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10.1016/j.biopsycho.2017.08.052

Biological psychology

Biol Psychol

Goal impact influences the evaluative component of performance monitoring: Evidence from ERPs.

Successful performance monitoring (PM) requires continuous assessment of context and action outcomes. Electrophysiological studies have reliably identified event-related potential (ERP) markers for evaluative feedback processing during PM: the Feedback-Related Negativity (FRN) and P3 components. The functional significance of FRN remains debated in the literature, with recent research suggesting that feedback's goal relevance can account for FRN (amplitude) modulation, apart from its valence or expectedness alone. Extending this account, the present study assessed whether graded differentiations in feedback's relevance or importance to one's goal (referred to as goal impact) would influence PM at the FRN (and P3) level. To this end, we ran a within-subject crossover design experiment in which 40 participants completed two standard cognitive control tasks (Go/No Go and Simon), while 64-channel electroencephalography was recorded. Critically, both tasks entailed similar reward processing but systematically varied in goal impact assignment (high vs. low), manipulated through their supposed diagnosticity for daily life functioning and activation of social comparison. ERP results showed that goal impact reliably modulated FRN in a general manner. Irrespective of feedback valence, it was overall less negative in the high compared to the low impact condition, suggesting a general decrease in feedback monitoring in the former compared to the latter condition. These findings lend support to the idea that PM is best conceived operating not solely based on motor cues, but is shaped by motivational demands.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1016/j.pscychresns.2017.08.006

Psychiatry research. Neuroimaging

Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging

Neural predictors of substance use disorders in Young adulthood.

Offspring from multiplex, alcohol-dependent families are at heightened risk for substance use disorders (SUDs) in adolescence and young adulthood. These high-risk offspring have also been shown to have atypical structure and function of brain regions implicated in emotion regulation, social cognition, and reward processing. This study assessed the relationship between amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) volumes obtained in adolescence and SUD outcomes in young adulthood among high-risk offspring and low-risk controls. A total of 78 participants (40 high-risk; 38 low-risk) from a longitudinal family study, ages 8-19, underwent magnetic resonance imaging; volumes of the amygdala and OFC were obtained with manual tracing. SUD outcomes were assessed at approximately yearly intervals. Cox regression survival analyses were used to assess the effect of regional brain volumes on SUD outcomes. The ratio of OFC to amygdala volume significantly predicted SUD survival time across the sample; reduction in survival time was seen in those with smaller ratios for both high-risk and low-risk groups. Morphology of prefrontal relative to limbic regions in adolescence prospectively predicts age of onset for substance use disorders.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1017/S0033291717002161

Psychological medicine

Psychol Med

Subliminal and supraliminal processing of reward-related stimuli in anorexia nervosa.

Previous studies have highlighted the role of the brain reward and cognitive control systems in the etiology of anorexia nervosa (AN). In an attempt to disentangle the relative contribution of these systems to the disorder, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate hemodynamic responses to reward-related stimuli presented both subliminally and supraliminally in acutely underweight AN patients and age-matched healthy controls (HC). fMRI data were collected from a total of 35 AN patients and 35 HC, while they passively viewed subliminally and supraliminally presented streams of food, positive social, and neutral stimuli. Activation patterns of the group × stimulation condition × stimulus type interaction were interrogated to investigate potential group differences in processing different stimulus types under the two stimulation conditions. Moreover, changes in functional connectivity were investigated using generalized psychophysiological interaction analysis. AN patients showed a generally increased response to supraliminally presented stimuli in the inferior frontal junction (IFJ), but no alterations within the reward system. Increased activation during supraliminal stimulation with food stimuli was observed in the AN group in visual regions including superior occipital gyrus and the fusiform gyrus/parahippocampal gyrus. No group difference was found with respect to the subliminal stimulation condition and functional connectivity. Increased IFJ activation in AN during supraliminal stimulation may indicate hyperactive cognitive control, which resonates with clinical presentation of excessive self-control in AN patients. Increased activation to food stimuli in visual regions may be interpreted in light of an attentional food bias in AN.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1038/npp.2017.183

Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology

Neuropsychopharmacology

Dopamine Transporter and Reward Anticipation in a Dimensional Perspective: A Multimodal Brain Imaging Study.

Dopamine function and reward processing are highly interrelated and involve common brain regions afferent to the nucleus accumbens, within the mesolimbic pathway. Although dopamine function and reward system neural activity are impaired in most psychiatric disorders, it is unknown whether alterations in the dopamine system underlie variations in reward processing across a continuum encompassing health and these disorders. We explored the relationship between dopamine function and neural activity during reward anticipation in 27 participants including healthy volunteers and psychiatric patients with schizophrenia, depression, or cocaine addiction, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) multimodal imaging with a voxel-based statistical approach. Dopamine transporter (DAT) availability was assessed with PET and [C]PE2I as a marker of presynaptic dopamine function, and reward-related neural response was assessed using fMRI with a modified Monetary Incentive Delay task. Across all the participants, DAT availability in the midbrain correlated positively with the neural response to anticipation of reward in the nucleus accumbens. Moreover, this relationship was conserved in each clinical subgroup, despite the heterogeneity of mental illnesses examined. For the first time, a direct link between DAT availability and reward anticipation was detected within the mesolimbic pathway in healthy and psychiatric participants, and suggests that dopaminergic dysfunction is a common mechanism underlying the alterations of reward processing observed in patients across diagnostic categories. The findings support the use of a dimensional approach in psychiatry, as promoted by the Research Domain Criteria project to identify neurobiological signatures of core dysfunctions underling mental illnesses.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1016/j.neuropharm.2017.08.024

Neuropharmacology

Neuropharmacology

Role of orexin type-1 receptors in paragiganto-coerulear modulation of opioid withdrawal and tolerance: A site specific focus.

Orexin-A and -B neuropeptides are exclusively synthesized in hypothalamic neurons. These have been implicated to play critical roles in the expression of various behavioral manifestations such as feeding, arousal, wakefulness, drug dependence and tolerance. Orexin ligands activate orexin type-1 and orexin type-2 receptors each displaying a distinct selectivity and distribution profile. Orexinergic neurons innervate various brain structures among which the locus coeruleus (LC) and the lateral paragigantocellularis (LPGi) nuclei are well established as the two key mediators of opiate dependence and tolerance. Both nuclei express OX1Rs and the LC receives excitatory and inhibitory inputs from LPGi. Interestingly, the expression of opiate withdrawal signs is temporally associated with the enhanced activity of LC neurons. Numerous studies support the involvement of the orexin system in mediating opiate effects via affecting OX1Rs within the LC and LPGi. Extensive research has long been focused on the role of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) as a critical center in mediating orexin effects as well as reward processing and addiction. However, a growing amount of evidence supports the involvement of some other brain nuclei (such as LC and LPGi) in these phenomena. The mutual contribution of these structures has not been previously addressed in the literature. The present review aims to discuss and piece together the recent findings on the role of OX1Rs in modulating opiate withdrawal and tolerance with an emphasis on the involvement of the putative paragiganto-coerulear pathway. We conclude with a discussion about possible mechanisms of orexin actions within this pathway and its interaction with other neurotransmitter/modulator systems.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

Sheng li xue bao : [Acta physiologica Sinica]

Sheng Li Xue Bao

[Reward information encoded by power of local field potentials in the primate prefrontal cortex and striatum].

Prefrontal cortex and striatum are two major areas in the brain. Some research reports suggest that both areas are involved in many advanced cognitive processes, such as learning and memory, reward processing, and behavioral decision. Single-unit recording experiments have found that neurons in the prefrontal cortex and striatum can represent reward information, but it remains elusive whether and how local field potentials (LFPs) in the two areas encode reward information. To investigate these issues, we recorded LFPs simultaneously in the prefrontal cortex and striatum of two monkeys by performing a reward prediction task (a large amount reward vs a small amount reward). Recorded LFP signals were transformed from the time domain to the time and frequency domain using the method of short-time Fourier transform (STFT). We calculated the power in each frequency and time, and examined whether they were different in the two reward conditions. The results showed that power of LFPs in both the prefrontal cortex and striatum distinguished one reward condition from the other one. And the power in small reward trials was greater than that in large reward trials. Furthermore, it was found that the LFPs better encoded reward information in the beta band (14-30 Hz) rather than other frequency bands. Our results suggest that the LFPs in the prefrontal cortex and striatum effectively represent reward information, which would help to further understand functional roles of LFPs in reward processing.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1007/s11920-017-0824-4

Current psychiatry reports

Curr Psychiatry Rep

Understanding Peripartum Depression Through Neuroimaging: a Review of Structural and Functional Connectivity and Molecular Imaging Research.

Imaging research has sought to uncover brain structure, function, and metabolism in women with postpartum depression (PPD) as little is known about its underlying pathophysiology. This review discusses the imaging modalities used to date to evaluate postpartum depression and highlights recent findings. Altered functional connectivity and activity changes in brain areas implicated in executive functioning and emotion and reward processing have been identified in PPD. Metabolism changes involving monoamine oxidase A, gamma-aminobutyric acid, glutamate, serotonin, and dopamine have additionally been reported. To date, no studies have evaluated gray matter morphometry, voxel-based morphometry, surface area, cortical thickness, or white matter tract integrity in PPD. Recent imaging studies report changes in functional connectivity and metabolism in women with PPD vs. healthy comparison women. Future research is needed to extend these findings as they have important implications for the prevention and treatment of postpartum mood disorders.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1181-17.2017

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience

J Neurosci

Learning and Stress Shape the Reward Response Patterns of Serotonin Neurons.

The ability to predict reward promotes animal survival. Both dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area and serotonin neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) participate in reward processing. Although the learning effects on dopamine neurons have been extensively characterized, it remains largely unknown how the response of serotonin neurons evolves during learning. Moreover, although stress is known to strongly influence reward-related behavior, we know very little about how stress modulates neuronal reward responses. By monitoring Ca signals during the entire process of Pavlovian conditioning, we here show that learning differentially shapes the response patterns of serotonin neurons and dopamine neurons in mice of either sex. Serotonin neurons gradually develop a slow ramp-up response to the reward-predicting cue, and ultimately remain responsive to the reward, whereas dopamine neurons increase their response to the cue but reduce their response to the reward. For both neuron types, the responses to the cue and the reward depend on reward value, are reversible when the reward is omitted, and are rapidly reinstated by restoring the reward. We also found that stressors including head restraint and fearful context substantially reduce the response strength of both neuron types, to both the cue and the reward. These results reveal the dynamic nature of the reward responses, support the hypothesis that DRN serotonin neurons signal the current likelihood of receiving a net benefit, and suggest that the inhibitory effect of stress on the reward responses of serotonin neurons and dopamine neurons may contribute to stress-induced anhedonia. Both serotonin neurons in the dorsal raphe and dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area are intimately involved in reward processing. Using long-term fiber photometry of Ca signals from freely behaving mice, we here show that learning produces a ramp-up activation pattern in serotonin neurons that differs from that in dopamine neurons, indicating complementary roles for these two neuron types in reward processing. Moreover, stress treatment substantially reduces the reward responses of both serotonin neurons and dopamine neurons, suggesting a possible physiological basis for stress-induced anhedonia.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1038/ijo.2017.207

International journal of obesity (2005)

Int J Obes (Lond)

Excessive body fat linked to blunted somatosensory cortex response to general reward in adolescents.

The brain reward system is key to understanding adolescent obesity in the current obesogenic environment, rich in highly appetising stimuli, to which adolescents are particularly sensitive. We aimed to examine the association between body fat levels and brain reward system responsivity to general (monetary) rewards in male and female adolescents. Sixty-eight adolescents (34 females; mean age (s.d.)= 16.56 (1.35)) were measured for body fat levels with bioelectric impedance, and underwent a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan during the Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) task. The MID task reliably elicits brain activations associated with two fundamental aspects of reward processing: anticipation and feedback. We conducted regression analyses to examine the association between body fat and brain reward system responsivity during reward anticipation and feedback, while controlling for sex, age and socioeconomic status. We also analysed the moderating impact of sex on the relationship between fat levels and brain responsivity measures. Brain imaging analyses were corrected for multiple comparisons, with a cluster-defining threshold of P<0.001, and minimum cluster size of 38 contiguous voxels. Higher body fat levels were associated with lower activation of the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) and the supramarginal gyrus during reward feedback after controlling for key sociodemographic variables. Although we did not find significant associations between body fat and brain activations during reward anticipation, S1/supramarginal gyrus activation during feedback was linked to increased negative prediction error, that is, less reward than expected, in illustrative post hoc analyses. Sex did not significantly moderate the association between body fat and brain activation in the MID task. In adolescents, higher adiposity is linked to hypo-responsivity of somatosensory regions during general (monetary) reward feedback. Findings suggest that adolescents with excess weight have blunted activation in somatosensory regions involved in reward feedback learning.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1037/bne0000209

Behavioral neuroscience

Behav Neurosci

Disentangling the effects of serotonin on risk perception: S-carriers of 5-HTTLPR are primarily concerned with the magnitude of the outcomes, not the uncertainty.

Serotonin signaling is vital for reward processing, and hence, also for decision-making. The serotonin transporter gene linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) has been connected to decision making, suggesting that short-allele carriers (s) are more risk averse than long-allele homozygotes (ll). However, previous research has not identified if this occurs because s-carriers (i) are more sensitive to the uncertainty of the outcomes or (ii) are more sensitive to the magnitude of the outcomes. This issue was disentangled using a willingness-to-pay task, where the participants evaluated prospects involving certain gains, uncertain gains, and ambiguous gains. The results clearly favored the hypothesis that s-carriers react more to the magnitude of the outcomes. Self-reported measures of everyday risk-taking behavior also favored this hypothesis. We discuss how these results are in line with recent research on the serotonergic impact on reward processing. (PsycINFO Database Record

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1080/15622975.2017.1355472

The world journal of biological psychiatry : the official journal of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry

World J Biol Psychiatry

Accelerated iTBS treatment in depressed patients differentially modulates reward system activity based on anhedonia.

Accelerated intermittent theta-burst stimulation (aiTBS) anti-depressive working mechanisms are still unclear. Because aiTBS may work through modulating the reward system and the level of anhedonia may influence this modulation, we investigated the effect of aiTBS on reward responsiveness in high and low anhedonic MDD patients. In this registered RCT (NCT01832805), 50 MDD patients were randomised to a sham-controlled cross-over aiTBS treatment protocol over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Patients performed a probabilistic learning task in fMRI before and after each week of stimulation. Task performance analyses did not show any significant effects of aiTBS on reward responsiveness, nor differences between both groups of MDD patients. However, at baseline, low anhedonic patients displayed higher neural activity in the caudate and putamen. After the first week of aiTBS treatment, in low anhedonic patients we found a decreased neural activity within the reward system, in contrast to an increased activity observed in high anhedonic patients. No changes were observed in reward related neural regions after the first week of sham stimulation. Although both MDD groups showed no differences in task performance, our brain imaging findings suggest that left DLPFC aiTBS treatment modulates the reward system differently according to anhedonia severity.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1037/abn0000294

Journal of abnormal psychology

J Abnorm Psychol

Real-life validation of reduced reward processing in emerging adults with depressive symptoms.

