rewards of relatively low (1 cent) or high (10 cents) value, and the value information was presented either briefly (17 ms) or for an extended duration (300 ms). Furthermore, responsiveness of the dopamine system was indirectly estimated with a measure of risk taking, the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Results showed that performance after high- compared to low-value rewards was indeed related to the BART scores only when reward information was presented briefly. These results are suggestive of the possibility that brief presentation of reward information boosts performance directly via activating the dopamine system, whereas extended presentation of reward information leads to more strategic reward-driven behavior. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Behavioral modeling of human choices reveals dissociable effects of physical effort and temporal delay on reward devaluation.

PubMed

Klein-Flügge, Miriam C; Kennerley, Steven W; Saraiva, Ana C; Penny, Will D; Bestmann, Sven

2015-03-01

There has been considerable interest from the fields of biology, economics, psychology, and ecology about how decision costs decrease the value of rewarding outcomes. For example, formal descriptions of how reward value changes with increasing temporal delays allow for quantifying individual decision preferences, as in animal species populating different habitats, or normal and clinical human populations. Strikingly, it remains largely unclear how humans evaluate rewards when these are tied to energetic costs, despite the surge of interest in the neural basis of effort-guided decision-making and the prevalence of disorders showing a diminished willingness to exert effort (e.g., depression). One common assumption is that effort discounts reward in a similar way to delay. Here we challenge this assumption by formally comparing competing hypotheses about effort and delay discounting. We used a design specifically optimized to compare discounting behavior for both effort and delay over a wide range of decision costs (Experiment 1). We then additionally characterized the profile of effort discounting free of model assumptions (Experiment 2). Contrary to previous reports, in both experiments effort costs devalued reward in a manner opposite to delay, with small devaluations for lower efforts, and progressively larger devaluations for higher effort-levels (concave shape). Bayesian model comparison confirmed that delay-choices were best predicted by a hyperbolic model, with the largest reward devaluations occurring at shorter delays. In contrast, an altogether different relationship was observed for effort-choices, which were best described by a model of inverse sigmoidal shape that is initially concave. Our results provide a novel characterization of human effort discounting behavior and its first dissociation from delay discounting. This enables accurate modelling of cost-benefit decisions, a prerequisite for the investigation of the neural underpinnings of effort-guided choice and for understanding the deficits in clinical disorders characterized by behavioral inactivity.

Behavioral Modeling of Human Choices Reveals Dissociable Effects of Physical Effort and Temporal Delay on Reward Devaluation

PubMed Central

Klein-Flügge, Miriam C.; Kennerley, Steven W.; Saraiva, Ana C.; Penny, Will D.; Bestmann, Sven

2015-01-01

There has been considerable interest from the fields of biology, economics, psychology, and ecology about how decision costs decrease the value of rewarding outcomes. For example, formal descriptions of how reward value changes with increasing temporal delays allow for quantifying individual decision preferences, as in animal species populating different habitats, or normal and clinical human populations. Strikingly, it remains largely unclear how humans evaluate rewards when these are tied to energetic costs, despite the surge of interest in the neural basis of effort-guided decision-making and the prevalence of disorders showing a diminished willingness to exert effort (e.g., depression). One common assumption is that effort discounts reward in a similar way to delay. Here we challenge this assumption by formally comparing competing hypotheses about effort and delay discounting. We used a design specifically optimized to compare discounting behavior for both effort and delay over a wide range of decision costs (Experiment 1). We then additionally characterized the profile of effort discounting free of model assumptions (Experiment 2). Contrary to previous reports, in both experiments effort costs devalued reward in a manner opposite to delay, with small devaluations for lower efforts, and progressively larger devaluations for higher effort-levels (concave shape). Bayesian model comparison confirmed that delay-choices were best predicted by a hyperbolic model, with the largest reward devaluations occurring at shorter delays. In contrast, an altogether different relationship was observed for effort-choices, which were best described by a model of inverse sigmoidal shape that is initially concave. Our results provide a novel characterization of human effort discounting behavior and its first dissociation from delay discounting. This enables accurate modelling of cost-benefit decisions, a prerequisite for the investigation of the neural underpinnings of effort-guided choice and for understanding the deficits in clinical disorders characterized by behavioral inactivity. PMID:25816114

The effects of non-contingent extrinsic and intrinsic rewards on memory consolidation.

