scholarly journals Distinct striatal subregions and corticostriatal connectivity for effort, action and reward

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shosuke Suzuki ◽  
Victoria M. Lawlor ◽  
Jessica A. Cooper ◽  
Amanda R. Arulpragasam ◽  
Michael T. Treadway
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Ventral Striatum ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Prior Work ◽  
Physical Effort ◽  
Large Sample ◽  
Subjective Value ◽  
Effort Discounting ◽  
Freely Moving ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThe ventral striatum is believed to encode the subjective value of cost/benefit options; however, this effect has strikingly been absent during choices that involve physical effort. Prior work in freely-moving animals has revealed opposing striatal signals, with greater response to increasing effort demands and reduced responses to rewards requiring effort. Yet, the relationship between these conflicting signals remains unknown. Using fMRI with a naturalistic, effort-based navigation paradigm, we identified functionally-segregated regions within ventral striatum that separately encoded action, effort, and discounting of rewards by effort. Strikingly, these sub-regions mirrored results from a large-sample connectivity-based parcellation of the striatum. Moreover, individual differences in striatal effort activation and effort discounting signals predicted striatal responses to effort-related choices during an independent fMRI task. Taken together, our results suggest that a dorsomedial region primarily associated with action may instead represent the effort cost of actions, and raises fundamental questions regarding the interpretation of striatal “reward” signals in the context of effort demands.

scholarly journals Mesolimbic dopamine D2 receptors and neural representations of subjective value

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaime J. Castrellon ◽  
Jacob S. Young ◽  
Linh C. Dang ◽  
Ronald L. Cowan ◽  
David H. Zald ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Ventral Striatum ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Region Of Interest ◽  
Neural Representation ◽  
Mesolimbic Dopamine ◽  
Related Activity ◽  
Dopamine D2 ◽  
Neural Representations ◽  
Subjective Value

AbstractThe process by which the value of delayed rewards is discounted varies from person to person. It has been suggested that these individual differences in subjective valuation of delayed rewards are supported by mesolimbic dopamine D2-like receptors (D2Rs) in the ventral striatum. However, no study to date has documented an association between direct measures of dopamine receptors and neural representations of subjective value in humans. Here, we examined whether individual differences in D2R availability were related to neural subjective value signals during decision making. Human participants completed a monetary delay discounting task during an fMRI scan and on a separate visit completed a PET scan with the high affinity D2R tracer [18F]fallypride. Region-of-interest analyses revealed that D2R availability in the ventral striatum was positively correlated with subjective value-related activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and midbrain but not with choice behavior. Whole-brain analyses revealed a positive correlation between ventral striatum D2R availability and subjective value-related activity in the left inferior frontal gyrus. These findings are the first to identify a link between directly-measured mesolimbic dopamine function and subjective value representation in humans and suggest a mechanism by which individuals vary in neural representation of discounted subjective value.

scholarly journals Individual differences in dopamine are associated with reward discounting in clinical groups but not in healthy adults

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaime J. Castrellon ◽  
Kendra L. Seaman ◽  
Jennifer L. Crawford ◽  
Jacob S. Young ◽  
Christopher T. Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Empirical Finding ◽  
Temporal Discounting ◽  
Healthy Adults ◽  
Clinical Samples ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Healthy Individuals ◽  
Physical Effort ◽  
Healthy Humans ◽  
Effort Discounting

