1
|
Legaz A, Abrevaya S, Dottori M, Campo CG, Birba A, Caro MM, Aguirre J, Slachevsky A, Aranguiz R, Serrano C, Gillan CM, Leroi I, García AM, Fittipaldi S, Ibañez A. Multimodal mechanisms of human socially reinforced learning across neurodegenerative diseases. Brain 2021; 145:1052-1068. [PMID: 34529034 PMCID: PMC9128375 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awab345] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2021] [Revised: 08/17/2021] [Accepted: 09/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Social feedback can selectively enhance learning in diverse domains. Relevant
neurocognitive mechanisms have been studied mainly in healthy persons, yielding
correlational findings. Neurodegenerative lesion models, coupled with multimodal
brain measures, can complement standard approaches by revealing direct
multidimensional correlates of the phenomenon. To this end, we assessed socially reinforced and non-socially reinforced learning
in 40 healthy participants as well as persons with behavioural variant
frontotemporal dementia (n = 21), Parkinson’s
disease (n = 31) and Alzheimer’s disease
(n = 20). These conditions are typified by
predominant deficits in social cognition, feedback-based learning and
associative learning, respectively, although all three domains may be partly
compromised in the other conditions. We combined a validated behavioural task
with ongoing EEG signatures of implicit learning (medial frontal negativity) and
offline MRI measures (voxel-based morphometry). In healthy participants, learning was facilitated by social feedback relative to
non-social feedback. In comparison with controls, this effect was specifically
impaired in behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia and Parkinson’s
disease, while unspecific learning deficits (across social and non-social
conditions) were observed in Alzheimer’s disease. EEG results showed
increased medial frontal negativity in healthy controls during social feedback
and learning. Such a modulation was selectively disrupted in behavioural variant
frontotemporal dementia. Neuroanatomical results revealed extended
temporo-parietal and fronto-limbic correlates of socially reinforced learning,
with specific temporo-parietal associations in behavioural variant
frontotemporal dementia and predominantly fronto-limbic regions in
Alzheimer’s disease. In contrast, non-socially reinforced learning was
consistently linked to medial temporal/hippocampal regions. No associations with
cortical volume were found in Parkinson’s disease. Results are consistent
with core social deficits in behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia, subtle
disruptions in ongoing feedback-mechanisms and social processes in
Parkinson’s disease and generalized learning alterations in
Alzheimer’s disease. This multimodal approach highlights the impact of
different neurodegenerative profiles on learning and social feedback. Our findings inform a promising theoretical and clinical agenda in the fields of
social learning, socially reinforced learning and neurodegeneration.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Agustina Legaz
- Cognitive Neuroscience Center (CNC), Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires, C1011ACC, Argentina.,National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, C1425FQB, Argentina.,Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Psicología, Córdoba, CU320, Argentina
| | - Sofía Abrevaya
- National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, C1425FQB, Argentina.,Institute of Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience (INCYT), INECO Foundation, Favaloro University, CONICET, Buenos Aires, C1021, Argentina
| | - Martín Dottori
- Cognitive Neuroscience Center (CNC), Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires, C1011ACC, Argentina
| | - Cecilia González Campo
- Cognitive Neuroscience Center (CNC), Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires, C1011ACC, Argentina.,National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, C1425FQB, Argentina
| | - Agustina Birba
- Cognitive Neuroscience Center (CNC), Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires, C1011ACC, Argentina.,National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, C1425FQB, Argentina
| | - Miguel Martorell Caro
- National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, C1425FQB, Argentina.,Institute of Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience (INCYT), INECO Foundation, Favaloro University, CONICET, Buenos Aires, C1021, Argentina
| | - Julieta Aguirre
- Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas (IIPsi), CONICET, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba, CB5000, Argentina
| | - Andrea Slachevsky
- Memory and Neuropsychiatric Clinic (CMYN) Neurology Department, Hospital delSalvador, SSMO & Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile.,Gerosciences Center for Brain Health and Metabolism, Santiago, Chile.,Neuropsychology and Clinical Neuroscience Laboratory, Physiopathology Department, ICBM, Neurosciences Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Chile.,Servicio de Neurología, Departamento de Medicina, Clínica Alemana-Universidad del Desarrollo, Chile
| | | | - Cecilia Serrano
- Neurología Cognitiva, Hospital Cesar Milstein, Buenos Aires, C1221, Argentina
| | - Claire M Gillan
- Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), University of California San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.,Department of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.,Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Iracema Leroi
- Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), University of California San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Adolfo M García
- Cognitive Neuroscience Center (CNC), Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires, C1011ACC, Argentina.,National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, C1425FQB, Argentina.,Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), University of California San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.,Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.,Faculty of Education, National University of Cuyo, Mendoza, M5502JMA, Argentina.,Departamento de Lingüística y Literatura, Facultad de Humanidades, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Sol Fittipaldi
- Cognitive Neuroscience Center (CNC), Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires, C1011ACC, Argentina.,National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, C1425FQB, Argentina.,Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Psicología, Córdoba, CU320, Argentina
| | - Agustín Ibañez
- Cognitive Neuroscience Center (CNC), Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires, C1011ACC, Argentina.,National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, C1425FQB, Argentina.,Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), University of California San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.,Latin American Brain Health Institute (BrainLat), Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago, Chile
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Ferdinand NK, Hilz M. Emotional feedback ameliorates older adults' feedback-induced learning. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0231964. [PMID: 32352992 PMCID: PMC7192411 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0231964] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2019] [Accepted: 04/03/2020] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
