Dissociating brain systems that respond to contingency and valence during monetary loss avoidance in adolescence

Jeroen Van Dessel; Marina Danckaerts; Matthijs Moerkerke; Saskia Van der Oord; Sarah Morsink; Jurgen Lemiere; Edmund Sonuga-Barke

doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2021.105723

Original language	English
Article number	105723
Journal	Brain and Cognition
Volume	150
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2021.105723
Published	Jun 2021
Additional links	Link to publication in Scopus

Bibliographical note

Funding Information: JVD, MM, SVdO, SM and JL have no disclosures. MD was a paid member of advisory boards for Shire, a paid speaker at conferences supported by Shire, Novartis and Medice. ES-B received speaker fees, research funding and conference support from and has served as consultant to Shire Pharma and received speaker fees from Janssen-Cilag; he served as consultant to Neurotech Solutions, Aarhus University, Copenhagen University and Berhanderling, Skolerne, Copenhagen and KU Leuven. He has received royalties from Oxford University Press and Jessica Kingsley. Funding Information: This work was supported by a Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) grant [G.0821.11N]; and a KU Leuven Research Fund grant [OT/12/096]. Jeroen Van Dessel is a FWO research fellow [11.ZU.117N]. The authors are thankful to Dr. Ron Peeters (KU Leuven, Belgium) for his help with the MRI scan protocol. JVD, MM, SVdO, SM and JL have no disclosures. MD was a paid member of advisory boards for Shire, a paid speaker at conferences supported by Shire, Novartis and Medice. ES-B received speaker fees, research funding and conference support from and has served as consultant to Shire Pharma and received speaker fees from Janssen-Cilag; he served as consultant to Neurotech Solutions, Aarhus University, Copenhagen University and Berhanderling, Skolerne, Copenhagen and KU Leuven. He has received royalties from Oxford University Press and Jessica Kingsley. Funding Information: This work was supported by a Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) grant [G.0821.11N]; and a KU Leuven Research Fund grant [OT/12/096]. Jeroen Van Dessel is a FWO research fellow [11.ZU.117N]. The authors are thankful to Dr. Ron Peeters (KU Leuven, Belgium) for his help with the MRI scan protocol. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Elsevier Inc. Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Abstract

Negative reinforcement processes allow individuals to avoid negative and/or harmful outcomes. They depend on the brain's ability to differentiate; (i) contingency from non-contingency, separately from (ii) judgements about positive and negative valence. Thirty-three males (8–18 years) performed a cued reaction-time task during fMRI scanning to differentiate the brain's responses to contingency and valence during loss avoidance. In two conditions, cues indicated no -contingency between participants’ responses and monetary loss – (1) CERTAIN LOSS (negative valence) of €0.20, €1 or €5 or (2) CERTAIN LOSS AVOIDANCE (positive valence). In a third condition, cues indicated a contingency between short reaction times and avoidance of monetary loss. As expected participants had shorter reaction times in this latter condition where CONDITIONAL LOSS AVOIDANCE cues activated salience and motor-response-preparation brain networks - independent of the relative valence of the contrast (CERTAIN LOSS or CERTAIN LOSS AVOIDANCE). Effects of valence were seen toward the session's end where CERTAIN LOSS AVOIDANCE cues activated ventral striatum, medial-orbitofrontal cortex and medial-temporal areas more than CERTAIN LOSS. CONDITIONAL LOSS AVOIDANCE trials with feedback indicating “success” activated ventral striatum more than “failure feedback”. The findings support the hypothesis that brain networks controlling contingency and valence processes during negative reinforcement are dissociable.

King's College London

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