Subclinical symptoms of depression are common in emerging adults. Anhedonia is one such symptom that specifically puts one at risk for developing clinical depression. Recently, important progress has been made in elucidating the underlying neurobiology of anhedonia. This progress rests on many experimental studies examining how subjects with depressive symptoms respond to anticipating and consuming rewarding stimuli. Translating these findings to real-life reward processing dynamics is an important next step in order to guide fine-tuning of preventive treatments. We propose that the Experience Sampling Methodology (ESM) represents a useful tool in addressing this issue. ESM requires individuals to carry a device that beeps at semirandom moments, inviting them to fill out a short questionnaire on mood, context, and behavior. Using this methodology, we aimed to decompose the construct of reward processing into its daily life dynamics, by investigating how positive affect (PA), reward anticipation and active behavior influence each other over time. A group of emerging adults (aged 16-25) was included, of which two-thirds presented with subclinical depressive symptoms. Associations between PA, reward anticipation and active behavior manifested in the flow of daily life. Depressive symptoms were significantly associated with reduced time-lagged associations between reward anticipation and active behavior (β = -.005, p = .006) and active behavior and reward anticipation (β = -.002, p = .027). The moderating effect of depressive symptoms on the time-lagged association between reward anticipation and PA approached significance (β = -.002, p = .051). These findings represent an important step in translating experimental knowledge on reward processing into daily life processes. (PsycINFO Database Record

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1016/j.cub.2017.06.084

Current biology : CB

Curr Biol

Direct Midbrain Dopamine Input to the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus Accelerates Circadian Entrainment.

Dopamine (DA) neurotransmission controls behaviors important for survival, including voluntary movement, reward processing, and detection of salient events, such as food or mate availability. Dopaminergic tone also influences circadian physiology and behavior. Although the evolutionary significance of this input is appreciated, its precise neurophysiological architecture remains unknown. Here, we identify a novel, direct connection between the DA neurons of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). We demonstrate that D1 dopamine receptor (Drd1) signaling within the SCN is necessary for properly timed resynchronization of activity rhythms to phase-shifted light:dark cycles and that elevation of DA tone through selective activation of VTA DA neurons accelerates photoentrainment. Our findings demonstrate a previously unappreciated role for direct DA input to the master circadian clock and highlight the importance of an evolutionarily significant relationship between the circadian system and the neuromodulatory circuits that govern motivational behaviors.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1038/s41598-017-07608-8

Scientific reports

Sci Rep

Neural substrates of embodied natural beauty and social endowed beauty: An fMRI study.

What are the neural mechanisms underlying beauty based on objective parameters and beauty based on subjective social construction? This study scanned participants with fMRI while they performed aesthetic judgments on concrete pictographs and abstract oracle bone scripts. Behavioral results showed both pictographs and oracle bone scripts were judged to be more beautiful when they referred to beautiful objects and positive social meanings, respectively. Imaging results revealed regions associated with perceptual, cognitive, emotional and reward processing were commonly activated both in beautiful judgments of pictographs and oracle bone scripts. Moreover, stronger activations of orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and motor-related areas were found in beautiful judgments of pictographs, whereas beautiful judgments of oracle bone scripts were associated with putamen activity, implying stronger aesthetic experience and embodied approaching for beauty were elicited by the pictographs. In contrast, only visual processing areas were activated in the judgments of ugly pictographs and negative oracle bone scripts. Results provide evidence that the sense of beauty is triggered by two processes: one based on the objective parameters of stimuli (embodied natural beauty) and the other based on the subjective social construction (social endowed beauty).

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1172/jci.insight.92970

JCI insight

JCI Insight

Integration of homeostatic signaling and food reward processing in the human brain.

Food intake is guided by homeostatic needs and by the reward value of food, yet the exact relation between the two remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of different metabolic states and hormonal satiety signaling on responses in neural reward networks. Twenty-three healthy participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing a task distinguishing between the anticipation and the receipt of either food- or monetary-related reward. Every participant was scanned twice in a counterbalanced fashion, both during a fasted state (after 24 hours fasting) and satiety. A functional connectivity analysis was performed to investigate the influence of satiety signaling on activation in neural reward networks. Blood samples were collected to assess hormonal satiety signaling. Fasting was associated with sensitization of the striatal reward system to the anticipation of food reward irrespective of reward magnitude. Furthermore, during satiety, individual ghrelin levels were associated with increased neural processing during the expectation of food-related reward. Our findings show that physiological hunger stimulates food consumption by specifically increasing neural processing during the expectation (i.e., incentive salience) but not the receipt of food-related reward. In addition, these findings suggest that ghrelin signaling influences hedonic-driven food intake by increasing neural reactivity during the expectation of food-related reward. These results provide insights into the neurobiological underpinnings of motivational processing and hedonic evaluation of food reward. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03081585. This work was supported by the German Competence Network on Obesity, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (FKZ 01GI1122E).

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1136/jnnp-2017-316055

Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry

J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry

Corticostriatal signatures of schadenfreude: evidence from Huntington's disease.

Schadenfreudepleasure at others' misfortunes-is a multidetermined social emotion which involves reward processing, mentalising and perspective-taking abilities. Patients with Huntington's disease (HD) exhibit reductions of this experience, suggesting a role of striatal degeneration in such impairment. However, no study has directly assessed the relationship between regional brain atrophy in HD and reduced schadenfreude. Here, we assessed whether grey matter (GM) atrophy in patients with HD correlates with ratings of schadenfreude. First, we compared the performance of 20 patients with HD and 23 controls on an experimental task designed to trigger schadenfreude and envy (another social emotion acting as a control condition). Second, we compared GM volume between groups. Third, we examined brain regions where atrophy might be associated with specific impairments in the patients. While both groups showed similar ratings of envy, patients with HD reported lower schadenfreude. The latter pattern was related to atrophy in regions of the reward system (ventral striatum) and the mentalising network (precuneus and superior parietal lobule). Our results shed light on the intertwining of reward and socioemotional processes in schadenfreude, while offering novel evidence about their neural correlates.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1111/psyp.12961

Psychophysiology

Psychophysiology

Choice predicts the feedback negativity.

Choosing the appropriate response given the circumstance is integral to all aspects of human behavior. One way of elucidating the mechanisms of choice is to relate behavior to neural correlates. Electrophysiological evidence implicates the ERP feedback-negativity (FN) and the P300 as promising neural correlates of reward processing, an integral component of learning. However, prior research has not adequately addressed how the development of a preference to select one option over another (choice preference) relates to the FN and the P300. We assessed whether variation in choice preference predicted the FN and P300 amplitude within subjects. We used a discrete-trials two-alternative choice procedure, where the reinforcer rate for each option was dependently scheduled by a concurrent variable interval. The reinforcer ratio for selecting each option was varied between sessions. Choice was quantified using both the generalized matching law sensitivity and the log odds of staying on the same versus switching to the other alternative (stay preference). The relationship between stay preference, FN, and P300 amplitudes was assessed using the innovative application of hierarchical Bayesian linear regression. The results demonstrate that stay preference was controlled by the reinforcer ratios and credibly predicted the FN amplitude but not P300 amplitude. The findings are consistent with the view that reinforcers may guide behavior by what they signal about future reinforcement, with the FN related to such a process.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1002/hbm.23747

Human brain mapping

Hum Brain Mapp

Neural substrates of context- and person-dependent altruistic punishment.

Human altruistic behaviors are heterogeneous across both contexts and people, whereas the neural signatures underlying the heterogeneity remain to be elucidated. To address this issue, we examined the neural signatures underlying the context- and person-dependent altruistic punishment, conjoining event-related fMRI with both task-based and resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC). Acting as an impartial third party, participants decided how to punish norm violators either alone or in the presence of putative others. We found that the presence of others decreased altruistic punishment due to diffusion of responsibility. Those behavioral effects paralleled altered neural responses in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and putamen. Further, we identified modulation of responsibility diffusion on task-based functional connectivity of dACC with the brain regions implicated in reward processing (i.e., posterior cingulate cortex and amygdala/orbital frontal cortex). Finally, the RSFC results revealed that (i) increased intrinsic connectivity strengths of the putamen with temporoparietal junction and dorsolateral PFC were associated with attenuated responsibility diffusion in altruistic punishment and (ii) increased putamen-dorsomedial PFC connectivity strengths were associated with reduced responsibility diffusion in self-reported responsibility. Taken together, our findings elucidate the context- and person-dependent altruistic behaviors as well as associated neural substrates and thus provide a potential neurocognitive mechanism of heterogeneous human altruistic behaviors. Hum Brain Mapp 38:5535-5550, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1038/npp.2017.158

Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology

Neuropsychopharmacology

Effects of Suvorexant, a Dual Orexin/Hypocretin Receptor Antagonist, on Impulsive Behavior Associated with Cocaine.

Hypothalamic hypocretin (orexin) peptides mediate arousal, attention, and reward processing. Fibers containing orexins project to brain structures that govern motivated behavior, including the ventral tegmental area (VTA). A number of psychiatric conditions, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and substance use disorders, are characterized by deficits in impulse control, however the relationship between orexin and impulsive behavior is incompletely characterized. The effects of systemic or centrally administered orexin receptor (OXR) antagonists on measures of impulsive-like behavior in rats were evaluated using the five-choice serial reaction time task (5-CSRTT) and delay discounting procedures. These paradigms were also used to test the capacity of OXR antagonists to attenuate acute cocaine-evoked impulsivity. Finally, immunohistochemistry and calcium imaging were used to assess potential cellular mechanisms by which OXR blockade may influence motor impulsivity. Suvorexant, a dual (OXR) orexin receptor antagonist, reduced cocaine-evoked premature responses in 5-CSRTT when administered systemically or directly into VTA. Neither suvorexant nor OXR- or OXR-selective compounds (SB334867 or TCS-OX2-29, respectively) altered delay discounting. Finally, suvorexant did not alter Fos-immunoreactivity within tyrosine hydroxylase-immunolabeled neurons of VTA, but did attenuate cocaine- and orexin-induced increases in calcium transient amplitude within neurons of VTA. Results from the present studies suggest potential therapeutic utility of OXR antagonists in reducing psychostimulant-induced motor impulsivity. These findings also support the view that orexin transmission is closely involved in executive function in normal and pathological conditions.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1016/j.yfrne.2017.07.007

Frontiers in neuroendocrinology

Front Neuroendocrinol

Offspring neuroimmune consequences of maternal malnutrition: Potential mechanism for behavioral impairments that underlie metabolic and neurodevelopmental disorders.

Maternal malnutrition significantly increases offspring risk for both metabolic and neurodevelopmental disorders. Animal models of maternal malnutrition have identified behavioral changes in the adult offspring related to executive function and reward processing. Together, these changes in executive and reward-based behaviors likely contribute to the etiology of both metabolic and neurodevelopmental disorders associated with maternal malnutrition. Concomitant with the behavioral effects, maternal malnutrition alters offspring expression of reward-related molecules and inflammatory signals in brain pathways that control executive function and reward. Neuroimmune pathways and microglial interactions in these specific brain circuits, either in early development or later in adulthood, could directly contribute to the maternal malnutrition-induced behavioral phenotypes. Understanding these mechanisms will help advance treatment strategies for metabolic and neurodevelopmental disorders, especially noninvasive dietary supplementation interventions.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1016/j.biopsycho.2017.07.011

Biological psychology

Biol Psychol

Temporal dynamics of reward anticipation in the human brain.

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.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1007/s00213-017-4698-2

Psychopharmacology

Psychopharmacology (Berl)

Individual and combined effects of cannabis and tobacco on drug reward processing in non-dependent users.

Cannabis and tobacco are often smoked simultaneously in joints, and this practice may increase the risks of developing tobacco and/or cannabis use disorders. Currently, there is no human experimental research on how these drugs interact on addiction-related measures. This study aimed to investigate how cannabis and tobacco, each alone and combined together in joints, affected individuals' demand for cannabis puffs and cigarettes, explicit liking of drug and non-drug-related stimuli and craving. A double-blind, 2 (active cannabis, placebo cannabis) × 2 (active tobacco, placebo tobacco) crossover design was used with 24 non-dependent cannabis and tobacco smokers. They completed a pleasantness rating task (PRT), a marijuana purchase task (MPT) and a cigarette purchase task (CPT) alongside measures of craving pre- and post-drug administration. Relative to placebo cannabis, active cannabis reduced liking of cannabis-associated stimuli and increased response time to all stimuli except cigarette-related stimuli. Relative to placebo cannabis, active cannabis decreased demand for cannabis puffs (trends for breakpoint and elasticity) and cigarettes (breakpoint, P , O ) on several characteristics of the purchase tasks. We found no evidence that active tobacco, both alone or combined with cannabis, had an effect on liking, demand or craving. Acutely, cannabis reduced liking of cannabis-related stimuli and demand for cannabis itself. Acute cannabis also reduced demand for cigarettes on the CPT. Acute tobacco administration did not affect demand or pleasantness ratings for cigarettes themselves or cannabis. In non-dependent cannabis and tobacco co-users, tobacco did not influence the rewarding effects of cannabis.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1371/journal.pone.0180907

PloS one

PLoS One

Sex-specific enhancement of palatability-driven feeding in adolescent rats.

It has been hypothesized that brain development during adolescence perturbs reward processing in a way that may ultimately contribute to the risky decision making associated with this stage of life, particularly in young males. To investigate potential reward dysfunction during adolescence, Experiment 1 examined palatable fluid intake in rats as a function of age and sex. During a series of twice-weekly test sessions, non-food-deprived rats were given the opportunity to voluntarily consume a highly palatable sweetened condensed milk (SCM) solution. We found that adolescent male, but not female, rats exhibited a pronounced, transient increase in SCM intake (normalized by body weight) that was centered around puberty. Additionally, adult females consumed more SCM than adult males and adolescent females. Using a well-established analytical framework to parse the influences of reward palatability and satiety on the temporal structure of feeding behavior, we found that palatability-driven intake at the outset of the meal was significantly elevated in adolescent males, relative to the other groups. Furthermore, although we found that there were some group differences in the onset of satiety, they were unlikely to contribute to differences in intake. Experiment 2 confirmed that adolescent male rats exhibit elevated palatable fluid consumption, relative to adult males, even when a non-caloric saccharin solution was used as the taste stimulus, demonstrating that these results were unlikely to be related to age-related differences in metabolic need. These findings suggest that elevated palatable food intake during adolescence is sex specific and driven by a fundamental change in reward processing. As adolescent risk taking has been hypothesized as a potential result of hypersensitivity to and overvaluation of appetitive stimuli, individual differences in reward palatability may factor into individual differences in adolescent risky decision making.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.3390/brainsci7070081

Brain sciences

Brain Sci

Evidences from Rewarding System, FRN and P300 Effect in Internet-Addiction in Young People SHORT TITLE: Rewarding System and EEG in Internet-Addiction.

The present research explored rewarding bias and attentional deficits in Internet addiction (IA) based on the IAT (Internet Addiction Test) construct, during an attentional inhibitory task (Go/NoGo task). Event-related Potentials (ERPs) effects (Feedback Related Negativity (FRN) and P300) were monitored in concomitance with Behavioral Activation System (BAS) modulation. High-IAT young participants showed specific responses to IA-related cues (videos representing online gambling and videogames) in terms of cognitive performance (decreased Response Times, RTs; and Error Rates, ERs) and ERPs modulation (decreased FRN and increased P300). Consistent reward and attentional biases was adduced to explain the cognitive "gain" effect and the anomalous response in terms of both feedback behavior (FRN) and attentional (P300) mechanisms in high-IAT. In addition, BAS and BAS-Reward subscales measures were correlated with both IAT and ERPs variations. Therefore, high sensitivity to IAT may be considered as a marker of dysfunctional reward processing (reduction of monitoring) and cognitive control (higher attentional values) for specific IA-related cues. More generally, a direct relationship among reward-related behavior, Internet addiction and BAS attitude was suggested.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1111/psyp.12957

Psychophysiology

Psychophysiology

Neural responses to social and monetary reward in early adolescence and emerging adulthood.