In older age, learning and feedback processing are usually impaired. This is thought to be due to impairments in the dopaminergic system and the anterior cingulate cortex. By contrast, processing of affective information seems to remain relatively intact. Recent research has also demonstrated that cognitive functioning can be influenced by affective materials or contexts and lead to an enhancement in diverse cognitive tasks. Hence, the aim of the present study was to explore, whether emotional feedback would counteract age-related learning deficits and strengthen early and later phases of feedback processing as reflected in the feedback-related negativity (FRN) and P3b of the event-related potential (ERP). Younger and older participants conducted a probabilistic reinforcement learning task in which the accurate responses had to be learned via feedback. In emotional trials, feedback stimuli consisted of faces with smiling and disgusted expressions, and in a non-emotional condition, positive and negative feedback was indicated by the background color of faces with neutral expressions. Our main results were that older adults showed better learning performance in the emotional feedback condition and a larger P3b after emotional than non-emotional feedback indexing heightened working memory updating after task relevant events.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nicola K. Ferdinand
- Department of Psychology, Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Melanie Hilz
- Department of Psychology, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Dang L, Larson SP, Gluck MA, Petok JR. Age-Related Decline in Learning Deterministic Judgment-Based Sequences. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 2020; 75:961-969. [PMID: 30184192 DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gby100] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2018] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Because sequence learning is integral to cognitive functions across the life span, the present study examined the effect of healthy aging on deterministic judgment-based sequence learning. METHODS College-aged, younger-old (YO), and older-old (OO) adults completed a judgment-based sequence learning task which required them to learn a full sequence by chaining together single stimulus-response associations in a step-by-step fashion. RESULTS Results showed that younger adults outperformed YO and OO adults; older adults were less able to acquire the full sequence and committed significantly more errors during learning. Additionally, higher sequence learning errors were associated with advancing age among older adults, even when controlling for other factors known to contribute to sequence learning abilities. Such impairments were selective to learning sequential information, because adults of all ages performed equivalently on postlearning probe trials, as well as on learning simple stimulus-response associations. DISCUSSION This pattern of age deficits during deterministic sequence learning challenges past reports of age preservation. Though the neural processes underlying learning cannot be determined here, our patterns of age deficits and preservation may reflect different brain regions that are involved in the task phases, adding behavioral evidence to the emerging hypothesis of frontostriatal declines despite spared hippocampal function with age.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Layla Dang
- Psychology Department, Saint Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota
| | - Sylvia P Larson
- Psychology Department, Saint Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota
| | - Mark A Gluck
- Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey
| | - Jessica R Petok
- Psychology Department, Saint Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota.,Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
The influence of task complexity and information value on feedback processing in younger and older adults: No evidence for a positivity bias during feedback-induced learning in older adults. Brain Res 2019; 1717:74-85. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2019.04.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2019] [Revised: 04/11/2019] [Accepted: 04/12/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
|
5
|
Kemény F, Demeter G, Racsmány M, Valálik I, Lukács Á. Impaired sequential and partially compensated probabilistic skill learning in Parkinson's disease. J Neuropsychol 2018; 13:509-528. [PMID: 29882628 PMCID: PMC6767041 DOI: 10.1111/jnp.12163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2017] [Revised: 05/16/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The striatal dopaminergic dysfunction in Parkinson's disease (PD) has been associated with deficits in skill learning in numerous studies, but some of the findings remain controversial. Our aim was to explore the generality of the learning deficit using two widely reported skill learning tasks in the same group of Parkinson's patients. Thirty-four patients with PD (mean age: 62.83 years, SD: 7.67) were compared to age-matched healthy adults. Two tasks were employed: the Serial Reaction Time Task (SRT), testing the learning of motor sequences, and the Weather Prediction (WP) task, testing non-sequential probabilistic category learning. On the SRT task, patients with PD showed no significant evidence for sequence learning. These results support and also extend previous findings, suggesting that motor skill learning is vulnerable in PD. On the WP task, the PD group showed the same amount of learning as controls, but they exploited qualitatively different strategies in predicting the target categories. While controls typically combined probabilities from multiple predicting cues, patients with PD instead focused on individual cues. We also found moderate to high correlations between the different measures of skill learning. These findings support our hypothesis that skill learning is generally impaired in PD, and can in some cases be compensated by relying on alternative learning strategies.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ferenc Kemény
- Institute of Psychology, University of Graz, Austria
| | - Gyula Demeter
- Department of Cognitive Science, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary.,Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.,Rehabilitation Department of Brain Injuries, National Institute of Medical Rehabilitation, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Mihály Racsmány
- Department of Cognitive Science, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary.,Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
| | - István Valálik
- Department of Neurosurgery, St. John's Hospital, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Ágnes Lukács
- Department of Cognitive Science, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Abstract
Emotional memory deficit is a well-known complication in early Parkinson's disease. However, its molecular mechanism is still not well known. To address this issue, we examined the cue-related fear-conditioning task and long-term potentiation (LTP) of the thalamus to the lateral amygdala in rats treated with low doses of reserpine (Res). We found that low-dose Res treatment impaired emotional memory and LTP. We also found that exogenous upregulation of norepinephrine (NE) ameliorated the impairment of LTP by facilitating β-adrenergic receptors. Finally, acute treatment with NE or desipramine rescued the impaired emotional memory induced by a low-dose of Res. These results imply a pivotal role for NE in synaptic plasticity and associative fear memory in rats treated with low doses of Res and suggest that desipramine is a potential candidate for treating Parkinson's disease-related emotional memory deficit.
