Size and probability of rewards modulate the feedback error-related negativity associated with wins but not losses in a monetarily rewarded gambling task

Electrophysiological correlates of (mis)judging social information

Social information can be used to optimize decision-making. However, the simultaneous presentation of multiple sources of advice can lead to a distinction bias in judging the validity of the information. While the involvement of event-related potential (ERP) components in social information processing has been studied, how they are modulated by (mis)judging an advisor's information validity remains unknown. In two experiments participants performed a decision-making task with highly accurate or inaccurate cues. Each experiment consisted of an initial, learning, and test phase. During the learning phase, three advice cues were simultaneously presented and the validity of them had to be assessed. The effect of different cue constellations on ERPs was investigated. In the subsequent test phase, the willingness to follow or oppose an advice cue was tested. Results demonstrated the distinction bias with participants over or underestimating the accuracy of the most uncertain cues. The P2 amplitude was significantly increased during cue presentation when advisors were in disagreement as compared to when all were in agreement, regardless of cue validity. Further, a larger P3 amplitude during outcome presentation was found when advisors were in disagreement and increased with more informative cues. As such, the most uncertain cues were related to the smallest P3 amplitude. The findings hint at the possible role of P3 in judging and learning the predictability of social cues. This study provides novel insights into the role of P2 and P3 components during the judgment of social information validity.

Mothers exhibit higher neural activity in gaining rewards for their children than for themselves

Are people willing to exert greater effort to obtain rewards for their children than they are for themselves? Although previous studies have demonstrated that social distance influences neural responses to altruistic reward processing, the distinction between winning rewards for oneself and winning them for one's child is unclear. In the present study, a group of 31 mothers performed a monetary incentive delay task in which cue-induced reward anticipations of winning a reward for themselves, their children and donation to a charity program were manipulated trial-wise, followed by performance-contingent feedback. Behaviorally, the anticipation of winning a reward for their children accelerated participants' responses. Importantly, the electroencephalogram results revealed that across the reward anticipation and consumption phases, the child condition elicited comparable or higher brain responses of participants than the self condition did. The source localization results showed that participants' reward anticipations for their children were associated with more activation in the social brain regions, compared to winning a reward for themselves or a charity donation. Overall, these findings advance our understanding of the neural mechanisms of altruistic reward processing and suggest that the priority of winning a reward for one's child may transcend the limits of the self-advantage effect in reward processing.

All the Pringle ladies: Neural and behavioral responses to high-calorie food rewards in young adult women

Reward processing is vital for learning and survival, and can be indexed using the Reward Positivity (RewP), an event-related potential (ERP) component that is larger for rewards than losses. Prior work suggests that heightened motivation to obtain reward, as well as greater reward value, is associated with an enhanced RewP. However, the extent to which internal and external factors modulate neural responses to rewards, and whether such neural responses motivate reward-seeking behavior, remains unclear. The present study investigated whether the degree to which a reward is salient to an individual's current motivational state modulates the RewP, and whether the RewP predicts motivated behaviors, in a sample of 133 women. To elicit the RewP, participants completed a forced-choice food reward guessing task. Data were also collected on food-related behaviors (i.e., type of food chosen, consumption of the food reward) and motivational salience factors (i.e., self-reported hunger, time since last meal, and subjective "liking" of food reward). Results showed that hungrier participants displayed an enhanced RewP compared to less hungry individuals. Further, self-reported snack liking interacted with RewP magnitude to predict behavior, such that when participants reported low levels of snack liking, those with a smaller RewP were more likely to consume their snacks than those with a larger RewP. Our data suggest that food-related motivational state may increase neural sensitivity to food reward in young women, and that neural markers of reward sensitivity might interact with subjective reward liking to predict real-world eating behavior.