Reward processing is often considered to be a monolithic construct, with different incentive types eliciting equivalent neural and behavioral responses. The majority of the literature on reward processing has used monetary incentives to elicit reward-related activity, yet social incentives may be particularly important due to their powerful ability to shape behavior. Findings from studies comparing social and monetary rewards have identified both overlapping and distinct responses. In order to explore whether reward processing is domain general or category specific (i.e., the same or different across reward types), the present study recorded ERPs from early adolescents (ages 12-13) and emerging adults (ages 18-25) while they completed social and monetary reward tasks. Temporospatial principal components analysis revealed morphologically similar reward positivities (RewPs) in the social and monetary reward tasks in each age group. In early adolescents, no significant difference was found between the magnitude of the RewP to social and monetary rewards. In emerging adults, however, the RewP to monetary rewards was significantly larger than the RewP to social rewards. Additionally, responses to feedback between the two tasks were not significantly correlated in either age group. These results suggest that both domain-general and category-specific processes underlie neural responses to rewards and that the relative incentive value of different types of rewards may change across development. Findings from this study have important implications for understanding the role that neural response to rewards plays in the development of psychopathology during adolescence.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1007/s10803-017-3220-3

Journal of autism and developmental disorders

J Autism Dev Disord

Vicarious Effort-Based Decision-Making in Autism Spectrum Disorders.

This study investigated vicarious effort-based decision-making in 50 adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) compared to 32 controls using the Effort Expenditure for Rewards Task. Participants made choices to win money for themselves or for another person. When choosing for themselves, the ASD group exhibited relatively similar patterns of effort-based decision-making across reward parameters. However, when choosing for another person, the ASD group demonstrated relatively decreased sensitivity to reward magnitude, particularly in the high magnitude condition. Finally, patterns of responding in the ASD group were related to individual differences in consummatory pleasure capacity. These findings indicate atypical vicarious effort-based decision-making in ASD and more broadly add to the growing body of literature addressing social reward processing deficits in ASD.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1007/s00787-017-1024-9

European child & adolescent psychiatry

Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry

Sex differences in risk-based decision making in adolescents with conduct disorder.

Altered decision making processes and excessive risk-seeking behaviours are key features of conduct disorder (CD). Previous studies have provided compelling evidence of abnormally increased preference for risky options, higher sensitivity to rewards, as well as blunted responsiveness to aversive outcomes in adolescents with CD. However, most studies published to date have focused on males only; thus, it is not known whether females with CD show similar alterations in decision making. The current study investigated potential sex differences in decision making and risk-seeking behaviours in adolescents with CD. Forty-nine adolescents with CD (23 females) and 51 control subjects (27 females), aged 11-18 years, performed a computerised task assessing decision making under risk-the Risky Choice Task. Participants made a series of decisions between two gamble options that varied in terms of their expected values and probability of gains and losses. This enabled the participants' risk preferences to be determined. Taking the sample as a whole, adolescents with CD exhibited increased risk-seeking behaviours compared to healthy controls. However, we found a trend towards a sex-by-group interaction, suggesting that these effects may vary by sex. Follow-up analyses showed that males with CD made significantly more risky choices than their typically developing counterparts, while females with CD did not differ from typically developing females in their risk-seeking behaviours. Our results provide preliminary evidence that sex may moderate the relationship between CD and alterations in risk attitudes and reward processing, indicating that there may be sex differences in the developmental pathways and neuropsychological deficits that lead to CD.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1016/j.appet.2017.07.002

Appetite

Appetite

Effects of a free-choice high-fat high-sugar diet on brain PER2 and BMAL1 protein expression in mice.

The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) times the daily rhythms of behavioral processes including feeding. Beyond the SCN, the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus (ARC), involved in feeding regulation and metabolism, and the epithalamic lateral habenula (LHb), implicated in reward processing, show circadian rhythmic activity. These brain oscillators are functionally coupled to coordinate the daily rhythm of food intake. In rats, a free choice high-fat high-sugar (fcHFHS) diet leads to a rapid increase of calorie intake and body weight gain. Interestingly, under a fcHFHS condition, rats ingest a similar amount of sugar during day time (rest phase) as during night time (active phase), but keep the rhythmic intake of regular chow-food. The out of phase between feeding patterns of regular (chow) and highly rewarding food (sugar) may involve alterations of brain circadian oscillators regulating feeding. Here, we report that the fcHFHS diet is a successful model to induce calorie intake, body weight gain and fat tissue accumulation in mice, extending its effectiveness as previously reported in rats. Moreover, we observed that whereas in the SCN the day-night difference in the PER2 clock protein expression was similar between chow-fed and fcHFHS-fed animals, in the LHb, this day-night difference was altered in fcHFHS-exposed animals compared to control chow mice. These findings confirm previous observations in rats showing disrupted daily patterns of feeding behavior under a fcHFHS diet exposure, and extend our insights on the effects of the diet on circadian gene expression in brain clocks.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1016/j.neuroscience.2017.06.052

Neuroscience

Neuroscience

Two different mirror neuron networks: The sensorimotor (hand) and limbic (face) pathways.

The vast majority of functional studies investigating mirror neurons (MNs) explored their properties in relation to hand actions, and very few investigated how MNs respond to mouth actions or communicative gestures. Since hand and mouth MNs were recorded in two partially overlapping sectors of the ventral precentral cortex of the macaque monkey, there is a general assumption that they share a same neuroanatomical network, with the parietal cortex as a main source of visual information. In the current review, we challenge this perspective and describe the connectivity pattern of mouth MN sector. The mouth MNs F5/opercular region is connected with premotor, parietal areas mostly related to the somatosensory and motor representation of the face/mouth, and with area PrCO, involved in processing gustatory and somatosensory intraoral input. Unlike hand MNs, mouth MNs do not receive their visual input from parietal regions. Such information related to face/communicative behaviors could come from the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. Further strong connections derive from limbic structures involved in encoding emotional facial expressions and motivational/reward processing. These brain structures include the anterior cingulate cortex, the anterior and mid-dorsal insula, orbitofrontal cortex and the basolateral amygdala. The mirror mechanism is therefore composed and supported by at least two different anatomical pathways: one is concerned with sensorimotor transformation in relation to reaching and hand grasping within the traditional parietal-premotor circuits; the second one is linked to the mouth/face motor control and is connected with limbic structures, involved in communication/emotions and reward processing.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1162/jocn_a_01162

Journal of cognitive neuroscience

J Cogn Neurosci

Neural Mechanisms Underlying Risk and Ambiguity Attitudes.

Individual differences in attitudes to risk (a taste for risk, known probabilities) and ambiguity (a tolerance for uncertainty, unknown probabilities) differentially influence risky decision-making. However, it is not well understood whether risk and ambiguity are coded differently within individuals. Here, we tested whether individual differences in risk and ambiguity attitudes were reflected in distinct neural correlates during choice and outcome processing of risky and ambiguous gambles. To these ends, we developed a neuroimaging task in which participants ( n = 50) chose between a sure gain and a gamble, which was either risky or ambiguous, and presented decision outcomes (gains, no gains). From a separate task in which the amount, probability, and ambiguity level were varied, we estimated individuals' risk and ambiguity attitudes. Although there was pronounced neural overlap between risky and ambiguous gambling in a network typically related to decision-making under uncertainty, relatively more risk-seeking attitudes were associated with increased activation in valuation regions of the brain (medial and lateral OFC), whereas relatively more ambiguity-seeking attitudes were related to temporal cortex activation. In addition, although striatum activation was observed during reward processing irrespective of a prior risky or ambiguous gamble, reward processing after an ambiguous gamble resulted in enhanced dorsomedial PFC activation, possibly functioning as a general signal of uncertainty coding. These findings suggest that different neural mechanisms reflect individual differences in risk and ambiguity attitudes and that risk and ambiguity may impact overt risk-taking behavior in different ways.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1111/psyp.12913

Psychophysiology

Psychophysiology

Electrocortical components of anticipation and consumption in a monetary incentive delay task.

In order to improve our understanding of the components that reflect functionally important processes during reward anticipation and consumption, we used principle components analyses (PCA) to separate and quantify averaged ERP data obtained from each stage of a modified monetary incentive delay (MID) task. Although a small number of recent ERP studies have reported that reward and loss cues potentiate ERPs during anticipation, action preparation, and consummatory stages of reward processing, these findings are inconsistent due to temporal and spatial overlap between the relevant electrophysiological components. Our results show three components following cue presentation are sensitive to incentive cues (N1, P3a, P3b). In contrast to previous research, reward-related enhancement occurred only in the P3b, with earlier components more sensitive to break-even and loss cues. During feedback anticipation, we observed a lateralized centroparietal negativity that was sensitive to response hand but not cue type. We also show that use of PCA on ERPs reflecting reward consumption successfully separates the reward positivity from the independently modulated feedback-P3. Last, we observe for the first time a new reward consumption component: a late negativity distributed over the left frontal pole. This component appears to be sensitive to response hand, especially in the context of monetary gain. These results illustrate that the time course and sensitivities of electrophysiological activity that follows incentive cues do not follow a simple heuristic in which reward incentive cues produce enhanced activity at all stages and substages.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1038/tp.2017.133

Translational psychiatry

Transl Psychiatry

Serotonin transporter gene promoter methylation status correlates with in vivo prefrontal 5-HTT availability and reward function in human obesity.

A polymorphism in the promoter region of the human serotonin transporter (5-HTT)-coding SLC6A4 gene (5-HTTLPR) has been implicated in moderating susceptibility to stress-related psychopathology and to possess regulatory functions on human in vivo 5-HTT availability. However, data on a direct relation between 5-HTTLPR and in vivo 5-HTT availability have been inconsistent. Additional factors such as epigenetic modifications of 5-HTTLPR might contribute to this association. This is of particular interest in the context of obesity, as an association with 5-HTTLPR hypermethylation has previously been reported. Here, we tested the hypothesis that methylation rates of 14 cytosine-phosphate-guanine (CpG) 5-HTTLPR loci, in vivo central 5-HTT availability as measured with [C]DASB positron emission tomography (PET) and body mass index (BMI) are related in a group of 30 obese (age: 36±10 years, BMI>35 kg/m) and 14 normal-weight controls (age 36±7 years, BMI<25 kg/m). No significant association between 5-HTTLPR methylation and BMI overall was found. However, site-specific elevations in 5-HTTLPR methylation rates were significantly associated with lower 5-HTT availability in regions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) specifically within the obese group when analyzed in isolation. This association was independent of functional 5-HTTLPR allelic variation. In addition, negative correlative data showed that CpG10-associated 5-HTT availability determines levels of reward sensitivity in obesity. Together, our findings suggest that epigenetic mechanisms rather than 5-HTTLPR alone influence in vivo 5-HTT availability, predominantly in regions having a critical role in reward processing, and this might have an impact on the progression of the obese phenotype.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1016/j.pscychresns.2017.06.014

Psychiatry research. Neuroimaging

Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging

Reduced lateral prefrontal cortical volume is associated with performance on the modified Iowa Gambling Task: A surface based morphometric analysis of previously deployed veterans.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) are two of the most common consequences of combat deployment. Estimates of comorbidity of PTSD and mTBI are as high as 42% in combat exposed Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn (OEF/OIF/OND) Veterans. Combat deployed Veterans with PTSD and/or mTBI exhibit deficits in classic executive function (EF) tasks. Similarly, the extant neuroimaging literature consistently indicates abnormalities of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and amygdala/hippocampal complex in these individuals. While studies examining deficits in classical EF constructs and aberrant neural circuitry have been widely replicated, it is surprising that little research examining reward processing and decision-making has been conducted in these individuals, specifically, because the vmPFC has long been implicated in underlying such processes. Therefore, the current study employed the modified Iowa Gambling Task (mIGT) and structural neuroimaging to assess whether behavioral measures related to reward processing and decision-making were compromised and related to cortical morphometric features of OEF/OIF/OND Veterans with PTSD, mTBI, or co-occurring PTSD/mTBI. Results indicated that gray matter morphometry in the lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC) predicted performance on the mIGT among all three groups and was significantly reduced, as compared to the control group.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.3389/fendo.2017.00127

Frontiers in endocrinology

Front Endocrinol (Lausanne)

Overlapping Neural Endophenotypes in Addiction and Obesity.

Impulsivity refers to a tendency to act rapidly without full consideration of consequences. The trait is thought to result from the interaction between high arousal responses to potential rewards and poor self-control. Studies have suggested that impulsivity confers vulnerability to both addiction and obesity. However, results in this area are unclear, perhaps due to the high phenotypic complexity of addictions and obesity. Focusing on impulsivity, the aim of this review is to tackle the putative overlaps between addiction and obesity in four domains: (1) personality research, (2) neurocognitive tasks, (3) brain imaging, and (4) clinical evidence. We suggest that three impulsivity-related domains are particularly relevant for our understanding of similarities between addiction and obesity: lower self-control (high Disinhibition/low Conscientiousness), reward sensitivity (high Extraversion/Positive Emotionality), and negative affect (high Neuroticism/Negative Emotionality). Neurocognitive studies have shown that obesity and addiction are both associated with increased impulsive decision-making and attention bias in response to drug or food cues, respectively. Mirroring this, obesity and different forms of addiction seem to exhibit similar alterations in functional MRI brain activity in response to reward processing and during self-control tasks. Overall, our review provides an integrative approach to understand those facets of obesity that present similarities to addictive behaviors. In addition, we suggest that therapeutic interventions targeting inhibitory control may represent a promising approach for the prevention and/or treatment of obesity.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1002/hbm.23690

Human brain mapping

Hum Brain Mapp

The left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and caudate pathway: New evidence for cue-induced craving of smokers.

Although the activation of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the striatum had been found in smoking cue induced craving task, whether and how the functional interactions and white matter integrity between these brain regions contribute to craving processing during smoking cue exposure remains unknown. Twenty-five young male smokers and 26 age- and gender-matched nonsmokers participated in the smoking cue-reactivity task. Craving related brain activation was extracted and psychophysiological interactions (PPI) analysis was used to specify the PFC-efferent pathways contributed to smoking cue-induced craving. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and probabilistic tractography was used to explore whether the fiber connectivity strength facilitated functional coupling of the circuit with the smoking cue-induced craving. The PPI analysis revealed the negative functional coupling of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the caudate during smoking cue induced craving task, which positively correlated with the craving score. Neither significant activation nor functional connectivity in smoking cue exposure task was detected in nonsmokers. DTI analyses revealed that fiber tract integrity negatively correlated with functional coupling in the DLPFC-caudate pathway and activation of the caudate induced by smoking cue in smokers. Moreover, the relationship between the fiber connectivity integrity of the left DLPFC-caudate and smoking cue induced caudate activation can be fully mediated by functional coupling strength of this circuit in smokers. The present study highlighted the left DLPFC-caudate pathway in smoking cue-induced craving in smokers, which may reflect top-down prefrontal modulation of striatal reward processing in smoking cue induced craving processing. Hum Brain Mapp 38:4644-4656, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1177/2470547016687996

Chronic stress (Thousand Oaks, Calif.)

Chronic Stress (Thousand Oaks)

Oxytocin and Stress-related Disorders: Neurobiological Mechanisms and Treatment Opportunities.

Novel pharmacotherapies that improve outcomes for individuals with stress-related psychiatric disorders are needed. The neurohormone oxytocin (OT) is a promising candidate given its influence on the social-emotional brain. In this review, we present an overview of evidence supporting OT's utility for treating major depressive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder. We first discuss endogenous OT, which research suggests is not yet a reliable biomarker of stress-related disorders. Second, we review effects of intranasal (IN) OT on processes relevant to stress-related disorders in healthy populations (anhedonia, reward processing, psychosocial stress reactivity, fear/anxiety, and social behavior) and their neurobiological mechanisms (e.g., the salience network and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis). Third, we present the sparse but promising findings from clinical populations, followed by discussion of critical moderating variables to consider in the service of maximizing the therapeutic potential of OT (e.g., patient sex and child maltreatment). We also identify heterogeneous findings and limitations of existing research, including reliance on single-dose studies in psychiatrically healthy samples and unanswered questions regarding the effectiveness of IN drug delivery and dosing schedules. Well-controlled multidose studies including women and measures of potentially moderating variables are sorely needed and would inform our understanding of the utility of OT for preventing and treating stress-related psychiatric disorders.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1016/j.pnpbp.2017.06.015

Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry

Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry

Impact of juvenile chronic stress on adult cortico-accumbal function: Implications for cognition and addiction.