Collapse
|
7
|
Separating the effect of reward from corrective feedback during learning in patients with Parkinson's disease. COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2018; 17:678-695. [PMID: 28397140 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-017-0505-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with procedural learning deficits. Nonetheless, studies have demonstrated that reward-related learning is comparable between patients with PD and controls (Bódi et al., Brain, 132(9), 2385-2395, 2009; Frank, Seeberger, & O'Reilly, Science, 306(5703), 1940-1943, 2004; Palminteri et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106(45), 19179-19184, 2009). However, because these studies do not separate the effect of reward from the effect of practice, it is difficult to determine whether the effect of reward on learning is distinct from the effect of corrective feedback on learning. Thus, it is unknown whether these group differences in learning are due to reward processing or learning in general. Here, we compared the performance of medicated PD patients to demographically matched healthy controls (HCs) on a task where the effect of reward can be examined separately from the effect of practice. We found that patients with PD showed significantly less reward-related learning improvements compared to HCs. In addition, stronger learning of rewarded associations over unrewarded associations was significantly correlated with smaller skin-conductance responses for HCs but not PD patients. These results demonstrate that when separating the effect of reward from the effect of corrective feedback, PD patients do not benefit from reward.
Collapse
|
8
|
Schuck NW, Petok JR, Meeter M, Schjeide BMM, Schröder J, Bertram L, Gluck MA, Li SC. Aging and a genetic KIBRA polymorphism interactively affect feedback- and observation-based probabilistic classification learning. Neurobiol Aging 2017; 61:36-43. [PMID: 29032191 DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2017.08.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2015] [Revised: 08/03/2017] [Accepted: 08/27/2017] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Probabilistic category learning involves complex interactions between the hippocampus and striatum that may depend on whether acquisition occurs via feedback or observation. Little is known about how healthy aging affects these processes. We tested whether age-related behavioral differences in probabilistic category learning from feedback or observation depend on a genetic factor known to influence individual differences in hippocampal function, the KIBRA gene (single nucleotide polymorphism rs17070145). Results showed comparable age-related performance impairments in observational as well as feedback-based learning. Moreover, genetic analyses indicated an age-related interactive effect of KIBRA on learning: among older adults, the beneficial T-allele was positively associated with learning from feedback, but negatively with learning from observation. In younger adults, no effects of KIBRA were found. Our results add behavioral genetic evidence to emerging data showing age-related differences in how neural resources relate to memory functions, namely that hippocampal and striatal contributions to probabilistic category learning may vary with age. Our findings highlight the effects genetic factors can have on differential age-related decline of different memory functions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas W Schuck
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA; Max Planck Research Group NeuroCode and Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Jessica R Petok
- Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University-Newark, Newark, NJ, USA; Department of Psychology, Saint Olaf College, Northfield, MN, USA.