abstractSome people are more willing to make immediate, risky, or costly reward-focused choices than others, which has been hypothesized to be associated with individual differences in dopamine (DA) function. In two studies using PET imaging, one empirical (Study 1: N=144 males and females across 3 samples) and one meta-analytic (Study 2: N=307 across 12 samples), we sought to characterize associations between individual differences in DA and time, probability, and physical effort discounting in human adults. Study 1 demonstrated that individual differences in DA D2-like receptors were not associated with time or probability discounting of monetary rewards in healthy humans, and associations with physical effort discounting were inconsistent across adults of different ages. Meta-analytic results for temporal discounting corroborated our empirical finding for minimal effect of DA measures on discounting in healthy individuals, but suggested that associations between individual differences in DA and reward discounting depend on clinical features. Addictions were characterized by negative correlations between DA and discounting but other clinical conditions like Parkinson’s Disease, obesity, and ADHD were characterized by positive correlations between DA and discounting. Together the results suggest that trait differences in discounting in healthy adults do not appear to be strongly associated with individual differences in D2-like receptors. The difference in meta-analytic correlation effects between healthy controls and individuals with psychopathology suggests that individual difference findings related to DA and reward discounting in clinical samples may not be reliably generalized to healthy controls, and vice-versa.Significance StatementDecisions to forgo large rewards for smaller ones due to increasing time delays, uncertainty, or physical effort have been linked to differences in dopamine (DA) function, which is disrupted in some forms of psychopathology. It remains unclear whether alterations in DA function associated with psychopathology also extend to explaining associations between DA function and decision making in healthy individuals. We show that individual differences in dopamine D2 receptor availability are not consistently related to monetary discounting of time, probability, or physical effort in healthy individuals across a broad age range. By contrast, we suggest that psychopathology accounts for observed inconsistencies in the relationship between measures of dopamine function and reward discounting behavior.

Relations between Cloninger's Dimensions of Temperament and Steepness of Delay and Effort Discounting of Monetary Rewards

2013 ◽  
Vol 112 (3) ◽  
pp. 694-705 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Malesza ◽  
Paweł Ostaszewski
Keyword(s):  
Harm Avoidance ◽  
The Other ◽  
Novelty Seeking ◽  
Temperament And Character Inventory ◽  
Monetary Rewards ◽  
Subjective Value ◽  
Effort Discounting ◽  
Reward Dependence ◽  
Character Inventory ◽  
The Relationship

The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between Cloninger's personality dimensions of temperament (Harm Avoidance, Novelty Seeking, Reward Dependence, and Persistence) and the steepness of delay and effort discounting, which refers to a decrease in the subjective value of a reward as its delay, or effort required to obtain the reward, increases. Participants ( N = 112; ages 19 to 29 years, M = 21.80, SD = 1.35) filled out two inventories: the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and the Discounting Questionnaire. The study revealed that the higher the Harm Avoidance and Reward Dependency, the steeper the effort discounting. On the other hand, the higher one's Persistence, the shallower one's effort discounting. Finally, a positive correlation was observed between delay and effort discounting. The results indicated that effort discounting was related to, but not equivalent to, delay discounting.

scholarly journals Prosocial Effort and the Role of Self-other Overlap

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory John Depow ◽  
Hause Lin ◽  
Michael Inzlicht
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Computational Modeling ◽  
Cognitive Effort ◽  
Prior Work ◽  
Physical Effort ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
Subjective Value

Effort is aversive and often avoided—even when earning benefits for oneself— yet people sometimes work hard for others. How do people decide who is worth their effort? Prior work has found avoidance of physical effort for strangers. Here, we find people avoid cognitive effort for others relative to themselves, even when the cause is personally meaningful. We suggest that perceived overlap between self and other may underlie prosocial decisions involving effort. In two studies, participants repeatedly decided whether to invest cognitive effort to gain financial rewards for themselves and others. In Study 1, participants were less willing to invest cognitive effort for a charity they elected to support than themselves. In Study 2, participants were more willing to work cognitively for a charity than an intragroup stranger, but again preferred to think to earn rewards for themselves. Computational modeling suggests that, unlike physical effort, cognitive effort discounts the subjective value of rewards linearly. Participants varied in their willingness to invest prosocial effort. Follow-up machine learning analyses indicate that people who represented others more similarly to themselves were more willing to invest effort on their behalf. Our findings suggest that highlighting people’s similarities may be one way to promote prosocial effort.

scholarly journals Dispositional Cognitive Effort Investment and Behavioral Demand Avoidance: Are They Related?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Strobel ◽  
Gesine Wieder ◽  
Philipp C. Paulus ◽  
Florian Ott ◽  
Sebastian Pannasch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Longitudinal Design ◽  
Cognitive Demand ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Cognitive Effort ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Measurement Occasion ◽  
Trait Variance ◽  
Effort Discounting ◽  
Behavioral Markers