Risk decision: The self-charity discrepancies in electrophysiological responses to outcome evaluation

Previous studies have examined the outcome evaluation related to the self and other, and recent research has explored the outcome evaluation of the self and other with pro-social implications. However, the evaluation processing of outcomes in the group in need remains unclear. This study has examined the neural mechanisms of evaluative processing by gambling for the self and charity, respectively. At the behavioral level, when participants make decisions for themselves, they made riskier decisions following the gain than loss in small outcomes and engage in more risky behaviors following the loss than gain in large outcomes. However, magnitude and valence did not affect the next risky behavior when participants made decisions for the charity. At the neurophysiological level, the results found that the FRN was larger for the charity outcome than for the self-outcome. For FRN, the valence difference of small outcomes was smaller than that of large outcomes. The P3 response was larger for the self-outcome than for the charity outcome. Meanwhile, compared with the small outcome, the self-charity discrepancies have a significant difference in large outcomes. In addition, the FRN amplitude for self in large outcomes was negatively correlated with the upcoming risky choices, regardless of outcome valence. The behavioral results suggest that people are more likely to optimize strategies for themselves than for the charity. The ERP findings indicated that people focus more on charity outcome than self-outcome in the early stage. In the middle and late stages, people turn attention to their outcomes, and the difference between self’s and charity’s outcome varies with the magnitude. Specifically, it is only in large outcomes that people engage more emotional attention or motivation in their outcomes, but self and charity outcomes had a similar emotional engagement in small outcomes.

I am entitled to it! Social power and context modulate disadvantageous inequity aversion

Previous research consistently indicated that social power influences one's fairness consideration. However, it is unclear how social power and context jointly affect inequity aversion and whether these processes would be manifested in brain activities. In this study, participants were randomly assigned into either high or low power condition and then took part in a modified ultimatum game (UG) as responders in both gain and loss contexts, with their event-related potentials (ERPs) recorded. Behavioral results showed that powerful participants were more likely to reject unfair offers in both contexts compared with powerless ones. In addition, powerful participants showed a more negative feedback-related negativity (FRN) loss-win difference wave (d-FRN) upon presentation of proposed offers compared with powerless participants only in the gain context. Interestingly, in a later time window, differences of P300 responses to proposed offers were modulated by social power in both gain and loss contexts. These results suggested that powerful people were more sensitive to fairness levels and FRN may manifest fairness consideration in a gain context, but not in a loss context. Meanwhile, P300 is sensitive to fairness considerations in both gain and loss contexts.

Outcome valence and stimulus frequency affect neural responses to rewards and punishments

The Reward-Positivity (RewP) is a frontocentral event-related potential elicited following reward and punishment feedback. Reinforcement learning theories propose the RewP reflects a reward prediction error that increases following more favorable (vs. unfavorable) outcomes. An alternative perspective, however, proposes this component indexes a salience-prediction error that increases following more salient outcomes. Evidence from prior studies that included both reward and punishment conditions is mixed, supporting both accounts. However, these studies often varied how feedback stimuli were repeated across reward and punishment conditions. Differences in the frequency of feedback stimuli may drive inconsistencies by introducing salience effects for infrequent stimuli regardless of whether they are associated with rewards or punishments. To test this hypothesis, the current study examined the effect of outcome valence and stimulus frequency on the RewP and neighboring P2 and P3 components in reward, punishment, and neutral contexts across two separate experiments that varied how often feedback stimuli were repeated between conditions. Experiment 1 revealed infrequent feedback stimuli generated overlapping positivity across all three components. However, controlling for stimulus frequency, experiment 2 revealed favorable outcomes that increased RewP and P3 positivity. Together, these results suggest the RewP reflects some combination of reward- and salience-prediction error encoding. Results also indicate infrequent feedback stimuli elicited strong salience effects across all three components that may inflate, eliminate, or reverse outcome valence effects for the RewP and P3. These results resolve several inconsistencies in the literature and have important implications for electrocortical investigations of reward and punishment feedback processing.