| | - Martijn Meeter
- Department of Cognitive Psychology, VU University, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Brit-Maren M Schjeide
- Department of Vertebrate Genomics, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Neuropsychiatric Genetics Group, Berlin, Germany
| | - Julia Schröder
- Max Planck Research Group NeuroCode and Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany; Department of Vertebrate Genomics, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Neuropsychiatric Genetics Group, Berlin, Germany
| | - Lars Bertram
- Department of Vertebrate Genomics, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Neuropsychiatric Genetics Group, Berlin, Germany; Platform for Genome Analytics, Institutes of Neurogenetics and Integrative & Experimental Genomics, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany; Neuroepidemiology and Ageing Research Unit, School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, The Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine, London, UK
| | - Mark A Gluck
- Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University-Newark, Newark, NJ, USA
| | - Shu-Chen Li
- Max Planck Research Group NeuroCode and Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany; Technische Universität Dresden, Department of Psychology, Chair of Lifespan Developmental Neuroscience, Dresden, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Henriksson MP, Enkvist T. Learning from observation, feedback, and intervention in linear and non-linear task environments. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2016; 71:545-561. [PMID: 27882857 DOI: 10.1080/17470218.2016.1263998] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
This multiple-cue judgment study investigates whether we can manipulate the judgment strategy and increase accuracy in linear and non-linear cue-criterion environments just by changing the training mode. Three experiments show that accuracy in simple linear additive task environments are improved with feedback training and intervention training, while accuracy in complex multiplicative tasks are improved with observational training. The observed interaction effect suggests that the training mode invites different strategies that are adjusted as a function of experience to the demands from the underlying cue-criterion structure. Thus, feedback and the intervention training modes invite cue abstraction, an effortful but successful strategy in combination with simple linear task structures, and observational training invites exemplar memory processes, a simple but successful strategy in combination with complex non-linear task structures. The study discusses adaptive cognition and the implication of the different training modes across a life span and for clinical populations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Tommy Enkvist
- 2 Division of Defence Analysis, Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI), Stockholm, Sweden
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
van de Vijver I, Ridderinkhof KR, Harsay H, Reneman L, Cavanagh JF, Buitenweg JIV, Cohen MX. Frontostriatal anatomical connections predict age- and difficulty-related differences in reinforcement learning. Neurobiol Aging 2016; 46:1-12. [PMID: 27460144 DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2016.06.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2016] [Accepted: 06/07/2016] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Reinforcement learning (RL) is supported by a network of striatal and frontal cortical structures that are connected through white-matter fiber bundles. With age, the integrity of these white-matter connections declines. The role of structural frontostriatal connectivity in individual and age-related differences in RL is unclear, although local white-matter density and diffusivity have been linked to individual differences in RL. Here we show that frontostriatal tract counts in young human adults (aged 18-28), as assessed noninvasively with diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging and probabilistic tractography, positively predicted individual differences in RL when learning was difficult (70% valid feedback). In older adults (aged 63-87), in contrast, learning under both easy (90% valid feedback) and difficult conditions was predicted by tract counts in the same frontostriatal network. Furthermore, network-level analyses showed a double dissociation between the task-relevant networks in young and older adults, suggesting that older adults relied on different frontostriatal networks than young adults to obtain the same task performance. These results highlight the importance of successful information integration across striatal and frontal regions during RL, especially with variable outcomes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Irene van de Vijver
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
| | | | - Helga Harsay
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Nieuw Unicum, Zandvoort, The Netherlands
| | - Liesbeth Reneman
- Department of Radiology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - James F Cavanagh
- Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
| | | | - Michael X Cohen
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Bellebaum C, Kobza S, Ferrea S, Schnitzler A, Pollok B, Südmeyer M. Strategies in probabilistic feedback learning in Parkinson patients OFF medication. Neuroscience 2016; 320:8-18. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2016.01.060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2015] [Revised: 01/07/2016] [Accepted: 01/27/2016] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
|
12
|
Zeuner KE, Knutzen A, Granert O, Sablowsky S, Götz J, Wolff S, Jansen O, Dressler D, Schneider SA, Klein C, Deuschl G, van Eimeren T, Witt K. Altered brain activation in a reversal learning task unmasks adaptive changes in cognitive control in writer's cramp. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2015; 10:63-70. [PMID: 26702397 PMCID: PMC4669532 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2015.11.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2015] [Revised: 11/06/2015] [Accepted: 11/10/2015] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Previous receptor binding studies suggest dopamine function is altered in the basal ganglia circuitry in task-specific dystonia, a condition characterized by contraction of agonist and antagonist muscles while performing specific tasks. Dopamine plays a role in reward-based learning. Using fMRI, this study compared 31 right-handed writer's cramp patients to 35 controls in reward-based learning of a probabilistic reversal-learning task. All subjects chose between two stimuli and indicated their response with their left or right index finger. One stimulus response was rewarded 80%, the other 20%. After contingencies reversal, the second stimulus response was rewarded in 80%. We further linked the DRD2/ANKK1-TaqIa polymorphism, which is associated with 30% reduction of the striatal dopamine receptor density with reward-based learning and assumed impaired reversal learning in A + subjects. Feedback learning in patients was normal. Blood-oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal in controls increased with negative feedback in the insula, rostral cingulate cortex, middle frontal gyrus and parietal cortex (pFWE < 0.05). In comparison to controls, patients showed greater increase in BOLD activity following negative feedback in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (BA32). The genetic status was not correlated with the BOLD activity. The Brodmann area 32 (BA32) is part of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) that plays an important role in coordinating and integrating information to guide behavior and in reward-based learning. The dACC is connected with the basal ganglia-thalamo-loop modulated by dopaminergic signaling. This finding suggests disturbed integration of reinforcement history in decision making and implicate that the reward system might contribute to the pathogenesis in writer's cramp.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Arne Knutzen