Repeated exposure to stress during childhood is associated with increased risk for neuropsychiatric illness, substance use disorders and other behavioral problems in adulthood. However, it is not clear how chronic childhood stress can lead to emergence of such a wide range of symptoms and disorders in later life. One possible explanation lies in stress-induced disruption to the development of specific brain regions associated with executive function and reward processing, deficits in which are common to the disorders promoted by childhood stress. Evidence of aberrations in prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens function following repeated exposure of juvenile (pre- and adolescent) organisms to a variety of different stressors would account not only for the similarity in symptoms across the wide range of childhood stress-associated mental illnesses, but also their persistence into adulthood in the absence of further stress. Therefore, the goal of this review is to evaluate the current knowledge regarding disruption to executive function and reward processing in adult animals or humans exposed to chronic stress over the juvenile period, and the underlying neurobiology, with particular emphasis on the prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens. First, the role of these brain regions in mediating executive function and reward processing is highlighted. Second, the neurobehavioral development of these systems is discussed to illustrate how juvenile stress may exert long-lasting effects on prefrontal cortex-accumbal activity and related behavioral functions. Finally, a critical review of current animal and human findings is presented, which strongly supports the supposition that exposure to chronic stress (particularly social aggression and isolation in animal studies) in the juvenile period produces impairments in executive function in adulthood, especially in working memory and inhibitory control. Chronic juvenile stress also results in aberrations to reward processing and seeking, with increased sensitivity to drugs of abuse particularly noted in animal models, which is in line with greater incidence of substance use disorders seen in clinical studies. These consequences are potentially mediated by monoamine and glutamatergic dysfunction in the prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens, providing translatable therapeutic targets. However, the predominant use of male subjects and social-based stressors in preclinical studies points to a clear need for determining how both sex differences and stressor heterogeneity may differentially contribute to stress-induced changes to substrates mediating executive function and reward processing, before the impact of chronic juvenile stress in promoting adult psychopathology can be fully understood.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.4088/JCP.15m10624

The Journal of clinical psychiatry

J Clin Psychiatry

Stimulant Treatment Trajectories Are Associated With Neural Reward Processing in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

The past decades have seen a surge in stimulant prescriptions for the treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Stimulants acutely alleviate symptoms and cognitive deficits associated with ADHD by modulating striatal dopamine neurotransmission and induce therapeutic changes in brain activation patterns. Long-term functional changes after treatment are unknown, as long-term studies are scarce and have focused on brain structure. In this observational study (2009-2012), we investigated associations between lifetime stimulant treatment history and neural activity during reward processing. Participants fulfilling DSM-5 criteria for ADHD (N = 269) were classified according to stimulant treatment trajectory. Of those, 124 performed a monetary incentive delay task during magnetic resonance imaging, all in their nonmedicated state (nEARLY&INTENSE = 51; nLATE&MODERATE = 49; nEARLY&MODERATE = 9; nNAIVE = 15; mean age = 17.4 years; range, 10-26 years). Whole-brain analyses were performed with additional focus on the striatum, concentrating on the 2 largest treatment groups. Compared to the late-and-moderate treatment group, the early-and-intense treatment group showed more activation in the supplementary motor area and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (SMA/dACC) during reward outcome (cluster size = 8,696 mm³; PCLUSTER < .001). SMA/dACC activation of the control group fell in between the 2 treatment groups. Treatment history was not associated with striatal activation during reward processing. Our findings are compatible with previous reports of acute increases of SMA/dACC activity in individuals with ADHD after stimulant administration. Higher SMA/dACC activity may indicate that patients with a history of intensive stimulant treatment, but currently off medication, recruit brain regions for cognitive control and/or decision-making upon being rewarded. No striatal or structural changes were found.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.3758/s13415-017-0524-x

Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience

Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci

Identifying the neural substrates of intrinsic motivation during task performance.

Intrinsic motivation is the inherent tendency to seek out novelty and challenge, to explore and investigate, and to stretch and extend one's capacities. When people imagine performing intrinsically motivating tasks, they show heightened anterior insular cortex (AIC) activity. To fully explain the neural system of intrinsic motivation, however, requires assessing neural activity while people actually perform intrinsically motivating tasks (i.e., while answering curiosity-inducing questions or solving competence-enabling anagrams). Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging, we found that the neural system of intrinsic motivation involves not only AIC activity, but also striatum activity and, further, AIC-striatum functional interactions. These findings suggest that subjective feelings of intrinsic satisfaction (associated with AIC activations), reward processing (associated with striatum activations), and their interactions underlie the actual experience of intrinsic motivation. These neural findings are consistent with the conceptualization of intrinsic motivation as the pursuit and satisfaction of subjective feelings (interest and enjoyment) as intrinsic rewards.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1093/alcalc/agx037

Alcohol and alcoholism (Oxford, Oxfordshire)

Alcohol Alcohol

Development, Initial Testing and Challenges of an Ecologically Valid Reward Prediction Error FMRI Task for Alcoholism.

To advance translational studies of the role of reward prediction error (PE) in alcohol use disorder, the present study sought to develop and conduct an initial test of an alcohol-specific PE task paradigm using functional magnetic resonance imaging in humans. Alcohol dependent or social drinkers received small tastes of their preferred alcohol beverage or control beverage, with preceding visual cues indicating whether alcohol (or water) would be delivered. To assess both positive and negative PE signals, expectancies were systematically violated in both positive (i.e. expecting water and receiving alcohol) and negative (i.e. expecting alcohol and receiving water) directions. Exploratory trial-by-trial analyses were conducted to explore temporal fluctuations of activation within a priori-defined regions of interest that have been implicated in cue reactivity and PE processing. Across the entire sample of participants, positive PE-related brain activation was found in a large cluster comprised of frontal lobe regions, as well as insular cortex, and motor/sensory cortices. Compared to social drinking subjects, alcohol dependent subjects had greater positive PE-related brain activity in left superior parietal lobule, lateral occipital cortex and postcentral gyrus. Exploratory trial-by-trial analyses indicated differences in activation specific to type of taste, mostly at earlier trials. This task-development oriented pilot study found that PE signaling may not be detected in expected brain regions when image analyses average across all PE trials of the task. Rather, a trial-by-trial analysis approach may help detect sparse, temporally distinct PE signaling in expected reward processing regions. This fMRI study of reward prediction error found greater positive prediction error-related activity (i.e. expecting water taste, receiving alcohol taste) in alcohol dependent individuals relative to social drinkers in parietal and occipital cortices. Trial-by-trial analyses may be able to better detect sparse prediction error signaling in expected reward processing regions.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0684-17.2017

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience

J Neurosci

Reward Selectively Modulates the Lingering Neural Representation of Recently Attended Objects in Natural Scenes.

Theories of reinforcement learning and approach behavior suggest that reward can increase the perceptual salience of environmental stimuli, ensuring that potential predictors of outcome are noticed in the future. However, outcome commonly follows visual processing of the environment, occurring even when potential reward cues have long disappeared. How can reward feedback retroactively cause now-absent stimuli to become attention-drawing in the future? One possibility is that reward and attention interact to prime lingering visual representations of attended stimuli that sustain through the interval separating stimulus and outcome. Here, we test this idea using multivariate pattern analysis of fMRI data collected from male and female humans. While in the scanner, participants searched for examples of target categories in briefly presented pictures of cityscapes and landscapes. Correct task performance was followed by reward feedback that could randomly have either high or low magnitude. Analysis showed that high-magnitude reward feedback boosted the lingering representation of target categories while reducing the representation of nontarget categories. The magnitude of this effect in each participant predicted the behavioral impact of reward on search performance in subsequent trials. Other analyses show that sensitivity to reward-as expressed in a personality questionnaire and in reactivity to reward feedback in the dopaminergic midbrain-predicted reward-elicited variance in lingering target and nontarget representations. Credit for rewarding outcome thus appears to be assigned to the target representation, causing the visual system to become sensitized for similar objects in the future. How do reward-predictive visual stimuli become salient and attention-drawing? In the real world, reward cues precede outcome and reward is commonly received long after potential predictors have disappeared. How can the representation of environmental stimuli be affected by outcome that occurs later in time? Here, we show that reward acts on lingering representations of environmental stimuli that sustain through the interval between stimulus and outcome. Using naturalistic scene stimuli and multivariate pattern analysis of fMRI data, we show that reward boosts the representation of attended objects and reduces the representation of unattended objects. This interaction of attention and reward processing acts to prime vision for stimuli that may serve to predict outcome.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.06.003

Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews

Neurosci Biobehav Rev

The "highs and lows" of the human brain on dopaminergics: Evidence from neuropharmacology.

Rewards are appetitive events that elicit approach. Ground-breaking findings from neurophysiological experiments in animals, alongside neuropharmacology and neuroimaging research in human samples have identified dopamine as the main neurochemical messenger of global reward processing in the brain. However, dopamine's contribution to the different components of reward processing remains to be precisely defined. To facilitate the informed design and interpretation of reward studies in humans, we have systematically reviewed all existing human pharmacological studies investigating how drug manipulation of the dopamine system affects reward-related behaviour and its neural correlates. Pharmacological experiments in humans face methodological challenges in terms of the: 1) specificity and safety of the available drugs for administration in humans, 2) uncertainties about pre- or post-synaptic modes of action, and 3) possible interactions with inter-individual neuropsychological or genotypic variables. In order to circumvent some of these limitations, future research should rely on the combination of different levels of observation, in integrative pharmaco-genetics-neurobehavioral approaches, to more completely characterize dopamine's role in both general and modality-specific processing of reward.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.06.012

NeuroImage

Neuroimage

Representational precision in visual cortex reveals outcome encoding and reward modulation during action preparation.

According to ideomotor theory, goal-directed action involves the active perceptual anticipation of actions and their associated effects. We used multivariate analysis of fMRI data to test if preparation of an action promotes precision in the perceptual representation of the action. In addition, we tested how reward magnitude modulates this effect. Finally, we examined how expectation and uncertainty impact neural precision in the motor cortex. In line with our predictions, preparation of a hand or face action increased the precision of neural activation patterns in the extrastriate body area (EBA) and fusiform face area (FFA), respectively. The size of this effect of anticipation predicted individuals' efficiency at performing the prepared action. In addition, increasing reward magnitude increased the precision of perceptual representations in both EBA and FFA although this effect was limited to the group of participants that learned to associate face actions with high reward. Surprisingly, examination of representations in the hand motor cortex and face motor cortex yielded effects in the opposite direction. Our findings demonstrate that the precision of representations in visual and motor areas provides an important neural signature of the sensorimotor representations involved in goal-directed action.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.06.015

NeuroImage

Neuroimage

Neurobiological correlates of impulsivity in healthy adults: Lower prefrontal gray matter volume and spontaneous eye-blink rate but greater resting-state functional connectivity in basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical circuitry.

Studies consistently implicate aberrance of the brain's reward-processing and decision-making networks in disorders featuring high levels of impulsivity, such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, substance use disorder, and psychopathy. However, less is known about the neurobiological determinants of individual differences in impulsivity in the general population. In this study of 105 healthy adults, we examined relationships between impulsivity and three neurobiological metrics - gray matter volume, resting-state functional connectivity, and spontaneous eye-blink rate, a physiological indicator of central dopaminergic activity. Impulsivity was measured both by performance on a task of behavioral inhibition (go/no-go task) and by self-ratings of attentional, motor, and non-planning impulsivity using the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11). Overall, we found that less gray matter in medial orbitofrontal cortex and paracingulate gyrus, greater resting-state functional connectivity between nodes of the basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical network, and lower spontaneous eye-blink rate were associated with greater impulsivity. Specifically, less prefrontal gray matter was associated with higher BIS-11 motor and non-planning impulsivity scores, but was not related to task performance; greater correlated resting-state functional connectivity between the basal ganglia and thalamus, motor cortices, and prefrontal cortex was associated with worse no-go trial accuracy on the task and with higher BIS-11 motor impulsivity scores; lower spontaneous eye-blink rate was associated with worse no-go trial accuracy and with higher BIS-11 motor impulsivity scores. These data provide evidence that individual differences in impulsivity in the general population are related to variability in multiple neurobiological metrics in the brain's reward-processing and decision-making networks.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2017.1054

JAMA psychiatry

JAMA Psychiatry

Are There Differences in Disruptions of Reward Processing Between Substance Use Disorder and Gambling Disorder?-Reply.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1016/j.celrep.2017.05.047

Cell reports

Cell Rep

Dorsal-CA1 Hippocampal Neuronal Ensembles Encode Nicotine-Reward Contextual Associations.

Natural and drug rewards increase the motivational valence of stimuli in the environment that, through Pavlovian learning mechanisms, become conditioned stimuli that directly motivate behavior in the absence of the original unconditioned stimulus. While the hippocampus has received extensive attention for its role in learning and memory processes, less is known regarding its role in drug-reward associations. We used in vivo Ca imaging in freely moving mice during the formation of nicotine preference behavior to examine the role of the dorsal-CA1 region of the hippocampus in encoding contextual reward-seeking behavior. We show the development of specific neuronal ensembles whose activity encodes nicotine-reward contextual memories and that are necessary for the expression of place preference. Our findings increase our understanding of CA1 hippocampal function in general and as it relates to reward processing by identifying a critical role for CA1 neuronal ensembles in nicotine place preference.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.3389/fnhum.2017.00248

Frontiers in human neuroscience

Front Hum Neurosci

Neural Basis of Video Gaming: A Systematic Review.

Video gaming is an increasingly popular activity in contemporary society, especially among young people, and video games are increasing in popularity not only as a research tool but also as a field of study. Many studies have focused on the neural and behavioral effects of video games, providing a great deal of video game derived brain correlates in recent decades. There is a great amount of information, obtained through a myriad of methods, providing neural correlates of video games. We aim to understand the relationship between the use of video games and their neural correlates, taking into account the whole variety of cognitive factors that they encompass. A systematic review was conducted using standardized search operators that included the presence of video games and neuro-imaging techniques or references to structural or functional brain changes. Separate categories were made for studies featuring Internet Gaming Disorder and studies focused on the violent content of video games. A total of 116 articles were considered for the final selection. One hundred provided functional data and 22 measured structural brain changes. One-third of the studies covered video game addiction, and 14% focused on video game related violence. Despite the innate heterogeneity of the field of study, it has been possible to establish a series of links between the neural and cognitive aspects, particularly regarding attention, cognitive control, visuospatial skills, cognitive workload, and reward processing. However, many aspects could be improved. The lack of standardization in the different aspects of video game related research, such as the participants' characteristics, the features of each video game genre and the diverse study goals could contribute to discrepancies in many related studies.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1017/S0033291717001428

Psychological medicine

Psychol Med

Hyper-responsivity to losses in the anterior insula during economic choice scales with depression severity.