PubMed

Nielson, Kristy A; Bryant, Ted

2005-07-01

Emotional and arousing treatments given shortly after learning enhance delayed memory retrieval in animal and human studies. Positive affect and reward induced prior to a variety of cognitive tasks enhance performance, but their ability to affect memory consolidation has not been investigated before. Therefore, we investigated the effects of a small, non-contingent, intrinsic or extrinsic reward on delayed memory retrieval. Participants (n=108) studied and recalled a list of 30 affectively neutral, imageable nouns. Experimental groups were then given either an intrinsic reward (e.g., praise) or an extrinsic reward (e.g., US 1 dollar). After a one-week delay, participants' retrieval performance for the word list was significantly better in the extrinsic reward groups, whether the reward was expected or not, than in controls. Those who received the intrinsic reward performed somewhat better than controls, but the difference was not significant. Thus, at least some forms of arousal and reward, even when semantically unrelated to the learned material, can effectively modulate memory consolidation. These types of treatments might be useful for the development of new memory intervention strategies.

Rewards for Good Marketing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Germain, Carol Anne, Ed.

2009-01-01

Many professional library associations and affiliates "strongly encourage" the marketing of libraries and their wares. These organizations present awards, certificates, and monetary enticements to honor outstanding marketing programs. For most individuals or teams who are already working on and implementing marketing programs, the added effort of…

Effects of exogenous testosterone on the ventral striatal BOLD response during reward anticipation in healthy women.

PubMed

Hermans, Erno J; Bos, Peter A; Ossewaarde, Lindsey; Ramsey, Nick F; Fernández, Guillén; van Honk, Jack

2010-08-01

Correlational evidence in humans shows that levels of the androgen hormone testosterone are positively related to reinforcement sensitivity and competitive drive. Structurally similar anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) are moreover widely abused, and animal studies show that rodents self-administer testosterone. These observations suggest that testosterone exerts activational effects on mesolimbic dopaminergic pathways involved in incentive processing and reinforcement regulation. However, there are no data on humans supporting this hypothesis. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the effects of testosterone administration on neural activity in terminal regions of the mesolimbic pathway. In a placebo-controlled double-blind crossover design, 12 healthy women received a single sublingual administration of .5 mg of testosterone. During MRI scanning, participants performed a monetary incentive delay task, which is known to elicit robust activation of the ventral striatum during reward anticipation. Results show a positive main effect of testosterone on the differential response in the ventral striatum to cues signaling potential reward versus nonreward. Notably, this effect interacted with levels self-reported intrinsic appetitive motivation: individuals with low intrinsic appetitive motivation exhibited larger testosterone-induced increases but had smaller differential responses after placebo. Thus, the present study lends support to the hypothesis that testosterone affects activity in terminal regions of the mesolimbic dopamine system but suggests that such effects may be specific to individuals with low intrinsic appetitive motivation. By showing a potential mechanism underlying central reinforcement of androgen use, the present findings may moreover have implications for our understanding of the pathophysiology of AAS dependency. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of delaying binge drinking on adolescent brain development: a longitudinal neuroimaging study.

PubMed

Bourque, Josiane; Baker, Travis E; Dagher, Alain; Evans, Alan C; Garavan, Hugh; Leyton, Marco; Séguin, Jean R; Pihl, Robert; Conrod, Patricia J

