Poster No:
630
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Mei-Yu Yeh1, Wen-Wei Lin1, Ming-Tsung Tseng2
Institutions:
1Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, 2Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
First Author:
Mei-Yu Yeh
Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, National Taiwan University College of Medicine
Taipei, Taiwan
Co-Author(s):
Wen-Wei Lin
Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, National Taiwan University College of Medicine
Taipei, Taiwan
Ming-Tsung Tseng
Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, National Taiwan University
Taipei, Taiwan
Introduction:
Reward learning (RL) and punishment learning (PL) are important to shape human behaviors. In many occasions, the same choice is associated with both rewarding and punishment outcomes. Our preliminary results showed that RL was significantly interfered with by PL, and this phenomenon appears to relate to individual loss aversion, that is, people are more sensitive to the possibility of loss compared to gain. Although previous studies have shown that dopamine levels influence reward learning performance, and an increase in dopamine activity can increase loss aversion in decision-making, it remains unknown whether the dopaminergic system subserves the RL interference phenomenon. This study aimed to elucidate the role of the dopaminergic system in this interference phenomenon. We hypothesized that dopamine-dependent loss aversion underlies the interference of RL by PL.
Methods:
In this between-subject, double-blind experiment, each healthy participant took L-dopa (the dopamine precursor; N = 12), placebo (lactose; N = 19), or amisulpiride (a dopamine antagonist; N = 12) before starting the experiment. The entire experiment consisted of a probabilistic instrumental learning task with binary choices and a risky decision-making task. In the learning task, participants were instructed to try their best to earn money and avoid losing money. In the decision-making task, each trial consisted of a 50%/50% chance of gaining or losing money, which enabled us to assess individual loss aversion. A 3 Tesla functional MRI scanner was used to record the participant's brain responses during task performance.
Results:
The behavioral data showed that L-DOPA and amisulpiride increased and reduced the RL interference phenomenon compared to placebo, respectively. In addition, compared to the placebo group, participants in the L-DOPA group showed a higher degree of loss aversion, whereas those in the amisulpiride group exhibited a smaller degree of loss aversion. At the neural level, preliminary analyses showed that neural responses in brain regions (ventral striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex) implicated in loss aversion were associated with the extent of the interference of RL by PL.
Conclusions:
We conclude that loss aversion underlies the RL interference phenomenon caused by PL, which involves the dopaminergic system. Our findings enhance current knowledge about impaired learning in dopamine-related neuropsychiatric disorders, and will hopefully provide new insights into the therapeutic strategies for relevant diseases.
Emotion, Motivation and Social Neuroscience:
Reward and Punishment 1
Higher Cognitive Functions:
Decision Making
Modeling and Analysis Methods:
Activation (eg. BOLD task-fMRI)
Novel Imaging Acquisition Methods:
BOLD fMRI
Physiology, Metabolism and Neurotransmission:
Pharmacology and Neurotransmission 2
Keywords:
Computational Neuroscience
Dopamine
fMRI CONTRAST MECHANISMS
FUNCTIONAL MRI
Learning
Modeling
NORMAL HUMAN
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
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Please indicate below if your study was a "resting state" or "task-activation” study.
Task-activation
Healthy subjects only or patients (note that patient studies may also involve healthy subjects):
Healthy subjects
Was this research conducted in the United States?
No
Were any human subjects research approved by the relevant Institutional Review Board or ethics panel?
NOTE: Any human subjects studies without IRB approval will be automatically rejected.
Yes
Were any animal research approved by the relevant IACUC or other animal research panel?
NOTE: Any animal studies without IACUC approval will be automatically rejected.
Not applicable
Please indicate which methods were used in your research:
Functional MRI
Behavior
Computational modeling
For human MRI, what field strength scanner do you use?
3.0T
Which processing packages did you use for your study?
SPM
Provide references using APA citation style.
1. Pessiglione, M. (2006). Dopamine-dependent prediction errors underpin reward-seeking behaviour in humans. Nature, 442(7106), 1042–1045.
2. Tom, S. M. (2007). The neural basis of loss aversion in decision-making under risk. Science, 315(5811), 515–518.
No