scholarly journals Goal congruency dominates reward value in accounting for behavioral and neural correlates of value-based decision-making

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Romy Frömer ◽  
Carolyn K. Dean Wolf ◽  
Amitai Shenhav
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Career Paths ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Reward Processing ◽  
High Reward ◽  
Reward Value ◽  
Decision Speed ◽  
Choice Set

AbstractHow we engage with a set of options (e.g., items on a menu) is affected both by the rewards they promise and our goal in choosing between them. Typically, our goal is to maximize potential reward and minimize potential punishment. Previous research on value-based decision-making has characterized how people make decisions with this goal in mind, identifying consistent behavioral and neural signatures associated with how rewarding a set of choice options are, overall and relative to one another. However, these studies suffer from a common confound: in each case, more rewarding options were also more congruent with one’s goal of choosing the best option. Previous findings can therefore be accounted for by the reward value or the goal congruency of one’s options. To compare these accounts directly, we had participants make choices while their goal varied between choosing the best or the worst option, resulting in situations where either high-reward or low-reward options were most goal-congruent. We found that goal congruency uniquely accounts for past observations that decision speed varies with the overall value of one’s options. Within brain regions commonly associated with choice value, fMRI activity was associated with both relative and overall goal congruency. These goal congruency correlates were dissociable from separate correlates of the overall reward associated with a choice set (independent of one’s goal). Our findings call for a reinterpretation of previous research on value-based choice, and offer an approach moving forward for disentangling the roles of rewards and goals in how we evaluate our options.Significance StatementWhether it is between restaurants or career paths, to make adaptive decisions we must evaluate our options and identify those that are most conducive to our current goal. Dysfunctional decision-making can therefore result from aberrant reward processing (e.g., impulse disorders) or from aberrant goal processing (e.g., OCD, ADHD). By focusing only on how people choose their favorite option in a choice set (when rewards and goals are aligned), past research has been unable to distinguish the degree to which behavior and neural activity are determined by reward versus goal processing. We disentangle these processes and show that behavior and fMRI activity are differentially influenced by the promised rewards versus the degree to which those rewards align with one’s current goal.

scholarly journals Goal congruency dominates reward value in accounting for behavioral and neural correlates of value-based decision-making

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Romy Frömer ◽  
Carolyn K. Dean Wolf ◽  
Amitai Shenhav
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Career Paths ◽  
Choice Behavior ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Task Goal ◽  
Behavioral Studies ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Reward Value

Abstract When choosing between options, whether menu items or career paths, we can evaluate how rewarding each one will be, or how congruent it is with our current choice goal (e.g., to point out the best option or the worst one.). Past decision-making research interpreted findings through the former lens, but in these experiments the most rewarding option was always most congruent with the task goal (choosing the best option). It is therefore unclear to what extent expected reward vs. goal congruency can account for choice value findings. To deconfound these two variables, we performed three behavioral studies and an fMRI study in which the task goal varied between identifying the best vs. the worst option. Contrary to prevailing accounts, we find that goal congruency dominates choice behavior and neural activity. We separately identify dissociable signals of expected reward. Our findings call for a reinterpretation of previous research on value-based choice.

scholarly journals Distinct effects of prefrontal and parietal cortex inactivations on an accumulation of evidence task in the rat

eLife ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey C Erlich ◽  
Bingni W Brunton ◽  
Chunyu A Duan ◽  
Timothy D Hanks ◽  
Carlos D Brody
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Integration Time ◽  
Detailed Model ◽  
Evidence Accumulation ◽  
Posterior Parietal ◽  
Cortical Regions

Numerous brain regions have been shown to have neural correlates of gradually accumulating evidence for decision-making, but the causal roles of these regions in decisions driven by accumulation of evidence have yet to be determined. Here, in rats performing an auditory evidence accumulation task, we inactivated the frontal orienting fields (FOF) and posterior parietal cortex (PPC), two rat cortical regions that have neural correlates of accumulating evidence and that have been proposed as central to decision-making. We used a detailed model of the decision process to analyze the effect of inactivations. Inactivation of the FOF induced substantial performance impairments that were quantitatively best described as an impairment in the output pathway of an evidence accumulator with a long integration time constant (>240 ms). In contrast, we found a minimal role for PPC in decisions guided by accumulating auditory evidence, even while finding a strong role for PPC in internally-guided decisions.

scholarly journals Effort Expenditure and Cannabis Use: Testing the Amotivational Hypothesis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Acuff ◽  
Nicholas Simon ◽  
James Murphy
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Estimating Equation ◽  
Reward Processing ◽  
Cannabis Use ◽  
Generalized Estimating Equation ◽  
High Reward ◽  
The Us ◽  
Goal Directed Behavior ◽  
High Effort

Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug in the US and appears to have an indirect effect on dopamine (DA) output in the mesolimbic projection, a circuit implicated in reward processing and effort expenditure. Thus, some have suggested that cannabis use might be associated with aberrant effort-based decision making. The most popular theory positing changes in motivation due to cannabis use is the amotivation syndrome hypothesis, which suggests that chronic cannabis use results in impaired executive functioning, arousal, and affective reactivity leading to reduced capacity for goal-directed behavior other than drug seeking. However, only one study has examined this among cannabis users, and the results suggested no difference between cannabis and non-cannabis users. Further, other studies suggest greater effort expenditure among the substance using groups compared to controls. The current study extends these findings by examining the relation between cannabis use and effort-related decision making in a sample of college students. Cannabis using (n = 25) and non-cannabis using (n = 22) students completed the Effort Expenditure for Rewards Task (EEfRT), in which participants choose between a ‘hard’ task that requires pressing a button 100 times with the nondominant little finger for a large sum of money (high effort/high reward) or an ‘easy’ task that requires pressing a button 30 times with the dominant index finger for a smaller sum of money (low effort/low reward). Results were then compared between the cannabis and non-cannabis using groups. On average, participants selected the hard trials 46% of the time (SD = 19%). Participants successfully completed the hard trials 74% of the time (SD 29%), while they completed the easy trials 97% of the time (SD = 6%). No participant selected only hard or easy trials during the duration of the task. Cannabis users (M=41.40, SD=3.55) completed significantly fewer trials compared to nonusers (M=43.64, SD=3.74). Further, Nonusers (M=26.82, SD=10.01) selected easy trials significantly more often compared to cannabis users (M=21.40, SD=8.34), and nonusers (M=99%, SD=2%) also successfully completed easy trials more often compared to cannabis users (M=95%, SD=7%). However, cannabis users and nonusers did not differ in the number of hard trials selected (Cannabis users M=16.82, SD=5.67; Nonusers M=16.82, SD=7.68) or the percentage of successfully completed hard trials out of the total number of hard trials (Cannabis users M=72%, SD=27%; Nonusers M=76%, SD =32%). Both the reward magnitude and probability of reward receipt predicted greater likelihood of selecting a hard trial. In generalized estimating equation models, past month cannabis days and cannabis use disorder symptoms predicted the likelihood of selecting a hard trial, such that greater levels of both cannabis use days and symptoms were associated with an increased likelihood after controlling for reward value, probability, and expected value. The results suggest that college students who use cannabis are more likely to expend effort, even after controlling for the magnitude of the reward and the probability of reward receipt, suggesting the possibility for aberrant reward processing, albeit in the opposite direction of the amotivational syndrome hypothesis.

scholarly journals Chronic Distress in Male Mice Impairs Motivation Compromising Both Effort and Reward Processing With Altered Anterior Insular Cortex and Basolateral Amygdala Neural Activation

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lidia Cabeza ◽  
Bahrie Ramadan ◽  
Stephanie Cramoisy ◽  
Christophe Houdayer ◽  
Emmanuel Haffen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Basolateral Amygdala ◽  
Insular Cortex ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Reward Processing ◽  
Postmortem Brain ◽  
Decision Making Under Uncertainty ◽  
Neural Activation ◽  
Male Mice ◽  
Anterior Insular Cortex

In humans and mammals, effort-based decision-making for monetary or food rewards paradigms contributes to the study of adaptive goal-directed behaviours acquired through reinforcement learning. Chronic distress modelled by repeated exposure to glucocorticoids in rodents induces suboptimal decision-making under uncertainty by impinging on instrumental acquisition and prompting negative valence behaviours. In order to further disentangle the motivational tenets of adaptive decision-making, this study addressed the consequences of enduring distress on relevant effort and reward-processing dimensions. Experimentally, appetitive and consummatory components of motivation were evaluated in adult C57BL/6JRj male mice experiencing chronic distress induced by oral corticosterone (CORT), using multiple complementary discrete behavioural tests. Behavioural data (from novelty suppressed feeding, operant effort-based choice, free feeding, and sucrose preference tasks) collectively show that behavioural initiation, effort allocation, and hedonic appreciation and valuation are altered in mice exposed to several weeks of oral CORT treatment. Additionally, data analysis from FosB immunohistochemical processing of postmortem brain samples highlights CORT-dependent dampening of neural activation in the anterior insular cortex (aIC) and basolateral amygdala (BLA), key telencephalic brain regions involved in appetitive and consummatory motivational processing. Combined, these results suggest that chronic distress-induced irregular aIC and BLA neural activations with reduced effort production and attenuated reward value processing during reinforcement-based instrumental learning could result in maladaptive decision-making under uncertainty. The current study further illustrates how effort and reward processing contribute to adjust the motivational threshold triggering goal-directed behaviours in versatile environments.