- Department of Neurology, Kiel University, Germany
| | | | | | - Julia Götz
- Department of Neurology, Kiel University, Germany
| | - Stephan Wolff
- Department of Radiology and Neuroradiology, Kiel University, Germany
| | - Olav Jansen
- Department of Radiology and Neuroradiology, Kiel University, Germany
| | - Dirk Dressler
- Movement Disorders Section, Department of Neurology, Hannover Medical School, Germany
| | | | | | | | | | - Karsten Witt
- Department of Neurology, Kiel University, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Ryterska A, Jahanshahi M, Osman M. Decision-making impairments in Parkinson's disease as a by-product of defective cost-benefit analysis and feedback processing. Neurodegener Dis Manag 2015; 4:317-27. [PMID: 25313988 DOI: 10.2217/nmt.14.23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Studies examining decision-making in people with Parkinson's disease (PD) show impaired performance on a variety of tasks. However, there are also demonstrations that patients with PD can make optimal decisions just like healthy age-matched controls. We propose that the reason for these mixed findings is that PD does not produce a generalized impairment of decision-making, but rather affects sub-components of this process. In this review we evaluate this hypothesis by considering the empirical evidence examining decision-making in PD. We suggest that of the various stages of the decision-making process, the most affected in PD are (1) the cost-benefit analysis stage and (2) the outcome evaluation stage. We consider the implications of this proposal for research in this area.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Agata Ryterska
- Biological & Experimental Psychology Group, School of Biological & Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS, UK
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
14
|
van de Vijver I, Ridderinkhof KR, de Wit S. Age-related changes in deterministic learning from positive versus negative performance feedback. AGING NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION 2015; 22:595-619. [DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2015.1020917] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
|
15
|
Impaired acquisition of goal-directed action in healthy aging. COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2015; 14:647-58. [PMID: 24796599 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-014-0288-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
According to dual-system theories, instrumental learning is supported by dissociable goal-directed and habitual systems. Previous investigations of the dual-system balance in healthy aging have yielded mixed results. To further investigate this issue, we compared performance of young (17-24 years) and older (69-84 years) adults on an instrumental learning task. Following the initial learning phase, the behavioral autonomy of the motivational significance of the instrumental outcome was assessed with an outcome-devaluation test and slips-of-action test. The present study provides evidence for a disrupted dual-system balance in healthy aging, as reflected in reduced outcome-induced conflict during acquisition, as well as in impaired performance during the test stage, during which participants had to flexibly adjust their actions to changes in the current desirability of the behavioral outcome. These findings will be discussed in relation to previous aging studies into habitual and goal-directed control, as well as other cognitive impairments, challenges that older adults may face in everyday life, and to the neurobiological basis of the developmental pattern of goal-directed action across the lifespan.
Collapse
|
16
|
What are people with Parkinson's disease really impaired on when it comes to making decisions? A meta-analysis of the evidence. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2013; 37:2836-46. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2013.10.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2013] [Revised: 10/02/2013] [Accepted: 10/09/2013] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
|
17
|
Ferdinand NK, Kray J. Age-related changes in processing positive and negative feedback: Is there a positivity effect for older adults? Biol Psychol 2013; 94:235-41. [PMID: 23886960 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2013.07.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2013] [Revised: 06/10/2013] [Accepted: 07/15/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
|
18
|
Hadj-Bouziane F, Benatru I, Brovelli A, Klinger H, Thobois S, Broussolle E, Boussaoud D, Meunier M. Advanced Parkinson's disease effect on goal-directed and habitual processes involved in visuomotor associative learning. Front Hum Neurosci 2013; 6:351. [PMID: 23386815 PMCID: PMC3560419 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00351] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2012] [Accepted: 12/18/2012] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
The present behavioral study re-addresses the question of habit learning in Parkinson's disease (PD). Patients were early onset, non-demented, dopa-responsive, candidates for surgical treatment, similar to those we found earlier as suffering greater dopamine depletion in the putamen than in the caudate nucleus. The task was the same conditional associative learning task as that used previously in monkeys and healthy humans to unveil the striatum involvement in habit learning. Sixteen patients and 20 age- and education-matched healthy control subjects learned sets of 3 visuo-motor associations between complex patterns and joystick displacements during two testing sessions separated by a few hours. We distinguished errors preceding vs. following the first correct response to compare patients' performance during the earliest phase of learning dominated by goal-directed actions with that observed later on, when responses start to become habitual. The disease significantly retarded both learning phases, especially in patients under 60 years of age. However, only the late phase deficit was disease severity-dependent and persisted on the second testing session. These findings provide the first corroboration in Parkinson patients of two ideas well-established in the animal literature. The first is the idea that associating visual stimuli to motor acts is a form of habit learning that engages the striatum. It is confirmed here by the global impairment in visuo-motor learning induced by PD. The second idea is that goal-directed behaviors are predominantly caudate-dependent whereas habitual responses are primarily putamen-dependent. At the advanced PD stages tested here, dopamine depletion is greater in the putamen than in the caudate nucleus. Accordingly, the late phase of learning corresponding to the emergence of habitual responses was more vulnerable to the disease than the early phase dominated by goal-directed actions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Fadila Hadj-Bouziane