The time course of reactivity to social acceptance and rejection feedback: An examination of event-related potentials and behavioral measures in a peer interaction task

Measurement of social processes is of interest across areas of research. Event-related potentials (ERPs) measured using electroencephalography (EEG) offer high temporal resolution, but little work has leveraged this strength to characterize the time course of social feedback processing. The present study aimed to replicate and extend previous research by systematically identifying the temporal dynamics of responses to both social acceptance and rejection feedback relative to neutral feedback, examining internal consistency of ERPs, and exploring correspondence with behavioral measures elicited during a peer interaction task. Emerging adults (N = 118) completed a computerized peer interaction task in which they made decisions to accept or reject peers and received rejection, acceptance, and neutral feedback while EEG data were recorded. Principal component analysis was used to derive temporally and spatially distinct ERP components sensitive to positive and negative social feedback. Participant voting patterns and post-task liking ratings for computer-controlled peers were also examined. Replicating prior work, components consistent with N1, P2, reward positivity (RewP), and P3 emerged, but distinct patterns of modulation by acceptance and rejection relative to neutral feedback were observed. Most components showed acceptable internal consistency. Sensitivity to peer feedback assessed through participant voting patterns and liking ratings for peers was correlated with RewP and P3 components. Results highlight the complexity of social feedback processing observable in a computerized peer interaction task and offer promising neural and behavioral measures that can be used to examine individual differences in sensitivity to both social acceptance and rejection feedback.

P2 Manifests Subjective Evaluation of Reward Processing Under Social Comparison

Several recent studies have found that when the other’s gain is greater, even subjects’ reward may seem like a loss and lead to a negative experience. These studies indicate the complexity of reward evaluation in the context of social comparison. The satisfaction rating of reward outcome not only depends on objective social comparison but also on subjective evaluation. However, less is known about the neural time course of subjective evaluation. Therefore, we employed a 2 (subjective evaluation: advantageous vs. disadvantageous) × 2 (comparison direction: upward vs. downward) within-subjects factorial design, in which we manipulated the reward distribution for the subjects. Electroencephalography (EEG) responses were recorded, while two subjects concurrently but independently performed a simple dot-estimation task that entailed monetary rewards. Behavioral results showed that the subjects were more satisfied with the advantageous distribution, regardless of upward or downward comparison. The analysis of event-related potentials (ERPs) revealed that disadvantageous distribution elicited a larger P2 than advantageous distribution, and this effect was not modulated by comparison direction. In contrast, the late positive potential (LPP) showed an effect of comparison direction independent of subjective evaluation. The data suggest that subjective evaluation acts upon the early stage of reward processing and manifests in the P2 component, whereas social comparison plays a role in the later appraisal process.

Safety on demand: Post-hypnotic suggestions of safety reduce neural signals of reward sensitivity with long-term beneficial effects

Increased reward sensitivity has been proposed as an important transdiagnostic feature for a series of disorders, including addictive behaviors. Earlier studies suggest that a positive affective state characterized by the feeling of safety could reduce an individual's reward sensitivity. A promising technique to establish a feeling of safety on demand is to utilize post-hypnotic suggestions. We hypothesized that the feeling of safety elicited by post-hypnotic suggestions reduces neural signals of reward sensitivity. To test our predictions, we hypnotized 24 highly suggestible participants, suggested them to feel safe and coupled this feeling of safety to a post-hypnotic trigger that reactivates the feeling of safety outside the hypnotic state. Participants then played a risk game both in a safety condition using the post-hypnotic safety trigger and in a control condition using a neutral trigger. Simultaneously, we recorded their EEG. Participants reported significantly higher ratings of safety in the safety condition compared to the control condition. Even several weeks after the main experimental session, the post-hypnotic safety trigger still elicited a significantly stronger feeling of safety compared to the control condition. Moreover, the Reward Positivity (RewP) was significantly reduced in the safety condition. As the RewP amplitude has been proposed as a psychophysiological marker for reward sensitivity, we conclude that the suggestion of safety by post-hypnotic suggestions turns participants into a quiescence motivational state that makes them less reward sensitive. Therefore, we discuss implications of the post-hypnotic safety trigger for the treatment of disorders associated with increased reward sensitivity such as addictive behaviors.