2016-12-13

Onset of alcohol use by 14 relative to 21 years of age strongly predicts elevated risk for severe alcohol use problems, with 27% versus 4% of individuals exhibiting alcohol dependence within 10 years of onset. What remains unclear is whether this early alcohol use (i) is a marker for later problems, reflected as a pre-existing developmental predisposition, (ii) causes global neural atrophy or (iii) specifically disturbs neuro-maturational processes implicated in addiction, such as executive functions or reward processing. Since our group has demonstrated that a novel intervention program targeting personality traits associated with adolescent alcohol use can prevent the uptake of drinking and binge drinking by 40 to 60%, a crucial question is whether prevention of early onset alcohol misuse will protect adolescent neurodevelopment and which domains of neurodevelopment can be protected. A subsample of 120 youth at high risk for substance misuse and 30 low-risk youth will be recruited from the Co-Venture trial (Montreal, Canada) to take part in this 5-year follow-up neuroimaging study. The Co-Venture trial is a community-based cluster-randomised trial evaluating the effectiveness of school-based personality-targeted interventions on substance use and cognitive outcomes involving approximately 3800 Grade 7 youths. Half of the 120 high-risk participants will have received the preventative intervention program. Cognitive tasks and structural and functional neuroimaging scans will be conducted at baseline, and at 24- and 48-month follow-up. Two functional paradigms will be used: the Stop-Signal Task to measure motor inhibitory control and a modified version of the Monetary Incentive Delay Task to evaluate reward processing. The expected results should help identify biological vulnerability factors, and quantify the consequences of early alcohol abuse as well as the benefits of early intervention using brain metrics.

Social and monetary incentives counteract fear-driven avoidance: Evidence from approach-avoidance decisions.

PubMed

Pittig, Andre; Hengen, Kristina; Bublatzky, Florian; Alpers, Georg W

2018-04-22

The reduction of avoidance behavior is a central target in the treatment of anxiety disorders, but it has rarely been studied how approach of fear-relevant stimuli may be initiated. In two studies, the impact of hypothetical monetary and symbolic social incentives on approach-avoidance behavior was examined. In Study 1, individuals high or low on fear of spiders (N = 84) could choose to approach a fear-relevant versus a neutral stimulus, which were equally rewarded. In a subsequent micro-intervention, approaching the fear-relevant stimulus was differentially rewarded either by monetary or social incentives. In Study 2 (N = 76), initial incentives for approach were discontinued to investigate the stability of approach. Hypothetical monetary and symbolic social incentives reduced or eliminated initial avoidance, even in highly fearful individuals. Approach resulted in a decrease of self-reported aversiveness towards the fear-relevant stimulus. However, even after successful approach, fearful individuals showed significant avoidance behavior when incentives for approach were discontinued. Future research should investigate the long-term effects of prolonged approach incentives on multiple levels of fear (e.g., self-report, behavioral, physiological). It should also be tested if such an intervention actually improves compliance with exposure based interventions. The present findings highlight that incentives are useful to initiate initial approach towards a feared stimulus. Although incentive-based approach may neither fully eliminate avoidance nor negative feelings towards the feared stimulus, such operant interventions may set the stage for more extensive extinction training. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of reward on the accuracy and dynamics of smooth pursuit eye movements.

PubMed

Brielmann, Aenne A; Spering, Miriam

2015-08-01

Reward modulates behavioral choices and biases goal-oriented behavior, such as eye or hand movements, toward locations or stimuli associated with higher rewards. We investigated reward effects on the accuracy and timing of smooth pursuit eye movements in 4 experiments. Eye movements were recorded in participants tracking a moving visual target on a computer monitor. Before target motion onset, a monetary reward cue indicated whether participants could earn money by tracking accurately, or whether the trial was unrewarded (Experiments 1 and 2, n = 11 each). Reward significantly improved eye-movement accuracy across different levels of task difficulty. Improvements were seen even in the earliest phase of the eye movement, within 70 ms of tracking onset, indicating that reward impacts visual-motor processing at an early level. We obtained similar findings when reward was not precued but explicitly associated with the pursuit target (Experiment 3, n = 16); critically, these results were not driven by stimulus prevalence or other factors such as preparation or motivation. Numerical cues (Experiment 4, n = 9) were not effective. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Are the carrot and the stick the two sides of same coin? A neural examination of approach/avoidance motivation during cognitive performance.