Individuals tend to avoid cognitive demand, yet, individual differences appear to exist. Recent evidence from two studies suggests that individuals high in the personality traits Self-Control and Need for Cognition that are related to the broader construct Cognitive Effort Investment are less prone to avoid cognitive demand and show less effort discounting. These findings suggest that cost-benefit models of decision-making that integrate the costs due to effort should consider individual differences in the willingness to exert mental effort. However, to date, there are almost no replication attempts of the above findings. For the present conceptual replication, we concentrated on the avoidance of cognitive demand and used a longitudinal design and latent state-trait modeling. This approach enabled us to separate the trait-specific variance in our measures of Cognitive Effort Investment and Demand Avoidance that is due to stable, individual differences from the variance that is due to the measurement occasion, the methods used, and measurement error. Doing so allowed us to test the assumption that self-reported Cognitive Effort Investment is related to behavioral Demand Avoidance more directly by relating their trait-like features to each other. In a sample of N = 217 participants, we observed both self-reported Cognitive Effort Investment and behavioral Demand Avoidance to exhibit considerable portions of trait variance. However, these trait variances were not significantly related to each other. Thus, our results call into question previous findings of a relationship between self-reported effort investment and demand avoidance. We suggest that novel paradigms are needed to emulate real-world effortful situations and enable better mapping between self-reported measures and behavioral markers of the willingness to exert cognitive effort.

scholarly journals Mesolimbic dopamine D2 receptors and neural representations of subjective value

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaime J. Castrellon ◽  
Jacob S. Young ◽  
Linh C. Dang ◽  
Ronald L. Cowan ◽  
David H. Zald ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Ventral Striatum ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Region Of Interest ◽  
Neural Representation ◽  
Mesolimbic Dopamine ◽  
Related Activity ◽  
Dopamine D2 ◽  
Neural Representations ◽  
Subjective Value

AbstractThe process by which the value of delayed rewards is discounted varies from person to person. It has been suggested that these individual differences in subjective valuation of delayed rewards are supported by mesolimbic dopamine D2-like receptors (D2Rs) in the ventral striatum. However, no study to date has documented an association between direct measures of dopamine receptors and neural representations of subjective value in humans. Here, we examined whether individual differences in D2R availability were related to neural subjective value signals during decision making. Human participants completed a monetary delay discounting task during an fMRI scan and on a separate visit completed a PET scan with the high affinity D2R tracer [18 F]fallypride. Region-of-interest analyses revealed that D2R availability in the ventral striatum was positively correlated with subjective value-related activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and midbrain but not with choice behavior. Whole-brain analyses revealed a positive correlation between ventral striatum D2R availability and subjective value-related activity in the left inferior frontal gyrus and superior insula. These findings identify a link between a direct measure of mesolimbic dopamine function and subjective value representation in humans and suggest a mechanism by which individuals vary in neural representation of discounted subjective value.

scholarly journals Relationship of ventral striatum activation during effort discounting to clinical amotivation severity in schizophrenia

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Greer E. Prettyman ◽  
Joseph W. Kable ◽  
Paige Didier ◽  
Sheila Shankar ◽  
Theodore D. Satterthwaite ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Ventral Striatum ◽  
Monetary Reward ◽  
Parametric Variation ◽  
Model Based ◽  
Subjective Value ◽  
Effort Discounting ◽  
Therapeutic Development ◽  
Relationship Of