Commonly observed distortions in decision-making among patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) may emerge from impaired reward processing and cognitive biases toward negative events. There is substantial theoretical support for the hypothesis that MDD patients overweight potential losses compared with gains, though the neurobiological underpinnings of this bias are uncertain. Twenty-one unmedicated patients with MDD were compared with 25 healthy controls (HC) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) together with an economic decision-making task over mixed lotteries involving probabilistic gains and losses. Region-of-interest analyses evaluated neural signatures of gain and loss coding within a core network of brain areas known to be involved in valuation (anterior insula, caudate nucleus, ventromedial prefrontal cortex). Usable fMRI data were available for 19 MDD and 23 HC subjects. Anterior insula signal showed negative coding of losses (gain > loss) in HC subjects consistent with previous findings, whereas MDD subjects demonstrated significant reversals in these associations (loss > gain). Moreover, depression severity further enhanced the positive coding of losses in anterior insula, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and caudate nucleus. The hyper-responsivity to losses displayed by the anterior insula of MDD patients was paralleled by a reduced influence of gain, but not loss, stake size on choice latencies. Patients with MDD demonstrate a significant shift from negative to positive coding of losses in the anterior insula, revealing the importance of this structure in value-based decision-making in the context of emotional disturbances.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1080/17470919.2017.1339635

Social neuroscience

Soc Neurosci

Modulation of reward in a live social context as revealed through interactive social neuroscience.

Social neuroscience research investigating autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has yielded inconsistent findings, despite ASD being well-characterized by difficulties in social interaction and communication through behavioral observation. In particular, specific etiologies and functional and structural assays of the brain in autism have not been consistently identified. To date, most social neuroscience research has focused on a single person viewing static images. Research utilizing interactive social neuroscience featuring dual-brain recording offers great promise for the study of neurodevelopmental disabilities. Reward processing has been implicated in the pathology of ASD, yet mixed findings have brought uncertainty about the role reward processing deficits may play in ASD. The current study employed dual-brain EEG recording to examine reward processing during live interaction and its relation to autistic traits. Sixteen typically developing (TD) adults played a competitive treasure-hunt game against a computer and against a human partner. EEG results revealed enhanced neural sensitivity to reward outcome during live interaction with a human competitor. Further, individuals with higher levels of autistic traits demonstrated reduced sensitivity to reward outcome during live interaction. These findings provide novel insight into reward processing mechanisms associated with autistic traits, as well as support the necessary utility of interactive social neuroscience techniques to study developmental disorders.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.3758/s13415-017-0521-0

Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience

Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci

Laboratory-induced learned helplessness attenuates approach motivation as indexed by posterior versus frontal theta activity.

Research suggests that midline posterior versus frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) theta activity (PFTA) may reflect a novel neurophysiological index of approach motivation. Elevated PFTA has been associated with approach-related tendencies both at rest and during laboratory tasks designed to enhance approach motivation. PFTA is sensitive to changes in dopamine signaling within the fronto-striatal neural circuit, which is centrally involved in approach motivation, reward processing, and goal-directed behavior. To date, however, no studies have examined PFTA during a laboratory task designed to reduce approach motivation or goal-directed behavior. Considerable animal and human research supports the hypothesis put forth by the learned helplessness theory that exposure to uncontrollable aversive stimuli decreases approach motivation by inducing a state of perceived uncontrollability. Accordingly, the present study examined the effect of perceived uncontrollability (i.e., learned helplessness) on PFTA. EEG data were collected from 74 participants (mean age = 19.21 years; 40 females) exposed to either Controllable (n = 26) or Uncontrollable (n = 25) aversive noise bursts, or a No-Noise Condition (n = 23). In line with prediction, individuals exposed to uncontrollable aversive noise bursts displayed a significant decrease in PFTA, reflecting reduced approach motivation, relative to both individuals exposed to controllable noise bursts or the No-Noise Condition. There was no relationship between perceived uncontrollability and frontal EEG alpha asymmetry, another commonly used neurophysiological index of approach motivation. Results have implications for understanding the neurophysiology of approach motivation and establishing PFTA as a neurophysiological index of approach-related tendencies.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1523/ENEURO.0120-17.2017

eNeuro

eNeuro

Impact of Early Consumption of High-Fat Diet on the Mesolimbic Dopaminergic System.

Increasing evidence suggest that consumption of high-fat diet (HFD) can impact the maturation of brain circuits, such as during adolescence, which could account for behavioral alterations associated with obesity. In the present study, we used behavioral sensitization to amphetamine to investigate the effect of periadolescent HFD exposure (pHFD) in rats on the functionality of the dopamine (DA) system, a central actor in food reward processing. pHFD does not affect responding to an acute injection, however, a single exposure to amphetamine is sufficient to induce locomotor sensitization in pHFD rats. This is paralleled by rapid neurobiological adaptations within the DA system. In pHFD-exposed animals, a single amphetamine exposure induces an increase in bursting activity of DA cells in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) as well as higher DA release and greater expression of (tyrosine hydroxylase, TH) in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Post-synaptically, pHFD animals display an increase in NAc D2 receptors and c-Fos expression after amphetamine injection. These findings highlight the vulnerability of DA system to the consumption of HFD during adolescence that may support deficits in reward-related processes observed in obesity.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1093/scan/nsx073

Social cognitive and affective neuroscience

Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci

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

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.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.03.012

Drug and alcohol dependence

Drug Alcohol Depend

Evidence that anhedonia is a symptom of opioid dependence associated with recent use.

Anhedonia is prevalent among substance-dependent populations. The hedonic allostasis model suggests this is due to the effects of addictive substances on neural substrates of reward processing. However, previous research may have been confounded by other factors likely to influence anhedonia, including tobacco use, psychopathology, and history of trauma and other stressors. Thus it remains unclear whether elevated anhedonia in substance-dependent populations is caused by substance use itself, or is due to other correlates of substance dependence. Multivariate analysis of covariance was conducted to test whether opioid-dependent participants' anhedonia scores were elevated, relative to a non-dependent control group, after controlling for psychosocial factors likely to influence anhedonia. Correlational analyses within opioid-dependent participants were also conducted to examine whether anhedonia was associated with recent illicit opioid use or duration of abstinence. There was a modest, but significant, elevation in anhedonia in opioid-dependent participants, relative to controls (Partial η=0.034, p=0.041) after controlling for psychosocial variables that were associated with anhedonia. Depressive symptoms and history of post-traumatic stress disorder also remained significantly associated with anhedonia in the adjusted model. Among participants on opioid pharmacotherapy, there were significant associations between frequency of recent illicit opioid use and scores on anhedonia measures (all r>0.25, p<0.013), but among abstinent opioid-dependent participants, relationships between duration of abstinence and anhedonia were not significant (all r<0.24, p>0.22). These findings support the hypothesis that use of opioids can cause anhedonia, although other psychosocial factors may also contribute to the high prevalence of anhedonia among opioid-dependent populations.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1016/j.appet.2017.05.038

Appetite

Appetite

Resting state hypothalamic response to glucose predicts glucose-induced attenuation in the ventral striatal response to food cues.

Feeding behavior is regulated by a complex interaction of central nervous system responses to metabolic signals that reflect nutrient availability and to food cues that trigger appetitive responses. Prior work has shown that the hypothalamus is a key brain area that senses and responds to changes in metabolic signals, and exposure to food cues induces the activation of brain areas involved in reward processing. However, it is not known how the hypothalamic responses to changes in metabolic state are related to reward responses to food cues. This study aimed to understand whether changes in hypothalamic activity in response to glucose-induced metabolic signals are linked to food-cue reactivity within brain areas involved in reward processing. We combined two neuroimaging modalities (Arterial Spin Labeling and Blood Oxygen Level Dependent) to measure glucose-induced changes in hypothalamic cerebral blood flow (CBF) and food-cue task induced changes in brain activity within reward-related regions. Twenty-five participants underwent a MRI session following glucose ingestion and a subset of twenty individuals underwent an additional water session on a separate day as a control condition (drink order randomized). Hunger was assessed before and after drink consumption. We observed that individuals who had a greater reduction in hypothalamic CBF exhibited a greater reduction in left ventral striatum food cue reactivity (Spearman's rho = 0.46, P = 0.048) following glucose vs. water ingestion. These results are the first to use multimodal imaging to demonstrate a link between hypothalamic metabolic signaling and ventral striatal food cue reactivity.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1016/j.eurpsy.2017.03.004

European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists

Eur Psychiatry

Cognitive control and reward/loss processing in Internet gaming disorder: Results from a comparison with recreational Internet game-users.

Although playing of Internet games may lead to Internet gaming disorder (IGD), most game-users do not develop problems and only a relatively small subset experiences IGD. Game playing may have positive health associations, whereas IGD has been repeatedly associated with negative health measures, and it is thus important to understand differences between individuals with IGD, recreational (non-problematic) game use (RGU) and non-/low-frequency game use (NLFGU). Individuals with IGD have shown differences in neural activations from non-gamers, yet few studies have examined neural differences between individuals with IGD, RGU and NLFGU. Eighteen individuals with IGD, 21 with RGU and 19 with NFLGU performed a color-word Stroop task and a guessing task assessing reward/loss processing. Behavioral and functional imaging data were collected and compared between groups. RGU and NLFGU subjects showed lower Stroop effects as compared with those with IGD. RGU subjects as compared to those with IGD demonstrated less frontal cortical activation brain activation during Stroop performance. During the guessing task, RGU subjects showed greater cortico-striatal activations than IGD subjects during processing of winning outcomes and greater frontal brain during processing of losing outcomes. Findings suggest that RGU as compared with IGD subjects show greater executive control and greater activations of brain regions implicated in motivational processes during reward processing and greater cortical activations during loss processing. These findings suggest neural and behavioral features distinguishing RGU from IGD and mechanisms by which RGU may be motivated to play online games frequently yet avoid developing IGD.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.3389/fnbeh.2017.00085

Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience

Front Behav Neurosci

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

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.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1016/j.conb.2017.05.004

Current opinion in neurobiology

Curr Opin Neurobiol

The menagerie of the basal forebrain: how many (neural) species are there, what do they look like, how do they behave and who talks to whom?

The diverse cell-types of the basal forebrain control sleep-wake states, cortical activity and reward processing. Large, slow-firing, cholinergic neurons suppress cortical delta activity and promote cortical plasticity in response to reinforcers. Large, fast-firing, cortically-projecting GABAergic neurons promote wakefulness and fast cortical activity. In particular, parvalbumin/GABAergic neurons promote neocortical gamma band activity. Conversely, excitation of slower-firing somatostatin/GABAergic neurons promotes sleep through inhibition of cortically-projecting neurons. Activation of glutamatergic neurons promotes wakefulness, likely by exciting other cortically-projecting neurons. Similarly, cholinergic neurons indirectly promote wakefulness by excitation of wake-promoting, cortically-projecting GABAergic neurons and/or inhibition of sleep-promoting somatostatin/GABAergic neurons. Both glia and neurons increase the levels of adenosine during prolonged wakefulness. Adenosine presynaptically inhibits glutamatergic inputs to wake-promoting cholinergic and GABAergic/parvalbumin neurons, promoting sleep.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1007/s10964-017-0690-8

Journal of youth and adolescence

J Youth Adolesc

Joint Effects of Peer Presence and Fatigue on Risk and Reward Processing in Late Adolescence.

Peers are thought to increase adolescents' risk-taking behavior, at least in part, by heightening their sensitivity to rewards. In this study, we investigate whether the effect of peers on late adolescent males is exacerbated when youth are cognitively fatigued, a state characterized by weakened cognitive control and heightened orientation toward rewards, and well established as a factor that compromises decision making. We hypothesized that fatigued adolescents' top-down regulation of reward-related impulses may be compromised, thereby potentially amplifying the effect of peers on reward- and risk-seeking behavior. Late adolescent males between 18 and 22 years old (mean age = 19.64, SD = 1.22; 61% Caucasian) completed a decision-making battery either alone or in the presence of 3 same-sex peers, and were either cognitively fatigued or non-fatigued. We compared behavior between four experimental groups-fatigued adolescents in a peer group, non-fatigued adolescents in a peer group, fatigued adolescents by themselves, and non-fatigued adolescents by themselves. The findings showed that cognitive fatigue and peer presence evinced independent effects on risk taking and sensitivity to rewards, but that these factors do not influence adolescent decision-making in an additive or synergistic fashion. To our surprise, being fatigued reduces (but does not eliminate) the effect of peers of risk taking. Moreover, the impact of peers on adolescent males' ability to learn from negative consequences is not compromised when adolescents are in a state of mental fatigue. Our results suggest that mental fatigue increases late adolescent males' reward sensitivity to the same extent as peer presence, but does not amplify the peer effect on risk-taking behavior. In this regard, grouping adolescents when they are fatigued may be less dangerous than when they are rested. Similarly, the added presence of peers does not further exacerbate the effect of fatigue on adolescent's reward- and risk-seeking inclinations. In fact, given peers' unique effect on adolescents' ability to learn from costly decisions, our findings suggest that seeking the presence of peers-which is often a rewarding experience in and of itself-may be an adaptive response to mitigate the impact of fatigue on decision making.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1016/j.pbb.2017.05.008

Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior

Pharmacol Biochem Behav

Effects of anandamide administration on components of reward processing during free choice.

Previous research has implicated the positive modulation of anandamide, an endocannabinoid neurotransmitter, on feeding behavior. Anandamide is particularly noteworthy as it acts as an endogenous ligand of the CB1 receptor, the same receptor that is activated by tetrahydrocannabinol, the primary psychoactive component in Cannabis sativa. Cannabis legalization in North America has presented with a need to study endocannabinoid agonists and their effects on behavior. Much has yet to be determined in terms of the role of the endocannabinoid system in decision-making scenarios. The research presented here tested the hypothesis that anandamide would augment motivation and reward processing via appetitive and consummatory measures during an operant, foraging task. A three-box design was used in order to provide the animals with a free choice, exploratory foraging environment. Discrimination, preference, and incentive contrast were analyzed as discrete measures of decision-making in the three-box paradigm. Anandamide administration (1mg/kg) was found to significantly increase motivation for the optimal foraging outcome and alter basic processing of reward information involved in discrimination and relative valuation. The positive effects of anandamide on eating behavior and motivation have implications toward possible treatment modalities for patient populations presenting with disorders of motivation. These findings suggest the need for continued investigation of the endocannabinoid system as a central component of motivated behavior.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1016/j.brainresbull.2017.05.010

Brain research bulletin

Brain Res Bull

Changes in resting state functional brain connectivity and withdrawal symptoms are associated with acute electronic cigarette use.

Resting state functional brain connectivity (rsFC) may be an important neuromarker of smoking behavior. Prior research has shown, among cigarette smokers, that nicotine administration alters rsFC within frontal and parietal cortices involved in executive control, as well as striatal regions that drive reward processing. These changes in rsFC have been associated with reductions in withdrawal symptom severity. We currently have a limited understanding of how rsFC is affected by the use of electronic cigarettes (ecigs), an increasingly popular class of products, the members of which deliver nicotine with varying effectiveness. The current study used fMRI to determine the effects of ecig use on rsFC and withdrawal symptoms. Independent component, dual regression, and permutation analyses were conducted on rsFC collected from ecig users before and after an ecig use episode (n=9) that occurred after 14h of nicotine abstinence. Similar to the known effects of nicotine administration, ecig use decreased rsFC of two clusters in the right frontal pole and frontal medial cortex with an attentional control salience network, and decreased rsFC of five clusters in the left thalamus, insula, and brain stem with a reward network encompassing the striatum. Ecig use increased inverse coupling between the prefrontal reward network and the right frontoparietal executive control network. Reductions in craving and difficulty with concentration were correlated with decreases in coupling strength between reward and executive control networks. These preliminary results suggest that the effects of ecig use on rsFC are similar to those seen with nicotine administration in other forms. In order to gain insight into the addictive potential of ecigs, further research is needed to understand the neural influence of ecigs across the range of nicotine delivery within this class of products.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1016/j.clinph.2017.03.049

Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology

Clin Neurophysiol

Neural mechanisms of reward processing associated with depression-related personality traits.