- INSERM U1028, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, IMPACT Team Lyon, France ; CNRS UMR5292, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, IMPACT Team Lyon, France ; University Lyon 1 Lyon, France
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
19
|
Buitenweg JIV, Murre JMJ, Ridderinkhof KR. Brain training in progress: a review of trainability in healthy seniors. Front Hum Neurosci 2012; 6:183. [PMID: 22737115 PMCID: PMC3380254 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00183] [Citation(s) in RCA: 90] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2012] [Accepted: 06/01/2012] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
The cognitive deterioration associated with aging is accompanied by structural alterations and loss of functionality of the frontostriatal dopamine system. The question arises how such deleterious cognitive effects could be countered. Brain training, currently highly popular among young and old alike, promises that users will improve on certain neurocognitive skills, and this has indeed been confirmed in a number of studies. Based on these results, it seems reasonable to expect beneficial effects of brain training in the elderly as well. A selective review of the existing literature suggests, however, that the results are neither robust nor consistent, and that transfer and sustained effects thus far appear limited. Based on this review, we argue for a series of elements that hold potential for progress in successful types of brain training: (1) including flexibility and novelty as features of the training, (2) focusing on a number of promising, yet largely unexplored domains, such as decision-making and memory strategy training, and (3) tailoring the training adaptively to the level and progress of the individual. We also emphasize the need for covariance-based MRI methods in linking structural and functional changes in the aging brain to individual differences in neurocognitive efficiency and trainability in order to further uncover the underlying mechanisms.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Jaap M. J. Murre
- Department of Psychology, University of AmsterdamAmsterdam, Netherlands
| | - K. Richard Ridderinkhof
- Department of Psychology, University of AmsterdamAmsterdam, Netherlands
- Cognitive Science Center Amsterdam, University of AmsterdamAmsterdam, Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
20
|
Fernandes VS, Santos JR, Leão AH, Medeiros AM, Melo TG, Izídio GS, Cabral A, Ribeiro RA, Abílio VC, Ribeiro AM, Silva RH. Repeated treatment with a low dose of reserpine as a progressive model of Parkinson's disease. Behav Brain Res 2012; 231:154-63. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2012.03.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2012] [Revised: 03/06/2012] [Accepted: 03/07/2012] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
|
21
|
Eppinger B, Kray J. To choose or to avoid: age differences in learning from positive and negative feedback. J Cogn Neurosci 2011; 23:41-52. [PMID: 19925176 DOI: 10.1162/jocn.2009.21364] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
In this study, we investigated whether older adults learn more from bad than good choices than younger adults and whether this is reflected in the error-related negativity (ERN). We applied a feedback-based learning task with two learning conditions. In the positive learning condition, participants could learn to choose responses that lead to monetary gains, whereas in the negative learning condition, they could learn to avoid responses that lead to monetary losses. To test the stability of learning preferences, the task involved a reversal phase in which stimulus-response assignments were inverted. Negative learners were defined as individuals that performed better in the negative than in the positive learning condition (and vice versa for positive learners). The behavioral data showed strong individual differences in learning from positive and negative outcomes that persisted throughout the reversal phase and were more pronounced for older than younger adults. Older negative learners showed a stronger tendency to avoid negative outcomes than younger negative learners. However, contrary to younger adults, this negative learning bias was not associated with a larger ERN, suggesting that avoidance learning in older negative learners might be decoupled from error processing. Furthermore, older adults showed learning impairments compared to younger adults. The ERP analyses suggest that these impairments reflect deficits in the ability to build up relational representations of ambiguous outcomes.
Collapse
|
22
|
Systems of Category Learning. PSYCHOLOGY OF LEARNING AND MOTIVATION 2011. [DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-12-385527-5.00006-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register]
|
23
|
Mayhew SD, Li S, Storrar JK, Tsvetanov KA, Kourtzi Z. Learning Shapes the Representation of Visual Categories in the Aging Human Brain. J Cogn Neurosci 2010; 22:2899-912. [PMID: 20044888 DOI: 10.1162/jocn.2010.21415] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
The ability to make categorical decisions and interpret sensory experiences is critical for survival and interactions across the lifespan. However, little is known about the human brain mechanisms that mediate the learning and representation of visual categories in aging. Here we combine behavioral measurements and fMRI measurements to investigate the neural processes that mediate flexible category learning in the aging human brain. Our findings show that training changes the decision criterion (i.e., categorical boundary) that young and older observers use for making categorical judgments. Comparing the behavioral choices of human observers with those of a pattern classifier based upon multivoxel fMRI signals, we demonstrate learning-dependent changes in similar cortical areas for young and older adults. In particular, we show that neural signals in occipito-temporal and posterior parietal regions change through learning to reflect the perceived visual categories. Information in these areas about the perceived visual categories is preserved in aging, whereas information content is compromised in more anterior parietal and frontal circuits. Thus, these findings provide novel evidence for flexible category learning in aging that shapes the neural representations of visual categories to reflect the observers' behavioral judgments.