Corticostriatal signatures of schadenfreude: evidence from Huntington’s disease

2017 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Baez ◽  
Mariana Pino ◽  
Mildred Berrío ◽  
Hernando Santamaría-García ◽  
Lucas Sedeño ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Huntington's Disease ◽  
Huntington’S Disease ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Reward Processing ◽  
Social Emotion ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Regional Brain Atrophy ◽  
Shed Light

Schadenfreude—pleasure 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.

scholarly journals Distinct behavioral effects of prefrontal and parietal cortex inactivations on an accumulation of evidence task in the rat

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey C Erlich ◽  
Bingni W Brunton ◽  
Chunyu A Duan ◽  
Timothy D Hanks ◽  
Carlos D Brody
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Integration Time ◽  
Detailed Model ◽  
Evidence Accumulation ◽  
Posterior Parietal ◽  
Cortical Regions

Numerous brain regions have been shown to have neural correlates of gradually accumulating evidence for decision-making, but the causal roles of these regions in decisions driven by accumulation of evi- dence have yet to be determined. Here, in rats performing an auditory evidence accumulation task, we inactivated the frontal orienting fields (FOF) and posterior parietal cortex (PPC), two rat cortical regions that have neural correlates of accumulating evidence and that have been proposed as central to decision-making. We used a detailed model of the decision process to analyze the effect of inactivations. Inactivation of the FOF induced substantial performance impairments that were quantitatively best de- scribed as an impairment in the output pathway of an evidence accumulator with a long integration time constant (>240ms). In contrast, we found a minimal role for PPC in decisions guided by accumulating auditory evidence, even while finding a strong role for PPC in internally-guided decisions.

Neural substrates of impulsive decision making modulated by modafinil in alcohol-dependent patients

2014 ◽  
Vol 44 (13) ◽  
pp. 2787-2798 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Schmaal ◽  
A. E. Goudriaan ◽  
L. Joos ◽  
G. Dom ◽  
T. Pattij ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Delay Discounting ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Control Functions ◽  
Promising Target ◽  
Subjective Value ◽  
Healthy Control ◽  
Within Subjects

BackgroundImpulsive decision making is a hallmark of frequently occurring addiction disorders including alcohol dependence (AD). Therefore, ameliorating impulsive decision making is a promising target for the treatment of AD. Previous studies have shown that modafinil enhances cognitive control functions in various psychiatric disorders. However, the effects of modafinil on delay discounting and its underlying neural correlates have not been investigated as yet. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effects of modafinil on neural correlates of impulsive decision making in abstinent AD patients and healthy control (HC) subjects.MethodA randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subjects cross-over study using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was conducted in 14 AD patients and 16 HC subjects. All subjects participated in two fMRI sessions in which they either received a single dose of placebo or 200 mg of modafinil 2 h before the session. During fMRI, subjects completed a delay-discounting task to measure impulsive decision making.ResultsModafinil improved impulsive decision making in AD pateints, which was accompanied by enhanced recruitment of frontoparietal regions and reduced activation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Moreover, modafinil-induced enhancement of functional connectivity between the superior frontal gyrus and ventral striatum was specifically associated with improvement in impulsive decision making.ConclusionsThese findings indicate that modafinil can improve impulsive decision making in AD patients through an enhanced coupling of prefrontal control regions and brain regions coding the subjective value of rewards. Therefore, the current study supports the implementation of modafinil in future clinical trials for AD.

scholarly journals Chronic distress in male mice impairs motivation compromising both effort and reward processing with altered anterior insular cortex and basolateral amygdala neural activation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lidia Cabeza ◽  
Bahrie Ramadan ◽  
Stephanie Cramoisy ◽  
Christophe Houdayer ◽  
Emmanuel Haffen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Basolateral Amygdala ◽  
Insular Cortex ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Reward Processing ◽  
Postmortem Brain ◽  
Decision Making Under Uncertainty ◽  
Neural Activation ◽  
Male Mice ◽  
Anterior Insular Cortex

In humans and mammals, effort-based decision-making for monetary or food rewards paradigms contribute to the study of adaptive goal-directed behaviours acquired through reinforcement learning. Chronic distress modelled by repeated exposure to glucocorticoids in rodents induces suboptimal decision-making under uncertainty by impinging on instrumental acquisition and prompting negative valence behaviours. In order to further disentangle the motivational tenets of adaptive decision-making, this study addressed the consequences of enduring distress on relevant effort and reward processing dimensions. Experimentally, appetitive and consummatory components of motivation were evaluated in adult C57BL/6JRj male mice experiencing chronic distress induced by oral corticosterone (CORT), using multiple complementary discrete behavioural tests. Behavioural data (from Novelty Supressed Feeding, operant effort-based choice, Free Feeding and Sucrose Preference tasks) collectively show that behavioural initiation, effort allocation and hedonic appreciation and valuation are altered in mice exposed to several weeks of oral CORT treatment. Additionally, data analysis from FosB immunohistochemical processing of postmortem brain samples highlight a CORT-dependent dampening of neural activation in the anterior insular cortex (aIC) and basolateral amygdala (BLA), key telencephalic brain regions involved in cue appetitive and consummatory motivational processing. Combined, these results suggest that chronic distress-induced irregular aIC and BLA neural activations with reduced effort production and attenuated reward value processing during reinforcement-based instrumental learning could result in maladaptive decision-making under uncertainty. The current study further illustrates how the stoichiometry of effort and reward processing contributes to dynamically adjust the motivational threshold triggering goal-directed behaviours in versatile environments.

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