PubMed

Belayachi, Sanaâ; Majerus, Steve; Gendolla, Guido; Salmon, Eric; Peters, Frédéric; Van der Linden, Martial

2015-10-15

The present study examined neural circuit activity in a working memory (WM) task under conditions of approach and avoidance motivation. Eighteen participants were scanned with functional MRI while they performed a 3-back WM task under three conditions: in an avoidance condition incorrect responses were punished with monetary loss; in an approach condition correct responses were rewarded with monetary gain; in a neutral control condition there was no monetary incentive. Compared with the control condition, activation in fronto-parietal areas - which are associated with WM processing - was increased in both the approach and avoidance conditions. The results suggest that both approach and avoidance motivation increase task-related cognitive activation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Mechanism for Reducing Delay Discounting by Altering Temporal Attention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Radu, Peter T.; Yi, Richard; Bickel, Warren K.; Gross, James J.; McClure, Samuel M.

2011-01-01

Rewards that are not immediately available are discounted compared to rewards that are immediately available. The more a person discounts a delayed reward, the more likely that person is to have a range of behavioral problems, including clinical disorders. This latter observation has motivated the search for ions that reduce discounting. One…

Delay of Gratification by Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in Working and Waiting Situations

PubMed Central

Beran, Michael J.; Evans, Theodore A.

2009-01-01

We tested four chimpanzees in a self-control task in which food rewards accumulated as long as they were not eaten. In one condition, the chimpanzees had to perform a computer task that directly led to the delivery of the food rewards. In another condition, working on the computerized task was not required and any such work was not linked to the delivery of rewards. The third condition offered no computerized task (chimpanzees simply waited for food rewards to be delivered). Three of four chimpanzees showed no effect of the work scenario on delay of gratification. The one chimpanzee that showed an influence of work scenario on self-control was the overall poorest performing animal. This animal delayed gratification the longest, however, when work was required and reward delivery was directly linked to that work. Therefore, although there is little evidence linking delay of gratification to work requirements in chimpanzees, chimpanzees with lower overall self-control might benefit from having some work available if reward accumulation is contingent on performing that work. PMID:19084581

The Influence of Emotion Regulation on Decision-making under Risk

PubMed Central

Martin, Laura N.; Delgado, Mauricio R.

2011-01-01

Cognitive strategies typically involved in regulating negative emotions have recently been shown to also be effective with positive emotions associated with monetary rewards. However, it is less clear how these strategies influence behavior, such as preferences expressed during decision-making under risk, and the underlying neural circuitry. That is, can the effective use of emotion regulation strategies during presentation of a reward-conditioned stimulus influence decision-making under risk and neural structures involved in reward processing such as the striatum? To investigate this question, we asked participants to engage in imagery-focused regulation strategies during the presentation of a cue that preceded a financial decision-making phase. During the decision phase, participants then made a choice between a risky and a safe monetary lottery. Participants who successfully used cognitive regulation, as assessed by subjective ratings about perceived success and facility in implementation of strategies, made fewer risky choices in comparison to trials where decisions were made in the absence of cognitive regulation. Additionally, blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) responses in the striatum were attenuated during decision-making as a function of successful emotion regulation. These findings suggest that exerting cognitive control over emotional responses can modulate neural responses associated with reward processing (e.g., striatum), and promote more goal-directed decision-making (e.g., less risky choices), illustrating the potential importance of cognitive strategies in curbing risk-seeking behaviors before they become maladaptive (e.g., substance abuse). PMID:21254801

Predicting World Cup results: do goals seem more likely when they pay off?

PubMed

Bar-Hillel, Maya; Budescu, David V; Amar, Moty

2008-04-01

Bar-Hillel and Budescu (1995) failed to find a desirability bias in probability estimation. The World Cup soccer tournament provided an opportunity to revisit the phenomenon in a context in which desirability biases are notoriously rampant. Participants estimated the probabilities of various teams' winning their upcoming games. They were promised money if one team-randomly designated by the experimenter-won its upcoming game. Participants assigned a higher probability to a victory by their target team than did other participants, whose promised monetary reward was contingent on the victory of its opponent. Prima facie, this seems to be a desirability bias. However, in a follow-up study that made one team salient, without promising monetary rewards, participants also judged their target team to be more likely to win. On grounds of parsimony, we conclude that what appears to be a desirability bias may just be a salience/marking effect, and-although optimism is a robust and ubiquitous human phenomenon-that wishful thinking still remains elusive.