Working memory load reduces the processing of outcome evaluation involving others but not oneself: Event-related potential evidence

Previous event-related potential (ERP) studies have suggested that self-related and non-self-related outcomes are processed simultaneously. However, the studies investigated situations in which individuals had sufficient attentional/cognitive resources to process both of the outcomes. It is unknown whether self-related and non-self-unrelated outcomes could still be processed simultaneously when resources are limited. To address this issue, 32 female participants in the present study were asked to perform a working memory task. To manipulate the amount of available attentional/cognitive resources, participants were asked to memorize a letter in the low load condition and five letters in the high load condition. During letter consolidation, participants were informed that they and another player each performed a gambling task and were subsequently presented with both of the outcomes. ERP results showed that others' monetary loss elicited larger P200 and late positive potential amplitudes than others' monetary gain under a low working memory load, whereas a high load reduced these effects. However, working memory load did not influence the effect of self-outcome on ERP responses. Therefore, the findings suggest that the amount of available attentional/cognitive resources alters the evaluation of non-self-related but not self-related outcomes.

Selective Devaluation Affects the Processing of Preferred Rewards

The present study investigated whether the representation of subjective preferences in the event-related potential is manipulable through selective devaluation, i.e., the consumption of a specific food item until satiety. Thirty-four participants completed a gambling task in which they chose between virtual doors to find one of three snack items, representing a high, medium, or low preference outcome as defined by individual desire-to-eat ratings. In one of two test sessions, they underwent selective devaluation of the high preference outcome. In the other, they completed the task on an empty stomach. Consistent with previous findings, averaged across sessions, amplitudes were increased for more preferred rewards in the time windows of P2, late FRN, and P300. As hypothesised, we also found a selective devaluation effect for the high preference outcome in the P300 time window, reflected in a decrease in amplitude. The present results provide evidence for modulations of reward processing not only by individual factors, such as subjective preferences, but also by the current motivational state. Importantly, the present data suggest that selective devaluation effects in the P300 may be a promising tool to further characterise altered valuation of food rewards in the context of eating disorders and obesity.

Electrophysiological Examination of Feedback-Based Learning in 8-11-Year-Old Children

The study aimed at evaluating the extent to which the feedback related negativity (FRN), an ERP component associated with feedback processing, is related to learning in school-age children. Eighty typically developing children between the ages of 8 and 11 years completed a declarative learning task while their EEG was recorded. The study evaluated the predictive value of the FRN on learning retention as measured by accuracy on a follow-up test a day after the session. The FRN elicited by positive feedback was found to be predictive of learning retention in children. The relationship between the FRN and learning was moderated by age. The P3a was also found to be associated with learning, such that larger P3a to negative feedback was associated with better learning retention in children.

Hypnotic suggestions of safety reduce neuronal signals of delay discounting

Waiting for delayed rewards is important to reach long-term goals, yet most people prefer immediate rewards. This tendency is called delay discounting. Evidence shows that people are more willing to wait for delayed rewards when they believe that the delayed reward is certain. We hypothesized that feeling safe makes delayed outcomes subjectively more certain, which should in turn reduce neuronal signals of delay discounting. We hypnotized 24 highly suggestible participants and gave them a suggestion to feel safe. We then used EEG to measure their brain responses to immediate and delayed rewards while they played a delayed gratification game. As compared to a control condition without hypnosis, participants that were suggested to feel safe under hypnosis reported feeling significantly safer. Further, their reward-related brain activity differentiated less between immediate and delayed rewards. We conclude that feeling safe makes delayed outcomes subjectively more certain and therefore reduces neuronal signals of delay discounting.

