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Reduced posterior mesofrontal cortex activation by risky rewards in substance-dependent patients.

ABSTRACT: Substance-dependent individuals show disadvantageous decision-making, as well as alterated frontocortical recruitment when performing experimental tasks. We investigated whether substance-dependent patients (SDP) would show blunted recruitment of posterior mesofrontal cortex (PMC) by a conflict between concurrently increasing reward and risk of penalty in a monetary game of "chicken." SDP and controls performed: motor control (no reward) trials, guaranteed reward trials in which reward was not at risk, and risky trials where subjects were required to terminate their reward accrual before a secret varying time limit or else "bust" and forfeit that trial's winnings (low penalty) or the current trial's winnings plus an equal amount of previous winnings (high penalty). Reward accrual duration at risk of "busting" correlated negatively with trait neuroticism. The contrast between winning guaranteed reward versus non-reward activated the caudate head bilaterally in SDP but not controls. Accumulation of money at risk of low- or high-penalty (contrasted with accumulating guaranteed money) activated the PMC in both groups, but with a greater magnitude and more anterior extent in controls. Pre-decision signal increase in a PMC volume of interest negatively correlated with risk-taking in low-penalty trials, and was blunted in SDP relative to controls under both penalty conditions after controlling for individual differences in actual risk-taking and the higher neuroticism of SDP. These data suggest that SDP are characterized by a combination of: (a) striatal hypersensitivity to reward, and (b) under-recruitment of the specialized conflict-monitoring circuitry of the PMC when reward entails potential penalties.

SUBMITTER: Bjork JM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2327254 | biostudies-literature | 2008 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Reduced posterior mesofrontal cortex activation by risky rewards in substance-dependent patients.

Bjork James M JM Momenan Reza R Smith Ashley R AR Hommer Daniel W DW

Drug and alcohol dependence 20080304 1-2

Substance-dependent individuals show disadvantageous decision-making, as well as alterated frontocortical recruitment when performing experimental tasks. We investigated whether substance-dependent patients (SDP) would show blunted recruitment of posterior mesofrontal cortex (PMC) by a conflict between concurrently increasing reward and risk of penalty in a monetary game of "chicken." SDP and controls performed: motor control (no reward) trials, guaranteed reward trials in which reward was not a ...[more]

PMID: 18295984

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Project description:ObjectiveAmong young children excessive externalizing behaviors often predict adolescent conduct and substance use disorders. Adolescents with those disorders show aberrant brain function when choosing between risky or cautious options. We therefore asked whether similarly aberrant brain function during risky decision-making accompanies excessive externalizing behaviors among children, hypothesizing an association between externalizing severity and regional intensity of brain activation during risky decision-making.MethodFifty-eight (58) 9-11 year-old children (both sexes), half community-recruited, half with substance-treated relatives, had parent-rated Child Behavior Checklist Externalizing scores. During fMRI, children repeatedly chose between doing a cautious behavior earning 1 point or a risky behavior that won 5 or lost 10 points. Conservative permutation-based whole-brain regression analyses sought brain regions where, during decision-making, activation significantly associated with externalizing score, with sex, and with their interaction.ResultsBefore risky responses higher externalizing scores were significantly, negatively associated with neural activation (t's: 2.91-4.76) in regions including medial prefrontal cortex (monitors environmental reward-punishment schedules), insula (monitors internal motivating states, e.g., hunger, anxiety), dopaminergic striatal and midbrain structures (anticipate and mediate reward), and cerebellum (where injuries actually induce externalizing behaviors). Before cautious responses there were no significant externalizing:activation associations (except in post hoc exploratory analyses), no significant sex differences in activation, and no significant sex-by-externalizing interactions.ConclusionsAmong children displaying more externalizing behaviors extensive decision-critical brain regions were hypoactive before risky behaviors. Such neural hypoactivity may contribute to the excessive real-life risky decisions that often produce externalizing behaviors. Substance exposure, minimal here, was a very unlikely cause.

Dataset Information

Reduced posterior mesofrontal cortex activation by risky rewards in substance-dependent patients.

Publications

Reduced posterior mesofrontal cortex activation by risky rewards in substance-dependent patients.

Similar Datasets

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