Age, sex and individual differences in punishment sensitivity: factors influencing the feedback-related negativity.

PubMed

Santesso, Diane L; Dzyundzyak, Angela; Segalowitz, Sidney J

2011-11-01

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is central to evaluating performance outcomes and has been linked to individual differences in affective responses to feedback. We used electrophysiological source localization to examine the feedback-related negativity (FRN) and related ACC activity during a gambling task in relation to punishment and reward sensitivity among 16- to 17-year-old adolescents (n=20) and 18- to 29-year-old adults (n=30). The FRN was larger for monetary loss compared to win feedback and larger for high relative to low monetary value feedback, with no age differences in the FRN for win or loss feedback. Self-reported sensitivity to punishment accounted for unique variance (over sex and sensitivity to reward) in FRNs, with higher scores relating to larger FRNs and increased rostral ACC activity. These results support the ACC role in experiencing negative performance feedback, especially for individuals highly sensitive to punishment. Copyright © 2011 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

OPPORTUNITY COSTS OF REWARD DELAYS AND THE DISCOUNTING OF HYPOTHETICAL MONEY AND CIGARETTES

PubMed Central

Johnson, Patrick S.; Herrmann, Evan S.; Johnson, Matthew W.

2015-01-01

Humans are reported to discount delayed rewards at lower rates than nonhumans. However, nonhumans are studied in tasks that restrict reinforcement during delays, whereas humans are typically studied in tasks that do not restrict reinforcement during delays. In nonhuman tasks, the opportunity cost of restricted reinforcement during delays may increase delay discounting rates. The present within-subjects study used online crowdsourcing (Amazon Mechanical Turk, or MTurk) to assess the discounting of hypothetical delayed money (and cigarettes in smokers) under four hypothetical framing conditions differing in the availability of reinforcement during delays. At one extreme, participants were free to leave their computer without returning, and engage in any behavior during reward delays (modeling typical human tasks). At the opposite extreme, participants were required to stay at their computer and engage in little other behavior during reward delays (modeling typical nonhuman tasks). Discounting rates increased as an orderly function of opportunity cost. Results also indicated predominantly hyperbolic discounting, the “magnitude effect,” steeper discounting of cigarettes than money, and positive correlations between discounting rates of these commodities. This is the first study to test the effects of opportunity costs on discounting, and suggests that procedural differences may partially account for observed species differences in discounting. PMID:25388973

Opportunity costs of reward delays and the discounting of hypothetical money and cigarettes.

PubMed

Johnson, Patrick S; Herrmann, Evan S; Johnson, Matthew W

2015-01-01

Humans are reported to discount delayed rewards at lower rates than nonhumans. However, nonhumans are studied in tasks that restrict reinforcement during delays, whereas humans are typically studied in tasks that do not restrict reinforcement during delays. In nonhuman tasks, the opportunity cost of restricted reinforcement during delays may increase delay discounting rates. The present within-subjects study used online crowdsourcing (Amazon Mechanical Turk, or MTurk) to assess the discounting of hypothetical delayed money (and cigarettes in smokers) under four hypothetical framing conditions differing in the availability of reinforcement during delays. At one extreme, participants were free to leave their computer without returning, and engage in any behavior during reward delays (modeling typical human tasks). At the opposite extreme, participants were required to stay at their computer and engage in little other behavior during reward delays (modeling typical nonhuman tasks). Discounting rates increased as an orderly function of opportunity cost. Results also indicated predominantly hyperbolic discounting, the "magnitude effect," steeper discounting of cigarettes than money, and positive correlations between discounting rates of these commodities. This is the first study to test the effects of opportunity costs on discounting, and suggests that procedural differences may partially account for observed species differences in discounting. © Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.