Collapse
|
24
|
Graef S, Biele G, Krugel LK, Marzinzik F, Wahl M, Wotka J, Klostermann F, Heekeren HR. Differential influence of levodopa on reward-based learning in Parkinson's disease. Front Hum Neurosci 2010; 4:169. [PMID: 21048900 PMCID: PMC2967381 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2010.00169] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2010] [Accepted: 08/08/2010] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The mesocorticolimbic dopamine (DA) system linking the dopaminergic midbrain to the prefrontal cortex and subcortical striatum has been shown to be sensitive to reinforcement in animals and humans. Within this system, coexistent segregated striato-frontal circuits have been linked to different functions. In the present study, we tested patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by dopaminergic cell loss, on two reward-based learning tasks assumed to differentially involve dorsal and ventral striato-frontal circuits. 15 non-depressed and non-demented PD patients on levodopa monotherapy were tested both on and off medication. Levodopa had beneficial effects on the performance on an instrumental learning task with constant stimulus-reward associations, hypothesized to rely on dorsal striato-frontal circuits. In contrast, performance on a reversal learning task with changing reward contingencies, relying on ventral striato-frontal structures, was better in the unmedicated state. These results are in line with the "overdose hypothesis" which assumes detrimental effects of dopaminergic medication on functions relying upon less affected regions in PD. This study demonstrates, in a within-subject design, a double dissociation of dopaminergic medication and performance on two reward-based learning tasks differing in regard to whether reward contingencies are constant or dynamic. There was no evidence for a dose effect of levodopa on reward-based behavior with the patients' actual levodopa dose being uncorrelated to their performance on the reward-based learning tasks.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Susanne Graef
- Max Planck Institute for Human Development Berlin, Germany
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
25
|
Simon JR, Howard JH, Howard DV. Adult age differences in learning from positive and negative probabilistic feedback. Neuropsychology 2010; 24:534-41. [PMID: 20604627 DOI: 10.1037/a0018652] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Past research has investigated age differences in frontal-based decision making, but few studies have focused on the behavioral effects of striatal-based changes in healthy aging. Feedback learning has been found to vary with dopamine levels; increases in dopamine facilitate learning from positive feedback, whereas decreases facilitate learning from negative feedback. Given previous evidence of striatal dopamine depletion in healthy aging, we investigated behavioral differences between college-aged and healthy older adults using a feedback learning task that is sensitive to both frontal and striatal processes. METHOD Seventeen college-aged (M = 18.9 years) and 24 healthy, older adults (M = 70.3 years) completed the Probabilistic Selection task, in which participants are trained on probabilistic stimulus-outcome information and then tested to determine whether they learned more from positive or negative feedback. RESULTS As a group, the older adults learned equally well from positive and negative feedback, whereas the college-aged group learned more from positive than negative feedback, F(1, 39) = 4.10, p < .05, r(effect) = .3. However, these group differences were not due to older individuals being more balanced learners. Most individuals of both ages were balanced learners, but while all of the remaining young learners had a positive bias, the remaining older learners were split between those with positive and negative learning biases (chi(2)(2) = 6.12, p < .047). CONCLUSIONS These behavioral results are consistent with the dopamine theory of striatal aging, and suggest there might be adult age differences in the kinds of information people use when faced with a current choice.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jessica R Simon
- Department of Psychology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057, USA.
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
26
|
Jahanshahi M, Wilkinson L, Gahir H, Dharminda A, Lagnado DA. Medication impairs probabilistic classification learning in Parkinson's disease. Neuropsychologia 2010; 48:1096-103. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.12.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 81] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2009] [Revised: 11/20/2009] [Accepted: 12/07/2009] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
|
27
|
Aging and the neuroeconomics of decision making: A review. COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2009; 9:365-79. [PMID: 19897790 DOI: 10.3758/cabn.9.4.365] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Neuroeconomics refers to a combination of paradigms derived from neuroscience, psychology, and economics for the study of decision making and is an area that has received considerable scientific attention in the recent literature. Using realistic laboratory tasks, researchers seek to study the neurocognitive processes underlying economic decision making and outcome-based decision learning, as well as individual differences in these processes and the social and affective factors that modulate them. To this point, one question has remained largely unanswered: What happens to decision-making processes and their neural substrates during aging? After all, aging is associated with neurocognitive change, which may affect outcome-based decision making. In our study, we use the subjective expected utility model-a well-established decision-making model in economics-as a descriptive framework. After a short survey of the brain areas and neurotransmitter systems associated with outcome-based decision making-and of the effects of aging thereon-we review a number of decision-making studies. Their general data pattern indicates that the decision-making process is changed by age: The elderly perform less efficiently than younger participants, as demonstrated, for instance, by the smaller total rewards that the elderly acquire in lab tasks. These findings are accounted for in terms of age-related deficiencies in the probability and value parameters of the subjective expected utility model. Finally, we discuss some implications and suggestions for future research.