Although impaired reward processing in depression has been well-documented, the exact nature of that deficit remains poorly understood. To investigate the link between depression and the neural mechanisms of reward processing, we examined individual differences in personality. We recorded the electroencephalogram from healthy college students engaged in a probabilistic reinforcement learning task. Participants also completed several personality questionnaires that assessed traits related to reward sensitivity, motivation, and depression. We examined whether behavioral measures of reward learning and event-related potential components related to outcome processing and reward anticipation-namely, the cue and feedback-related reward positivity (RewP) and the stimulus preceding negativity (SPN)-would link these personality traits to depression. Participants who scored high in reward sensitivity produced a relatively larger feedback-RewP. By contrast, participants who scored high in depression learned the contingencies for infrequently rewarded cue-response combinations relatively poorly, exhibited a larger SPN, and produced a smaller feedback-RewP, especially to outcomes following cue-response combinations that were frequently rewarded. These results point to a primary deficit in reward valuation in individuals who score high in depression, with secondary consequences that impact reward learning and anticipation. Despite recent evidence arguing for an anticipatory deficit in depression, impaired reward valuation as a primary deficit should be further examined in clinical samples.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1177/2329048X16667350

Child neurology open

Child Neurol Open

Neural Correlates of Reward Processing in Typical and Atypical Development.

Atypically developing children including those born preterm or who have autism spectrum disorder can display difficulties with evaluating rewarding stimuli, which may result from impaired maturation of reward and cognitive control brain regions. During functional magnetic resonance imaging, 58 typically and atypically developing children (6-12 years) participated in a set-shifting task that included the presentation of monetary reward stimuli. In typically developing children, reward stimuli were associated with age-related increases in activation in cognitive control centers, with weaker changes in reward regions. In atypically developing children, no age-related changes were evident. Maturational disturbances in the frontostriatal regions during atypical development may underlie task-based differences in activation.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.3389/fnbeh.2017.00077

Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience

Front Behav Neurosci

Reward Network Immediate Early Gene Expression in Mood Disorders.

Over the past three decades, it has become clear that aberrant function of the network of interconnected brain regions responsible for reward processing and motivated behavior underlies a variety of mood disorders, including depression and anxiety. It is also clear that stress-induced changes in reward network activity underlying both normal and pathological behavior also cause changes in gene expression. Here, we attempt to define the reward circuitry and explore the known and potential contributions of activity-dependent changes in gene expression within this circuitry to stress-induced changes in behavior related to mood disorders, and contrast some of these effects with those induced by exposure to drugs of abuse. We focus on a series of immediate early genes regulated by stress within this circuitry and their connections, both well-explored and relatively novel, to circuit function and subsequent reward-related behaviors. We conclude that IEGs play a crucial role in stress-dependent remodeling of reward circuitry, and that they may serve as inroads to the molecular, cellular, and circuit-level mechanisms of mood disorder etiology and treatment.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1111/acer.13417

Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research

Alcohol Clin Exp Res

Aripiprazole Suppression of Drinking in a Clinical Laboratory Paradigm: Influence of Impulsivity and Self-Control.

Aspects of impulsivity have been implicated in the development, or maintenance, of alcohol use disorder (AUD). The brain dopamine system is implicated in both reward processing/memory (typically subcortical) and in brain inhibitory control mechanisms (typically cortical). Using a validated clinical laboratory paradigm, the dopamine/serotonin "stabilizing" drug, aripiprazole was evaluated in non-treatment-seeking AUD individuals based on their level of impulsivity/self-control. Ninety-nine individuals (77% male; mean age 27; 7.5 drinks per day; 83% heavy drinking days) meeting DSM-IV criteria for alcohol dependence were randomized to aripiprazole (N = 47 evaluable) or placebo (N = 48 evaluable) based on their Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11) score (above or below 68). Aripiprazole, or similar placebo, was titrated to 15 mg over 8 days. Drinking was recorded over 6 days under natural conditions. On Day 8, after 1 day of required abstinence, individuals participated in a bar laboratory paradigm that included a priming drink (breath alcohol concentration [BAC] target 0.02 to 0.03 g/dl) and free-choice consumption of up to 8 drinks (max BAC 0.1 g/dl) in exchange for a "bar credit" of $2 per drink (max $16). End points were drinks per day under natural conditions and drinks consumed in the bar laboratory after the priming drink. There was no significant main effect of aripiprazole or interaction with BIS-11 score during the natural drinking period. However, there was a main effect of aripiprazole on bar laboratory drinking (p = 0.04) and aripiprazole reduced the total number of drinks consumed more among individuals with low self-control (p = 0.034) and increased latency to consume those drinks (p = 0.045) more among those with high impulsivity. Relative to placebo, aripiprazole caused more side effects and increased alcohol-induced sedation, but neither significantly influenced its interaction with impulsivity/self-control scores on drinking. This paradigm forced a choice between immediate drinking reward and delayed monetary reward. In those with high impulsivity and/or low self-control, aripiprazole shifts the balance away from immediate drinking toward a later reward. Medications targeting cortical dopamine/serotonin balance might show clinical benefit of reduced drinking, among individuals with impulsivity/low self-control.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1007/s00406-017-0805-y

European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience

Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci

Striatal reward sensitivity predicts therapy-related neural changes in alcohol addiction.

Individual differences in reward sensitivity along with weakened executive control are characteristic for alcohol use disorder (AUD). Emerging translational models of psychotherapy propose the integration of such neurobiological risk profiles to elucidate the mechanisms underlying behavior change in order to improve intervention efficacy. The primary aim of the study was to investigate whether striatal baseline reward sensitivity can be used as a neurobiological predictor of intervention-specific changes in neural functioning during AUD therapy. Fifty-eight detoxified AUD patients were randomly assigned to either receive cue exposure training (CET + TAU, N = 40) or treatment as usual (TAU only, N = 18). Pre- and post-treatment sensitivity to reward was assessed by a functional magnetic resonance imaging monetary reward paradigm. A moderated multiple regression analysis revealed a positive relationship between striatal baseline reward sensitivity and activation changes in the superior frontal gyrus and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) after CET + TAU in contrast to a negative relationship after TAU only. Over all subjects, a stronger signal change in the superior frontal gyrus and ACC was associated with increased self-efficacy to abstain alcohol. These results provide evidence that reward sensitivity at baseline predicts neural changes in inhibitory networks after receiving CET + TAU. Striatal reward sensitivity might be a promising neurobiological marker to inform therapeutic decisions.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1093/ntr/ntw303

Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco

Nicotine Tob Res

Reward Processing and Smoking.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1093/ntr/ntw252

Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco

Nicotine Tob Res

Association Between Reward Reactivity and Drug Use Severity is Substance Dependent: Preliminary Evidence From the Human Connectome Project.

Blunted nucleus accumbens (NAc) reactivity to reward is common across drug users. One theory is that individuals abuse substances due to this reward deficit. However, whether there is a relationship between the amount an individual uses and the severity of NAc dysfunction is unclear. It also is possible that such a relationship is substance specific, as nicotine transiently increases reward system sensitivity while alcohol, another commonly used substance, does not. As smokers may use nicotine to bolster NAc reward function, we hypothesize that NAc reactivity to reward will be related to volume of cigarette use, but not volume of alcohol use. A functional magnetic resonance imaging incentive-processing task collected by the Human Connectome Project was assessed in a cohort of tobacco smokers who reported smoking between 5-20 cigarettes/day and a cohort of alcohol users who reported drinking 7-25 drinks/wk. Number of cigarettes/day and drinks/wk were correlated with right and left NAc reactivity to the receipt of a monetary reward relative to baseline. Individuals who smoke greater numbers of cigarettes/day showed lower right NAc reactivity to reward (r = 0.853, p ≤ .001). Left NAc reactivity was not correlated with cigarettes/day. No association was found with drinks/wk. A negative association was found between NAc reactivity to reward and cigarettes/day, but not alcohol drinks/wk. Given nicotine's unique ability to increase sensitivity to rewards, these findings suggest that individuals who smoke more cigarettes/day may be compensating for more dysfunctional NAc reward reactivity. The present study demonstrates that a relationship between NAc reactivity to nondrug reward and volume of substance use is present in nicotine but not alcohol use. While prior work has implicated dysfunctional reward processing in addictions, these findings clarify a substance-specific role that blunted reward function has in determining patterns of use among chronic users.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.3389/fneur.2017.00156

Frontiers in neurology

Front Neurol

Cortical and Striatal Reward Processing in Parkinson's Disease Psychosis.

Psychotic symptoms frequently occur in Parkinson's disease (PD), but their pathophysiology is poorly understood. According to the National Institute of Health RDoc programme, the pathophysiological basis of neuropsychiatric symptoms may be better understood in terms of dysfunction of underlying domains of neurocognition in a trans-diagnostic fashion. Abnormal cortico-striatal reward processing has been proposed as a key domain contributing to the pathogenesis of psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia. This theory has received empirical support in the study of schizophrenia spectrum disorders and preclinical models of psychosis, but has not been tested in the psychosis associated with PD. We, therefore, investigated brain responses associated with reward expectation and prediction error signaling during reinforcement learning in PD-associated psychosis. An instrumental learning task with monetary gains and losses was conducted during an fMRI study in PD patients with ( = 12), or without ( = 17), a history of psychotic symptoms, along with a sample of healthy controls ( = 24). We conducted region of interest analyses in the ventral striatum (VS), ventromedial prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortices, and whole-brain analyses. There was reduced activation in PD patients with a history of psychosis, compared to those without, in the posterior cingulate cortex and the VS during reward anticipation ( < 0.05 small volume corrected). The results suggest that cortical and striatal abnormalities in reward processing, a putative pathophysiological mechanism of psychosis in schizophrenia, may also contribute to the pathogenesis of psychotic symptoms in PD. The finding of posterior cingulate dysfunction is in keeping with prior results highlighting cortical dysfunction in the pathogenesis of PD psychosis.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1371/journal.pone.0176933

PloS one

PLoS One

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, delay discounting, and risky financial behaviors: A preliminary analysis of self-report data.

Delay discounting-often referred to as hyperbolic discounting in the financial literature-is defined by a consistent preference for smaller, immediate rewards over larger, delayed rewards, and by failure of future consequences to curtail current consummatory behaviors. Previous research demonstrates (1) excessive delay discounting among individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), (2) common neural substrates of delay discounting and hyperactive-impulsive symptoms of ADHD, and (3) associations between delay discounting and both debt burden and high interest rate borrowing. This study extends prior research by examining associations between ADHD symptoms, delay discounting, and an array of previously unevaluated financial outcomes among 544 individuals (mean age 35 years). Controlling for age, income, sex, education, and substance use, ADHD symptoms were associated with delay discounting, late credit card payments, credit card balances, use of pawn services, personal debt, and employment histories (less time spent at more jobs). Consistent with neural models of reward processing and associative learning, more of these relations were attributable to hyperactive-impulsive symptoms than inattentive symptoms. Implications for financial decision-making and directions for future research are discussed.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1017/S0033291717001076

Psychological medicine

Psychol Med

Altered activation of the ventral striatum under performance-related observation in social anxiety disorder.

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is characterized by fear of social and performance situations. The consequence of scrutiny by others for the neural processing of performance feedback in SAD is unknown. We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate brain activation to positive, negative, and uninformative performance feedback in patients diagnosed with SAD and age-, gender-, and education-matched healthy control subjects who performed a time estimation task during a social observation condition and a non-social control condition: while either being monitored or unmonitored by a body camera, subjects received performance feedback after performing a time estimation that they could not fully evaluate without external feedback. We found that brain activation in ventral striatum (VS) and midcingulate cortex was modulated by an interaction of social context and feedback type. SAD patients showed a lack of social-context-dependent variation of feedback processing, while control participants showed an enhancement of brain responses specifically to positive feedback in VS during observation. The present findings emphasize the importance of social-context processing in SAD by showing that scrutiny prevents appropriate reward-processing-related signatures in response to positive performances in SAD.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1016/j.biopsycho.2017.04.014

Biological psychology

Biol Psychol

Striatal dopaminergic modulation of reinforcement learning predicts reward-oriented behavior in daily life.

Much human behavior is driven by rewards. Preclinical neurophysiological and clinical positron emission tomography (PET) studies have implicated striatal phasic dopamine (DA) release as a primary modulator of reward processing. However, the relationship between experimental reward-induced striatal DA release and responsiveness to naturalistic rewards, and therefore functional relevance of these findings, has been elusive. We therefore combined, for the first time, a DA D receptor [F]fallypride PET during a probabilistic reinforcement learning (RL) task with a six day ecological momentary assessments (EMA) of reward-related behavior in the everyday life of 16 healthy volunteers. We detected significant reward-induced DA release in the bilateral putamen, caudate nucleus and ventral striatum, the extent of which was associated with better behavioral performance on the RL task across all regions. Furthermore, individual variability in the extent of reward-induced DA release in the right caudate nucleus and ventral striatum modulated the tendency to be actively engaged in a behavior if the active engagement was previously deemed enjoyable. This study suggests a link between striatal reward-related DA release and ecologically relevant reward-oriented behavior, suggesting an avenue for the inquiry into the DAergic basis of optimal and impaired motivational drive.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1038/s41562-017-0093

Nature human behaviour

Nat Hum Behav

Reminiscing about positive memories buffers acute stress responses.

Recalling happy memories elicits positive feelings and enhances one's wellbeing, suggesting a potential adaptive function in using this strategy for coping with stress. In two studies, we explored whether recalling autobiographical memories that have a positive content - i.e., remembering the good times - can dampen the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis stress response. Participants underwent an acute stressor or control task followed by autobiographical memory recollection (of only positive or neutral valence). Across both studies, recalling positive, but not neutral, memories resulted in a dampened cortisol rise and reduced negative affect. Further, individuals with greater self-reported resiliency showed enhanced mood, despite stress exposure. During positive reminiscence, we observed engagement of corticostriatal circuits previously implicated in reward-processing and emotion regulation, and stronger connectivity between ventrolateral and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex as a function of positivity. These findings highlight the restorative and protective function of self-generated positive emotions via memory recall in the face of stress.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1186/s12888-017-1324-0

BMC psychiatry

BMC Psychiatry

From the neurobiological basis of comorbid alcohol dependence and depression to psychological treatment strategies: study protocol of a randomized controlled trial.

Alcohol use disorder and depression occur commonly in the community. Even though this high-prevalence comorbidity is associated with poorer posttreatment outcomes and greater utilization of costly treatment services, existing treatment trials often exclude patients with comorbid depressive and alcohol use disorders. Past research suggests that symptoms such as craving and anhedonia might be associated with alterations within the reward circuit, while emotion regulation deficits are related to disruptions within the default mode network. The aim of this clinical neuroimaging study is to transfer previous research about the reward circuit and default mode network underlying alcohol use disorder and depression to achieve a better understanding of neural signatures characterizing their comorbidity. In addition, the neurobiological results will be used to test whether two psychotherapeutic intervention programs, mindfulness-based training and behavioral activation training, are able to positively influence the identified pathomechanisms. By means of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), 60 comorbid alcohol dependent and depressed patients are compared to 30 patients with depression only, 30 patients with alcohol use disorder only and 30 healthy control participants. Comorbid patients are randomized to either receive a behavioral activation or mindfulness based training and asked to participate in a second fMRI session and 3 month follow-up assessment. Thereby, we plan to explore whether these brief group psychotherapeutic intervention programs are able to positively influence the identified neurobiological pathomechanisms. The primary outcomes are reward and default mode network activity and connectivity evoked by paradigms measuring different facets of reward and emotion processing. Secondary outcome measures include craving and depression scores, as well as relapse rates. Predictors include participants' characteristics, personality traits and indicators of mental health. The objective of the project is to identify common and/or distinct neural signatures underlying the comorbidity of alcohol dependence and depression. If the neurobiological understanding of alcohol addiction and depression is improved, this could potentially serve as a key predictor of treatment response to specific types of behavioral or mindfulness therapies hypothesized to alter reward and resting state systems. German Clinical Trial Register DRKS00010249 . The trial was registered January 23th 2017.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1007/s11682-017-9726-7

Brain imaging and behavior

Brain Imaging Behav

Conflict-related dorsomedial frontal cortex activation during healthy food decisions is associated with increased cravings for high-fat foods.