FRN and P3 during the Iowa gambling task: The importance of gender

Previous research has shown gender-related psychobiological differences in risky and competitive strategies that affect win and loss outcomes. In addition, some studies have found differences in the decision-making process, with women taking longer to reach the same performance as men. However, the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. The present study aimed to investigate gender differences in behavioral performance and neural correlates during a decision-making task, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Forty healthy young adults (23 men and 17 women) performed the IGT while the feedback-related negativity (FRN) and P3 were recorded as neural correlates of feedback processing. No gender differences were observed in the behavioral performance on the IGT after 100 and 150 trials, or in the P3 component. In women, but not in men, the FRN component showed a greater amplitude for losses than for wins. There were no significant gender-related differences in behavioral performance, and men and women revealed a similar learning process on the IGT. At the neural level, no direct differences between men and women were observed in the feedback processing stage for the FRN or P3. However, our results indicate that women showed greater sensitivity to losses than to wins during the decision-making task, as reflected in the FRN component.

Comparing the motivational value of rewards and losses in an EEG-pupillometry study

We found earlier that performance-contingent rewards lead to faster performance than equivalent losses [Carsten, Hoofs, Boehler, & Krebs, 2019. Motivation Science, 5(3). http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/mot0000117]. Here, we further tested the hypothesis that motivation to gain rewards is higher than to avoid losses, even when incentive values are matched. As implicit markers of motivation, we assessed electroencephalography (EEG) focusing on the P3 after target and feedback onset, and the Feedback-Related Negativity (FRN), as well as simultaneously recorded pupil size. Comparing only reward and loss prospect trials in Experiment 1, we found no consistent differences in behavior and electrophysiological markers of motivation, although pupil data suggested higher arousal after feedback in potential-loss trials. Including additional no-incentive trials in Experiment 2, we found consistent evidence that motivation to gain rewards was higher than to avoid losses: In line with behavior, the target-P3 was most pronounced for reward-related stimuli, followed by loss and no-incentive ones. This same ranking was found in the P3 and the FRN after positive outcomes (i.e., reward, avoided loss, and correct feedback in no-incentive trials). Negative outcomes featured a different pattern in line with the pupil response, which suggests that losses are emotionally salient events, without invigorating behavior proportionally. In sum, these findings suggest that the motivation to gain rewards is more pronounced than motivation to avoid equivalent losses, at least in tasks promoting transient increases in attention triggered by incentive prospect. These motivational differences may arise as avoided losses are not profitable in the long term, in contrast to gained rewards.

Decomposing the effort paradox in reward processing: Time matters

Effort expenditure not only discounts reward value prospectively but also accrues reward value retrospectively. To decompose the effort paradox in reward processing, the current event-related potential study investigated the neural dynamics underlying effects of effort expenditure on subsequent reward processing. Participants exerted one of two levels of effort to obtain an opportunity of winning a high or low amount of monetary reward, and we focused on electrophysiological activity during the anticipatory and consummatory phases of reward processing. During the anticipatory phase, the stimulus-preceding negativity was enhanced when potential high rewards were anticipated, but this reward effect disappeared following high-effort expenditure. During the consummatory phase, feedback-related ERPs were increased for high relative to low rewards, and this reward effect was enlarged following effort expenditure during the early stage (200-300 ms) as indexed by the reward positivity but not the late stage (400-600 ms) as indexed by the P3. Our findings provide a strong support for the psychological contrast theory and indicate that time matters in decomposing the effort paradox for reward processing such that effort expenditure reduces reward sensitivity during the anticipatory phase but enhances reward sensitivity during the consummatory phase.

Being the chosen one: social inclusion modulates decisions in the ultimatum game. An ERP study

In the present study, participants played a modified ultimatum game simulating a situation of inclusion/exclusion, in which either the participant or a rival could be selected to play as the responder. This selection was made either randomly by a computer (i.e. random pairing mode) or by the proposer (i.e. choice mode), based on physical appearance. Being chosen by the proposer triggered positive reciprocal behavior in participants, who accepted unfair offers more frequently than when they had been selected by the computer. Independently of selection mode, greater P200 amplitudes were found when participants received fair offers than when they received unfair offers and when unfair shares were offered to their rivals rather than to them, suggesting that receiving fair offers or observing a rival’s misfortune was rewarding for participants. While participants generally showed more interest in the offers they themselves received (i.e. greater P300 responses to these offers), observing their rivals receive fair shares after the latter had been chosen by the proposer triggered an increase in P300 amplitude likely to reflect a feeling of envy. This study provides new insights into both the cognitive and affective processes underpinning economic decision making in a context of social inclusion/exclusion.