Collapse
|
28
|
Memory impairment induced by low doses of reserpine in rats: possible relationship with emotional processing deficits in Parkinson disease. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2008; 32:1479-83. [PMID: 18579275 DOI: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2008.05.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2008] [Revised: 05/05/2008] [Accepted: 05/06/2008] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
We have recently verified that the monoamine-depleting drug reserpine--at doses that do not modify motor function--impairs memory in a rodent model of aversive discrimination. In this study, the effects of reserpine (0.1-0.5 mg/kg) on the performance of rats in object recognition, spatial working memory (spontaneous alternation) and emotional memory (contextual freezing conditioning) tasks were investigated. While object recognition and spontaneous alternation behavior were not affected by reserpine treatment, contextual fear conditioning was impaired. Together with previous studies, these results suggest that low doses of reserpine would preferentially induce deficits in tasks involved with emotional contexts. Possible relationships with cognitive and emotional processing deficits in Parkinson disease are discussed.
Collapse
|
29
|
Osman M, Wilkinson L, Beigi M, Castaneda CS, Jahanshahi M. Patients with Parkinson's disease learn to control complex systems via procedural as well as non-procedural learning. Neuropsychologia 2008; 46:2355-63. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.03.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2007] [Revised: 03/10/2008] [Accepted: 03/13/2008] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
|
30
|
Wilkinson L, Lagnado DA, Quallo M, Jahanshahi M. The effect of feedback on non-motor probabilistic classification learning in Parkinson's disease. Neuropsychologia 2008; 46:2683-95. [PMID: 18585741 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.05.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2008] [Revised: 03/26/2008] [Accepted: 05/04/2008] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
It has been proposed that procedural learning is mediated by the striatum and, it has been reported that patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) are impaired on the weather prediction task (WPT) which involves probabilistic classification learning with corrective feedback (FB). However, PD patients were not impaired on probabilistic classification learning when it was performed without corrective feedback, in a paired associate (PA) manner; suggesting that the striatum is involved in learning with feedback rather than procedural learning per se. In Experiment 1 we studied FB- and PA-based learning in PD patients and controls and, as an improvement on previous methods, used a more powerful repeated measures design and more equivalent test phases during FB and PA conditions (including altering the FB condition to remove time limits on responding). All participants (16 PD patients, H&Y I-III and 14 matched-controls) completed the WPT under both FB and PA conditions. In contrast to previous results, in Experiment 1 we did not find a selective impairment in the PD group on the FB version of the WPT relative to controls. In Experiment 2 we used a between groups design and studied learning with corrective FB in 11 PD patients (H&Y I.5-IV) and 13 matched controls on a more standard version of the WPT similar to that used in previous studies. With such a between groups design for comparison of FB and PA learning on the WPT in PD, we observed impaired learning in PD patients relative to controls across both the FB and PA versions of the WPT. Most importantly, in Experiment 2 we also failed to find a selective impairment on the FB version of the WPT coupled with normal learning on the PA version in PD patients relative to controls. Our results do not support the proposal that the striatum plays a specific role in probabilistic classification learning with feedback.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Leonora Wilkinson
- Cognitive Motor Neuroscience Group, Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, Institute of Neurology, The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
31
|
Weiler JA, Bellebaum C, Daum I. Aging affects acquisition and reversal of reward-based associative learning. Learn Mem 2008; 15:190-7. [PMID: 18353994 DOI: 10.1101/lm.890408] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Reward-based associative learning is mediated by a distributed network of brain regions that are dependent on the dopaminergic system. Age-related changes in key regions of this system, the striatum and the prefrontal cortex, may adversely affect the ability to use reward information for the guidance of behavior. The present study investigated the effects of healthy aging on different components of reward learning, such as acquisition, reversal, effects of reward magnitude, and transfer of learning. A group of 30 young (mean age = 24.2 yr) and a group of 30 older subjects (mean age = 64.1 yr) completed two probabilistic reward-based stimulus association learning tasks. Older subjects showed poorer overall acquisition and impaired reversal learning, as well as deficits in transfer learning. When only those subjects who showed evidence of significant learning were considered, younger subjects showed equivalently fast learning irrespective of reward magnitude, while learning curves in older subjects were steeper for high compared to low reward magnitudes. Acquired equivalence learning, which requires generalization across stimuli and transfer of learned contingencies to new stimuli, was mildly impaired in older subjects.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Julia A Weiler
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Neuropsychology, Ruhr-University of Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany.
| | | | | |
Collapse
|