Previous studies suggest obesity is associated with altered function within the insula and dorsomedial frontal cortex (including dorsal anterior cingulate cortex; DMFC/dACC), reflecting abnormal reward processing and reduced sensitivity to feelings of satiety. Given the proposed roles of DMFC/dACC in monitoring response conflict and reward-based decision making, the present study examined DMFC/dACC activation, and functional connectivity between the DMFC/dACC and the anterior insula (AI), during food-related decision-making. Twenty participants recruited from the general population (10 Female) performed a decision task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. They were instructed to "choose the healthier option" when simultaneously shown pairs of images of different foods. Significant DMFC/dACC activation was observed during food-related decision-making, and activation levels also positively correlated with self-reported cravings for high-fat foods (r = 0.57, p = 0.009) and self-reported desire to eat the high-fat foods depicted in the images (r = 0.48, p = 0.032). Negative functional connectivity estimates between the right AI and DMFC/dACC were also associated with self-reported control over eating (r = -0.50, p = 0.025). These results suggest that (1) more intense cravings for unhealthy foods are associated with greater response conflict when deciding between healthy and unhealthy food options, and (2) lack of eating-related control may involve a reduced influence of insula-mediated bodily signals on decision-making. This task may offer a neuroimaging-based probe for identifying individuals vulnerable to eating-related disorders and should be replicated in clinical populations.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1177/0956797617695099

Psychological science

Psychol Sci

When Novel Rituals Lead to Intergroup Bias: Evidence From Economic Games and Neurophysiology.

Long-established rituals in preexisting cultural groups have been linked to the cultural evolution of group cooperation. We tested the prediction that novel rituals-arbitrary hand and body gestures enacted in a stereotypical and repeated fashion-can inculcate intergroup bias in newly formed groups. In four experiments, participants practiced novel rituals at home for 1 week (Experiments 1, 2, and 4) or once in the lab (Experiment 3) and were divided into minimal in-groups and out-groups. Our results offer mixed support for the hypothesis that novel rituals promote intergroup bias. Specifically, we found a modest effect for daily repeated rituals but a null effect for rituals enacted only once. These results suggest that novel rituals can inculcate bias, but only when certain features are present: Rituals must be sufficiently elaborate and repeated to lead to bias. Taken together, our results offer modest support that novel rituals can promote intergroup bias.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1016/j.dcn.2017.04.002

Developmental cognitive neuroscience

Dev Cogn Neurosci

Ventral striatal activity links adversity and reward processing in children.

Adversity impacts many aspects of psychological and physical development including reward-based learning and decision-making. Mechanisms relating adversity and reward processing in children, however, remain unclear. Here, we show that adversity is associated with potentiated learning from positive outcomes and impulsive decision-making, but unrelated to learning from negative outcomes. We then show via functional magnetic resonance imaging that the link between adversity and reward processing is partially mediated by differences in ventral striatal response to rewards. The findings suggest that early-life adversity is associated with alterations in the brain's sensitivity to rewards accounting, in part, for the link between adversity and altered reward processing in children.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1017/S0033291717001088

Psychological medicine

Psychol Med

Comparison of neural substrates of temporal discounting between youth with autism spectrum disorder and with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) share abnormalities in hot executive functions such as reward-based decision-making, as measured in the temporal discounting task (TD). No studies, however, have directly compared these disorders to investigate common/distinct neural profiles underlying such abnormalities. We wanted to test whether reward-based decision-making is a shared transdiagnostic feature of both disorders with similar neurofunctional substrates or whether it is a shared phenotype with disorder-differential neurofunctional underpinnings. Age and IQ-matched boys with ASD (N = 20), with OCD (N = 20) and 20 healthy controls, performed an individually-adjusted functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) TD task. Brain activation and performance were compared between groups. Boys with ASD showed greater choice-impulsivity than OCD and control boys. Whole-brain between-group comparison revealed shared reductions in ASD and OCD relative to control boys for delayed-immediate choices in right ventromedial/lateral orbitofrontal cortex extending into medial/inferior prefrontal cortex, and in cerebellum, posterior cingulate and precuneus. For immediate-delayed choices, patients relative to controls showed reduced activation in anterior cingulate/ventromedial prefrontal cortex reaching into left caudate, which, at a trend level, was more decreased in ASD than OCD patients, and in bilateral temporal and inferior parietal regions. This first fMRI comparison between youth with ASD and with OCD, using a reward-based decision-making task, shows predominantly shared neurofunctional abnormalities during TD in key ventromedial, orbital- and inferior fronto-striatal, temporo-parietal and cerebellar regions of temporal foresight and reward processing, suggesting trans-diagnostic neurofunctional deficits.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1016/j.jaac.2017.02.009

Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

Impact of a Common Genetic Variation Associated With Putamen Volume on Neural Mechanisms of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

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.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.03.003

Drug and alcohol dependence

Drug Alcohol Depend

Corrigendum to "Individualized relapse prediction: Personality measures and striatal and insular activity during reward-processing robustly predict relapse" [Drug and Alcohol Dependence 152 (2015) 93-101].

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1177/1087054717703188

Journal of attention disorders

J Atten Disord

Reward Processing Deficits During a Spatial Attention Task in Patients With ADHD: An fMRI Study.

In this study, we aimed to explore how cues signaling rewards and feedbacks about rewards are processed in ADHD. Inside the scanner, 16 healthy children and 19 children with ADHD completed a spatial attention paradigm where cues informed about the availability of reward and feedbacks were provided about the earned reward. In ventral anterior thalamus (VA), the controls exhibited greater activation in response to reward-predicting cues, as compared with no-reward cues, whereby in the ADHD group, the reverse pattern was observed (nonreward > reward). For feedbacks; absence of rewards produced greater activation than presence in the left caudate and frontal eye field for the control group, whereas for the ADHD group, the reverse pattern was again observed (reward > nonreward). The present findings indicate that ADHD is associated with difficulty integrating reward contingency information with the orienting and regulatory phases of attention.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1111/nyas.13327

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

Ann N Y Acad Sci

The roles of valuation and reward processing in cognitive function and psychiatric disorders.

In neuroeconomics, valuation refers to the process of assigning values to states and actions on the basis of the animal's current representation of the environment, while reward processing corresponds to processing the feedback received from the environment to update the values of states and actions. In this article, we review the brain circuits associated with valuation and reward processing and argue that these are fundamental processes critical to many cognitive functions. Specifically, we focus on the role of valuation and reward processing in attention, memory, decision making, and learning. Next, the extant neuroimaging literature on a number of psychiatric disorders is reviewed (i.e., addiction, pathological gambling, schizophrenia, and mood disorders), and an argument is made that associated deficits in cognitive functions can be explained in terms of abnormal valuation and reward processing. The review concludes with the impact of this framework in clinical settings and prescriptions for future research, in particular with regard to the conversions of qualitatively different valuation systems into a system of common currency.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1016/j.neuroscience.2017.04.002

Neuroscience

Neuroscience

Intrinsic membrane properties and cholinergic modulation of mouse basal forebrain glutamatergic neurons in vitro.

The basal forebrain (BF) controls sleep-wake cycles, attention and reward processing. Compared to cholinergic and GABAergic neurons, BF glutamatergic neurons are less well understood, due to difficulties in identification. Here, we use vesicular glutamate transporter 2 (vGluT2)-tdTomato mice, expressing a red fluorescent protein (tdTomato) in the major group of BF glutamatergic neurons (vGluT2+) to characterize their intrinsic electrical properties and cholinergic modulation. Whole-cell, patch-clamp recordings were made from vGluT2+ neurons in coronal BF slices. Most BF vGluT2+ neurons were small/medium sized (<20µm), exhibited moderately sized H-currents and had a maximal firing frequency of ∼50Hz. However, vGluT2+ neurons in dorsal BF (ventral pallidum) had larger H-currents and a higher maximal firing rate (83Hz). A subset of BF vGluT2+ neurons exhibited burst/cluster firing. Most vGluT2+ neurons had low-threshold calcium spikes/currents. vGluT2+ neurons located in ventromedial regions of BF (in or adjacent to the horizontal limb of the diagonal band) were strongly hyperpolarized by the cholinergic agonist, carbachol, a finding apparently in conflict with their increased discharge during wakefulness/REM sleep and hypothesized role in wake-promotion. In contrast, most vGluT2+ neurons located in lateral BF (magnocellular preoptic area) or dorsal BF did not respond to carbachol. Our results suggest that BF glutamatergic neurons are heterogeneous and have morphological, electrical and pharmacological properties which distinguish them from BF cholinergic and GABAergic neurons. A subset of vGluT2+ neurons, possibly those neurons which project to reward-related areas such as the habenula, are hyperpolarized by cholinergic inputs, which may cause phasic inhibition during reward-related events.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.2741/e804

Frontiers in bioscience (Elite edition)

Front Biosci (Elite Ed)

The cognitive dysregulation of Internet addiction and its neurobiological correlates.

Individuals with Internet addiction (IA) show loss of control and recurring maladaptive Internet use. This condition has negative consequences and causes significant psychosocial distress. Here, we review neurobiological changes in four key paradigms in cognitive domain in IA including reward processing, impulsivity, cue reactivity, and decision-making. IA is associated with alterations in prefrontal-cingulate region activation during the inhibition of inappropriate responses. Such patterns are also observed in cue-reactivity paradigm tasks, suggesting a relationship with loss of control and deficits in the control of cue-eliciting behavior. Individuals with IA exhibit heightened reward prediction, devalue negative outcomes and have a higher risk-taking propensity under ambiguous situations. In conclusion, addictive use of the Internet is associated with deficits in cognitive-emotional processing, aberrant sensitivity to rewards and Internet-related cues, poor impulse control, and impaired decision-making. There is a need to examine neural underpinnings of these aberrant behaviors and neurobiological-cognitive perspective in IA.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1093/scan/nsx031

Social cognitive and affective neuroscience

Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci

Associating resting-state connectivity with trait impulsivity.

Psychometric research has identified stable traits that predict inter-individual differences in appetitive motivation and approach behavior. Behavioral Inhibition System/Behavioral Activation System (BIS/BAS) scales have been developed to quantitatively assess these traits. However, neural mechanisms corresponding to the proposed constructs reflected in BIS/BAS are still poorly defined. The ventral striatum (VS) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) are implicated in subserving reward-related functions that are also associated with the BAS. In this study, we examined whether functional connectivity between these regions predicts components of these scales. We employed resting-state functional connectivity and BIS/BAS scores assessed by a personality questionnaire. Participants completed a resting state run and the Behavioral Inhibition and Activation Systems (BIS/BAS) Questionnaire. Using resting-state BOLD, we assessed correlations between two basal ganglia ROIs (caudate and putamen) and bilateral OFC ROIs, establishing single subject connectivity summary scores. Summary scores were correlated with components of BIS/BAS scores. Results demonstrate a novel correlation between BAS-fun seeking and resting-state connectivity between middle OFC and putamen, implying that spontaneous synchrony between reward-processing regions may play a role in defining personality characteristics related to impulsivity.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1017/S0954579417000116

Development and psychopathology

Dev Psychopathol

Brain activity and infant attachment history in young men during loss and reward processing.

There is now ample evidence that the quality of early attachment experiences shapes expectations for supportive and responsive care and ultimately serves to scaffold adaptation to the salient tasks of development. Nonetheless, few studies have identified neural mechanisms that might give rise to these associations. Using a moderately large sample of low-income male participants recruited during infancy (N = 171), we studied the predictive significance of attachment insecurity and disorganization at age 18 months (as measured in the Strange Situation Procedure) for patterns of neural activation to reward and loss at age 20 years (assessed during a reward-based task as part of a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan). Results indicated that individuals with a history of insecure attachment showed hyperactivity in (a) reward- and emotion-related (e.g., basal ganglia and amygdala) structures and (b) emotion regulation and self-referential processing (cortical midline structures) in response to positive and negative outcomes (and anticipation of those outcomes). Further, the neural activation of individuals with a history of disorganized attachment suggested that they had greater emotional reactivity in anticipation of reward and employed greater cognitive control when negative outcomes were encountered. Overall, results suggest that the quality of early attachments has lasting impacts on brain function and reward processing.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1007/s00213-017-4618-5

Psychopharmacology

Psychopharmacology (Berl)

Targeting the subthalamic nucleus in a preclinical model of alcohol use disorder.

The subthalamic nucleus (STN) has only recently been considered to have a role in reward processing. In rats, inactivation of the STN by lesion or high-frequency stimulation (HFS) decreases motivation for cocaine but increases motivation for sucrose. For ethanol, the effect of STN lesion depends on the individual's baseline intake; decreasing motivation for ethanol in rats with lower ethanol intake, while increasing motivation for ethanol in rats with higher-but still limited-ethanol intake. However, the involvement of the STN in behaviour more closely resembling some aspects of alcohol use disorder has not been assessed. This study aimed to determine the effect of STN lesions on the escalation of ethanol intake, subsequent increases in the motivation to "work" for ethanol and the choice of ethanol over a non-drug alternative. We found that STN lesion prevented increases in ethanol intake observed during intermittent ethanol access and after a long period of ethanol privation. STN lesion also decreased the motivation to work for ethanol after escalated intake. Surprisingly, STN lesion increased the choice of alcohol over saccharin. This was associated with a blunting of the hedonic responses to the taste of the reinforcement alternatives. These results evidence the involvement of the STN in different ethanol-motivated behaviours and therefore position the STN as an interesting target for the treatment of alcohol use disorders.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.3389/fnins.2017.00153

Frontiers in neuroscience

Front Neurosci

Listening to Rhythmic Music Reduces Connectivity within the Basal Ganglia and the Reward System.

Music can trigger emotional responses in a more direct way than any other stimulus. In particular, music-evoked pleasure involves brain networks that are part of the reward system. Furthermore, rhythmic music stimulates the basal ganglia and may trigger involuntary movements to the beat. In the present study, we created a continuously playing rhythmic, dance floor-like composition where the ambient noise from the MR scanner was incorporated as an additional instrument of rhythm. By treating this continuous stimulation paradigm as a variant of resting-state, the data was analyzed with stochastic dynamic causal modeling (sDCM), which was used for exploring functional dependencies and interactions between core areas of auditory perception, rhythm processing, and reward processing. The sDCM model was a fully connected model with the following areas: auditory cortex, putamen/pallidum, and ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens of both hemispheres. The resulting estimated parameters were compared to ordinary resting-state data, without an additional continuous stimulation. Besides reduced connectivity within the basal ganglia, the results indicated a reduced functional connectivity of the reward system, namely the right ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens from and to the basal ganglia and auditory network while listening to rhythmic music. In addition, the right ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens demonstrated also a change in its hemodynamic parameter, reflecting an increased level of activation. These converging results may indicate that the dopaminergic reward system reduces its functional connectivity and relinquishing its constraints on other areas when we listen to rhythmic music.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1111/adb.12352

Addiction biology

Addict Biol

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

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.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1002/hbm.23600

Human brain mapping

Hum Brain Mapp

Effects of city living on the mesolimbic reward system-An fmri study.