Emotional Contexts Modulate Anticipatory Late Positive Component and Reward Feedback Negativity in Adolescents With Major Depressive Disorder

BACKGROUND

Neuroimaging research has determined deficits in the dopaminergic circuit of major depressive disorder (MDD) during adolescence. This study investigated how emotional contexts modulate the temporal dynamics of reward anticipation and feedback in adolescents.

METHODS

EEG data from 35 MDD and 37 healthy adolescents were recorded when they conducted a gambling task after being presented with emotional pictures.

RESULTS

The results demonstrated that both MDD and healthy adolescents exhibited the largest late positive component (LPC) in positive contexts at the frontal sites and the largest LPC in negative contexts at the central sites; however, MDD adolescents exhibited anticipatory LPC hypoactivation than healthy adolescents. However, MDD adolescents exhibited smaller gain feedback negativity (FN) than healthy adolescents independent of emotional contexts, positively correlating with the trait anhedonia according to the consummatory aspect of the Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale. In contrast, MDD adolescents exhibited greater FN loss in positive and neutral contexts than healthy adolescents while no difference in FN loss was found between the two groups in negative contexts. Moreover, the FN loss amplitudes negatively correlated with hedonic tone according to the Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale over the past week.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that MDD adolescents exhibited dissociable deficits in reward anticipation and gain or loss feedback that are distinctly modulated by emotional contexts, and they deepen our understanding of the modulation of emotional contexts on the temporal dynamic reorganization of the reward circuit in MDD adolescents.

Time Course of the Neural Activity Related to Behavioral Decision-Making as Revealed by Event-Related Potentials

Objective: To study the time course of the electrocortical activity evoked by gains and losses in the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), the brain sources of this electrical activity, and its association with behavioral parameters of task performance in order to achieve a better knowledge of decision-making processes.

Method: Event-related potentials (ERPs) were obtained from a 64-channel EEG in 25 participants when performing the IGT. Brain source localization analyses of the ERP components were also assessed.

Results: ERP amplitudes were sensitive to gains and losses. An early fronto-central negativity was elicited when feedback was provided for both gains and losses, and correlated with the number of gains at FCz and with the number of both gains and losses at Cz. The P200 component had larger amplitudes to losses and correlated positively with the number of losses. Feedback related negativity (FRN) was higher at frontal, temporal and occipital electrodes in trials with monetary losses. In addition, trials with monetary losses elicited larger P300 magnitudes than trials with monetary gains at all electrode localizations.

Conclusions: All ERP components (except P300) were related to participants’ performance in the IGT. Amplitudes of P200 and P300 were associated with the conscious recognition of the error during the decision-making. Performance data and source analysis underline the importance of the medial prefrontal cortex when processing feedback about monetary losses in the IGT.

Money for me and money for friend: An ERP study of social reward processing in adolescents and adults

Peer relations during adolescence contribute significantly to the development of socio-cognitive skills and pro-sociality. The current study probed the characteristics of adolescent socio-cognitive processing through a card game where they earn money for self and friend. We investigated the choice preference and temporal dynamics of information processing by measuring ERP responses to wins or losses (valence) directed toward self and friend (recipient). Choice data showed that despite adults and adolescents earning equivalent amounts across recipients combined, adults won significantly more for self than a friend; no such difference was found in adolescents. The ERPs in response to choice outcomes showed that the valence information was processed earlier (at P2) in adults, while it was processed later (at P3) in adolescents. Furthermore, a strong effect of recipient was present in adults later in the time course (at P3), while such an effect was weak in adolescents; if any, adolescents showed sensitivity to recipient information earlier at P2. These ERP data suggest a relatively equal allocation of the P3-mediated attentional process to both self and friend's outcomes in adolescents, which parallels the choice behavior. Collectively our results characterize adolescent pro-sociality toward friends, reflecting the importance of peer relationship during this unique developmental period.