AbstractMotivational deficits play a central role in disability due to negative symptoms of schizophrenia (SZ), but limited pathophysiological understanding impedes critically needed therapeutic development. We applied an fMRI Effort Discounting Task (EDT) that quantifies motivation using a neuroeconomic decision-making approach, capturing the degree to which effort requirements produce reductions in the subjective value (SV) of monetary reward. An analyzed sample of 21 individuals with SZ and 23 group-matched controls performed the EDT during fMRI. We hypothesized that ventral striatum (VS) as well as extended brain motivation circuitry would encode SV, integrating reward and effort costs. We also hypothesized that VS hypoactivation during EDT decisions would demonstrate a dimensional relationship with clinical amotivation severity, reflecting greater suppression by effort costs. As hypothesized, VS as well as a broader cortico-limbic network were activated during the EDT and this activation correlated positively with SV. In SZ, activation to task decisions was reduced selectively in VS. Greater VS reductions correlated with more severe clinical amotivation in SZ and across all participants. However, these diagnosis and amotivation effects could not be explained by the response to parametric variation in reward, effort, or model-based SV. Our findings demonstrate that VS hypofunction in schizophrenia is manifested during effort-based decisions and reflects dimensional motivation impairment. Dysfunction of VS impacting effort-based decision-making can provide a target for biomarker development to guide novel efforts to assess and treat disabling amotivation.

The Need to Belong and the Relationship Between Loneliness and Health

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 194-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Freda-Marie Hartung ◽  
Britta Renner
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Social Isolation ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
First Year ◽  
Health State ◽  
Need To Belong ◽  
First Year University ◽  
Perceived Social Isolation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Humans are social animals; consequently, a lack of social ties affects individuals’ health negatively. However, the desire to belong differs between individuals, raising the question of whether individual differences in the need to belong moderate the impact of perceived social isolation on health. In the present study, 77 first-year university students rated their loneliness and health every 6 weeks for 18 weeks. Individual differences in the need to belong were found to moderate the relationship between loneliness and current health state. Specifically, lonely students with a high need to belong reported more days of illness than those with a low need to belong. In contrast, the strength of the need to belong had no effect on students who did not feel lonely. Thus, people who have a strong need to belong appear to suffer from loneliness and become ill more often, whereas people with a weak need to belong appear to stand loneliness better and are comparatively healthy. The study implies that social isolation does not impact all individuals identically; instead, the fit between the social situation and an individual’s need appears to be crucial for an individual’s functioning.

Attachment and Field Dependence: Individual Differences in Information Processing

2004 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrizia Vermigli ◽  
Alessandro Toni
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Field Dependence ◽  
Attachment Styles ◽  
Close Relationships ◽  
Adult Age ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Figure Test ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Measure Field

The present research analyzes the relationship between attachment styles at an adult age and field dependence in order to identify possible individual differences in information processing. The “Experience in Close Relationships” test of Brennan et al. was administered to a sample of 380 individuals (160 males, 220 females), while a subsample of 122 subjects was given the Embedded Figure Test to measure field dependence. Confirming the starting hypothesis, the results have shown that individuals with different attachment styles have a different way of perceiving the figure against the background. Ambivalent and avoidant individuals lie at the two extremes of the same dimension while secure individuals occupy the central part. Significant differences also emerged between males and females.

Individual Differences in Students' Preferences for Lecturers' Personalities

2005 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 176-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Furnham ◽  
Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Student Ratings ◽  
Descriptive Statistics ◽  
Personality Profile ◽  
Similarity Effect ◽  
Intelligence Scores ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract. This study examines the relationship between students' personality and intelligence scores with their preferences for the personality profile of their lecturers. Student ratings (N = 136) of 30 lecturer trait characteristics were coded into an internally reliable Big Five taxonomy ( Costa & McCrae, 1992 ). Descriptive statistics showed that, overall, students tended to prefer conscientious, open, and stable lecturers, though correlations revealed that these preferences were largely a function of students' own personality traits. Thus, open students preferred open lecturers, while agreeable students preferred agreeable lecturers. There was evidence of a similarity effect for both Agreeableness and Openness. In addition, less intelligent students were more likely to prefer agreeable lecturers than their more intelligent counterparts were. A series of regressions showed that individual differences are particularly good predictors of preferences for agreeable lecturers, and modest, albeit significant, predictors of preferences for open and neurotic lecturers. Educational and vocational implications are considered.

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