Based on higher prevalence rates of several mental disorders for city dwellers, psychosocial stress effects of urban living have been proposed as an environmental risk factor contributing to the development of mental disorders. Recently, it was shown that amygdala activation differs between city dwellers and rural residents in response to a cognitive-social stressor. Besides its influence on the amygdala, chronic stress also affects mesocorticolimbic brain regions involved in reward processing, and stress-related dysregulation of the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system is thought to contribute to onset and manifestation of psychiatric disorders. Here, we investigated differences in reward systems functioning in 147 healthy subjects living either in cities or in less urban areas by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging during performance of the desire-reason-dilemma paradigm, which permits a targeted investigation of bottom-up activation and top-down regulation of the reward circuit. Compared with subjects from less urban areas, city dwellers showed an altered activation and modulation capability of the midbrain (VTA) dopamine system. City dwellers also revealed increased responses in other brain regions involved in reward processing and in the regulation of stress and emotions, such as amygdala, orbitofrontal, and pregenual anterior cingulate cortex. These results provide further evidence for effects of an urban environment on the mesolimbic dopamine system and the limbic system which may increase the risk to develop mental disorders. Hum Brain Mapp 38:3444-3453, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.3758/s13415-017-0505-0

Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience

Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci

Separating the effect of reward from corrective feedback during learning in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with procedural learning deficits. Nonetheless, studies have demonstrated that reward-related learning is comparable between patients with PD and controls (Bódi et al., Brain, 132(9), 2385-2395, 2009; Frank, Seeberger, & O'Reilly, Science, 306(5703), 1940-1943, 2004; Palminteri et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106(45), 19179-19184, 2009). However, because these studies do not separate the effect of reward from the effect of practice, it is difficult to determine whether the effect of reward on learning is distinct from the effect of corrective feedback on learning. Thus, it is unknown whether these group differences in learning are due to reward processing or learning in general. Here, we compared the performance of medicated PD patients to demographically matched healthy controls (HCs) on a task where the effect of reward can be examined separately from the effect of practice. We found that patients with PD showed significantly less reward-related learning improvements compared to HCs. In addition, stronger learning of rewarded associations over unrewarded associations was significantly correlated with smaller skin-conductance responses for HCs but not PD patients. These results demonstrate that when separating the effect of reward from the effect of corrective feedback, PD patients do not benefit from reward.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1016/j.jad.2017.03.074

Journal of affective disorders

J Affect Disord

Increased dopamine receptor expression and anti-depressant response following deep brain stimulation of the medial forebrain bundle.

Among several potential neuroanatomical targets pursued for deep brain stimulation (DBS) for treating those with treatment-resistant depression (TRD), the superolateral-branch of the medial forebrain bundle (MFB) is emerging as a privileged location. We investigated the antidepressant-like phenotypic and chemical changes associated with reward-processing dopaminergic systems in rat brains after MFB-DBS. Male Wistar rats were divided into three groups: sham-operated, DBS-Off, and DBS-On. For DBS, a concentric bipolar electrode was stereotactically implanted into the right MFB. Exploratory activity and depression-like behavior were evaluated using the open-field and forced-swimming test (FST), respectively. MFB-DBS effects on the dopaminergic system were evaluated using immunoblotting for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), dopamine transporter (DAT), and dopamine receptors (D1-D5), and high-performance liquid chromatography for quantifying dopamine, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), and homovanillic acid (HVA) in brain homogenates of prefrontal cortex (PFC), hippocampus, amygdala, and nucleus accumbens (NAc). Animals receiving MFB-DBS showed a significant increase in swimming time without alterations in locomotor activity, relative to the DBS-Off (p<0.039) and sham-operated groups (p<0.014), indicating an antidepressant-like response. MFB-DBS led to a striking increase in protein levels of dopamine D2 receptors and DAT in the PFC and hippocampus, respectively. However, we did not observe appreciable differences in the expression of other dopamine receptors, TH, or in the concentrations of dopamine, DOPAC, and HVA in PFC, hippocampus, amygdala, and NAc. This study was not performed on an animal model of TRD. MFB-DBS rescues the depression-like phenotypes and selectively activates expression of dopamine receptors in brain regions distant from the target area of stimulation.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1016/j.jad.2017.03.061

Journal of affective disorders

J Affect Disord

Neural reactivity to reward and internalizing symptom dimensions.

Reduced reward responsiveness, measured via the event-related potential (ERP) component the reward positivity (RewP), has been linked to several internalizing psychopathologies (IPs). Specifically, prior studies suggest that a reduced RewP is robustly related to depression and to a lesser extent anxiety. No studies to date, however, have examined the relation between the RewP and IP symptom dimensions in a heterogeneous, clinically representative patient population that includes both depressed and/or anxious subjects. The primary aim of the current study was to examine the relation between the RewP and specific internalizing symptom dimensions among patients with a variety of IP diagnoses and symptoms. A total of 80 treatment seeking adults from the community completed a battery of questionnaires assessing a range of IP symptoms and a well-validated reward processing task known to robustly elicit the RewP. A principal components analysis (PCA) on clinical assessments revealed two distinct factors that characterized the patient sample: affective distress/misery and fear-based anxiety. Results showed that within this sample, an attenuated RewP was associated with greater affective distress/misery based symptoms; however, the RewP was unrelated to fear-based anxiety symptoms. The current findings suggest that patients with higher distress/misery symptoms are characterized by decreased responsivity to rewards at the physiological level, and that this response tendency distinguishes distress/misery symptoms from fear-based symptoms. The RewP may be one promising transdiagnostic biological target for intervention efforts for individuals with distress-based symptoms of psychopathology.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1016/j.schres.2017.04.005

Schizophrenia research

Schizophr Res

Grey matter reduction in the caudate nucleus in patients with persistent negative symptoms: An ALE meta-analysis.

In the present study, we used Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) meta-analysis to quantitatively examine brain grey matter reduction in schizophrenia patients with persistent negative symptoms (PNS). A total of 12 voxel-based morphometry (VBM) studies were included in ALE meta-analysis using more stringent criterion of PNS. Significant grey matter reduction in the PNS group relative to controls was observed in the left caudate nucleus, the left precentral region, the left middle frontal region, the bilateral parahippocampal region, the left anterior cingulate region, the bilateral medial frontal gyrus, the thalamus and the insula. Our results suggest that brain regions in the reward network may be specifically related to PNS, especially the left caudate nucleus. It is possible that abnormality in reward processing may constitute the neural basis of PNS.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.3389/fnana.2017.00019

Frontiers in neuroanatomy

Front Neuroanat

The Rewarding Effect of Pictures with Positive Emotional Connotation upon Perception and Processing of Pleasant Odors-An FMRI Study.

This fMRI study was designed to investigate the effect of cross-modal conditioning in 28 female volunteers. Subjects underwent initial fMRI block design scanning during which three pleasant olfactory stimuli were presented and had to be rated with respect to intensity and pleasantness. This was followed by an odor identification task spread out over 3 days: the experimental group was rewarded for successful trials (correct odor identification) with emotionally salient photos, whilst the control group only received randomly displayed, emotionally neutral, pictures. In the final scanning session, the odors were again presented, and subjects rated pleasantness and intensity. Both pleasantness ratings and fMRI data showed effects of the rewarding procedure. Activation in nucleus accumbens and the orbitofrontal cortex confirmed the hypothesis that learnt association of odors with visual stimuli of emotionally positive valence not only increases pleasantness of the olfactory stimuli but is also reflected in the activation of brain structures relevant for hedonic and reward processing. To our knowledge, this is the first paper to report successful cross-modal conditioning of olfactory stimuli with visual clues.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1093/ntr/ntx067

Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco

Nicotine Tob Res

Nicotine Withdrawal Induces Neural Deficits in Reward Processing.

Nicotine withdrawal reduces neurobiological responses to nonsmoking rewards. Insight into these reward deficits could inform the development of targeted interventions. This study examined the effect of withdrawal on neural and behavioral responses during a reward prediction task. Smokers (N = 48) attended two laboratory sessions following overnight abstinence. Withdrawal was manipulated by having participants smoke three regular nicotine (0.6 mg yield; satiation) or very low nicotine (0.05 mg yield; withdrawal) cigarettes. Electrophysiological recordings of neural activity were obtained while participants completed a reward prediction task that involved viewing four combinations of predictive and reward-determining stimuli: (1) Unexpected Reward; (2) Predicted Reward; (3) Predicted Punishment; (4) Unexpected Punishment. The task evokes a medial frontal negativity that mimics the phasic pattern of dopaminergic firing in ventral tegmental regions associated with reward prediction errors. Nicotine withdrawal decreased the amplitude of the medial frontal negativity equally across all trial types (p < .001). Exploratory analyses indicated withdrawal increased time to initiate the next trial following unexpected punishment trials (p < .001) and response time on reward trials during withdrawal was positively related to nicotine dependence (p < .001). Nicotine withdrawal had equivocal impact across trial types, suggesting reward processing deficits are unlikely to stem from changes in phasic dopaminergic activity during prediction errors. Effects on tonic activity may be more pronounced. Pharmacological interventions directly targeting the dopamine system and behavioral interventions designed to increase reward motivation and responsiveness (eg, behavioral activation) may aid in mitigating withdrawal symptoms and potentially improving smoking cessation outcomes. Findings from this study indicate nicotine withdrawal impacts reward processing signals that are observable in smokers' neural activity. This may play a role in the subjective aversive experience of nicotine withdrawal and potentially contribute to smoking relapse. Interventions that address abnormal responding to both pleasant and unpleasant stimuli may be particularly effective for alleviating nicotine withdrawal.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1037/prj0000244

Psychiatric rehabilitation journal

Psychiatr Rehabil J

Supplementing intensive targeted computerized cognitive training with social cognitive exercises for people with schizophrenia: An interim report.

Individuals with schizophrenia demonstrate cognitive, social cognitive, and motivational deficits that contribute to impairment in real-world functioning. In the current study, we investigated the effects of supplementing computerized neurocognitive training with social cognitive exercises, as compared with neurocognitive training alone. In this ongoing, double-blind, randomized controlled trial of 111 participants with psychosis, we compare the effects of supplementing intensive targeted cognitive training with social cognitive training exercises (TCT + SCT) with the effects of targeted cognitive training alone (TCT-only). Participants were assessed on cognition, symptoms, functional capacity, and functional outcomes, as well as social cognition and measures related to reward processing. Both treatment groups showed significant improvement in multiple cognitive domains and improvement in functional capacity. However, as predicted, TCT + SCT group participants showed significant improvement in prosody identification and reward processing relative to TCT-only participants. Our findings indicate that supplementing intensive computerized cognitive training with social cognitive exercises in people with psychosis confers greater benefits in prosody identification and reward processing relative to cognitive training alone, even though both approaches drive significant improvements in cognition and functional capacity. Impairments in both prosody identification and reward processing have been associated with greater negative symptoms and poorer functional outcomes in schizophrenia, raising the possibility that this form of treatment may lead to better long-term outcomes than traditional cognitive training approaches. Follow-up assessments will determine whether results are durable and generalize over time to improvements in symptoms and functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1038/ncomms14727

Nature communications

Nat Commun

Dopamine neuronal loss contributes to memory and reward dysfunction in a model of Alzheimer's disease.

Alterations of the dopaminergic (DAergic) system are frequently reported in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and are commonly linked to cognitive and non-cognitive symptoms. However, the cause of DAergic system dysfunction in AD remains to be elucidated. We investigated alterations of the midbrain DAergic system in the Tg2576 mouse model of AD, overexpressing a mutated human amyloid precursor protein (APPswe). Here, we found an age-dependent DAergic neuron loss in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) at pre-plaque stages, although substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) DAergic neurons were intact. The selective VTA DAergic neuron degeneration results in lower DA outflow in the hippocampus and nucleus accumbens (NAc) shell. The progression of DAergic cell death correlates with impairments in CA1 synaptic plasticity, memory performance and food reward processing. We conclude that in this mouse model of AD, degeneration of VTA DAergic neurons at pre-plaque stages contributes to memory deficits and dysfunction of reward processing.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1007/s00406-017-0793-y

European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience

Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci

The dopamine D2 receptor mediates approach-avoidance tendencies in smokers.

Dopamine D2 receptors (DRD2) have been strongly implicated in reward processing of natural stimuli and drugs. Using the approach-avoidance task (AAT), we recently demonstrated that smokers show an increased approach-bias toward smoking-related cues but not toward naturally rewarding stimuli. Here, we examined the contribution of the DRD2 Taq1B polymorphism to smokers' and non-smokers' responsivity toward smoking versus naturally rewarding stimuli in the AAT. Smokers carrying the minor B1 allele of the DRD2 Taq1B polymorphism showed reduced approach behavior for food-related pictures compared to non-smokers with the same allele. In the group of smokers, a higher approach-bias toward smoking-related compared to food-related pictures was found in carriers of the B1 allele. This pattern was not evident in smokers homozygous for the B2 allele. In addition, smokers with the B1 allele reported fewer attempts to quit smoking relative to smokers homozygous for the B2 allele. This is the first study demonstrating that behavioral shifts in response to smoking relative to natural rewards in smokers are mediated by the DRD2 Taq1B polymorphism. Our results indicate a reduced natural-reward brain reactivity in smokers with a genetically determined decrease in dopaminergic activity (i.e., reduction of DRD2 availability). It remains to be determined whether this pattern might be related to a different outcome after psychological cessation interventions, i.e., AAT modification paradigms, in smokers.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.3233/BPL-160039

Brain plasticity (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

Brain Plast

The Acute Effects of Aerobic Exercise on the Functional Connectivity of Human Brain Networks.

Although there is promising evidence that regular physical activity could counteract age-related decline in cognitive and brain function, the mechanisms for this neuroprotection remain unclear. The acute effects of exercise can provide insight into the mechanisms by which the brain adapts to habitual exercise by reflecting transient modulations of systems that would subsequently accumulate long-term adaptations through repeated training sessions. However, methodological limitations have hindered the mechanistic insight gained from previous studies examining acute exercise effects on the human brain. In the current study, we tested the plasticity of functional brain networks in response to a single stimulus of aerobic exercise using resting-state functional connectivity analyses. In a sample of healthy younger ( = 12; age = 23.2 years; 6 females) and older adults ( = 13; age = 66.3 years; 6 females), we found that 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic cycling selectively increased synchrony among brain regions associated with affect and reward processing, learning and memory, and in regions important for attention and executive control. Importantly, these changes did not occur when the same participants completed a passive, motor-driven control condition. Our results suggest that these transient increases in synchrony serve as a possible avenue for systematically investigating the effects of various exercise parameters on specific brain systems, which may accelerate mechanistic discoveries about the benefits of exercise on brain and cognitive function.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing

10.1093/scan/nsx017

Social cognitive and affective neuroscience

Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci

Elevated nucleus accumbens structural connectivity associated with proneness to hypomania: a reward hypersensitivity perspective.

The Reward Hypersensitivity Model of bipolar disorder argues that hypersensitivity to reward-relevant cues characterizes risk for hypo/mania. This hypersensitivity leads to increased goal-directed motivation during reward-relevant life events that, in the extreme, is reflected in hypo/manic symptoms. In line with this perspective, individuals with bipolar disorder display elevated activation in a cortico-striatal reward circuit including the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC). To date, however, research on reward-related neural circuitry underlying bipolar symptoms focuses on syndromal bipolar disorder (bipolar I, bipolar II), and typically examines neural regions in isolation of each other. Accordingly, this study examines the relationship between subsyndromal hypo/mania proneness and structural connectivity between the NAcc and both the mOFC and amygdala in a medication-free sample. Fifty-four community participants completed diffusion-weighted imaging and a self-report measure of bipolar risk (hypo/mania proneness). As predicted, elevated structural connectivity between the NAcc and both the mOFC and amygdala were associated with elevated hypo/mania proneness. This relationship was specific to NAcc-centered reward connectivity, as there was no relationship between hypo/mania proneness and either whole-brain or cortico-amygdala connectivity. Results suggest that reward-relevant tractography from cortical (mOFC) and subcortical (amygdala) regions amplify NAcc-centered reward processing in bipolar risk.

CognitiveConstruct

RewardProcessing