Subjective preferences differentially modulate the processing of rewards gained by own vs. observed choices

The present EEG study investigated the impact of subjective reward preferences and agency on outcome processing. 47 healthy adults (11 male; 36 female) with preferences for either milk or white chocolate completed two runs of a gambling task involving their preferred chocolate (high preference outcomes, HPOs), non-preferred chocolate (medium preference outcomes, MPOs), and a lesser liked non-chocolate reward (low preference outcomes, LPOs). In the 'active' run, subjects chose between three different response options to receive the outcomes. In the 'observational' run, they observed another person's choices and subsequent outcomes. Cluster-based permutation analyses of event-related potential (ERPs) revealed that early processing in the P2 time window reflected outcome salience, differentiating HPOs and MPOs from LPOs, especially for outcomes following own choices, while not distinguishing between HPOs and MPOs. In contrast, processing in later stages, i.e., the typical time windows for feedback-related negativity (FRN) and P300, showed evidence of differential coding of HPOs and MPOs and was also modulated by agency. ERPs clearly differentiated between all three outcome types in the FRN and P300 time windows for outcomes following active but not for observed choices. The present study adds to evidence for modulation of outcome processing by contextual and inter-individual factors. In particular, our findings suggest that subjective preferences are complementarily represented in subjective reward valuation and in motivational value representations indexed by the FRN and the P300.

Contextual valence modulates the effect of choice on incentive processing

Previous research has demonstrated that reward-related neural activity is enhanced for choice relative to no-choice opportunities in the gain context. The current event-related potential study examined whether this modulatory effect of choice can be observed in both the gain and the loss contexts across anticipatory and consummatory phases of incentive processing. Thirty-two participants performed a simple choice task during which choices were made either by themselves (a choice condition) or by a computer (a no-choice condition) during a gain context (gain vs nongain) and a loss context (nonloss vs loss). Behaviorally, participants reported a higher level of perceived control in the choice than the no-choice condition as well as in the gain than loss context. During the anticipatory phase, the choice relative to the no-choice condition elicited an increased cue-P3 in the loss context and an enhanced stimulus-preceding negativity in the gain context. During the consummatory phase, the choice condition elicited a larger reward positivity (ΔRewP) than the no-choice condition in the gain relative to the loss context but a comparable feedback P3 across contexts. These findings demonstrate that the crucial role of voluntary choice in reward processing is contingent upon contextual valence.

Incidental positive emotion modulates neural response to outcome valence in a monetarily rewarded gambling task

Choices are influenced by incidental emotions. To understand the neural mechanisms underlying the potential effects of incidental emotions on outcome processing, we conducted two experiments measuring feedback-related negativity (FRN) as a function of outcome (gain and loss) and emotional context. Experiment 1 used happy, neutral, and sad faces. Experiment 2 used pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant emotional scenes. We expected that incidental emotions would influence outcome processing at the behavioral level in line with the cognitive themes associated with each emotion. At a neural level, the effect of emotion based on outcome was expected in FRN. Participants chose one of two gambles presented on either side of an emotional face (Experiment 1) or on the scene (Experiment 2), and were later shown the outcome. Behaviorally, both the experiments showed emotion specific carryover effects on outcome experience in line with the cognitive appraisal tendencies associated with specific emotions. In both experiments, mean amplitude of FRN measured related to the outcome at Fz and FCz showed a significant effect of outcome with larger amplitude for loss compared to gain. The interaction between emotion and outcome was significant at FCz in Experiment 1 and at FPz in Experiment 2. The amplitude difference between loss and gain was larger for positive emotional context compared to neutral and negative emotional contexts, indicating a dopaminergic basis moderating the emotion-outcome processing interaction.

Electrophysiological correlates of prediction formation in anticipation of reward- and punishment-related feedback signals

Feedback processing during decision making involves comparing anticipated and actual outcome. Although effects on ERPs of valence, magnitude, expectancy, and context during feedback processing have been extensively investigated, the electrophysiological processes underlying prediction formation in anticipation of feedback signals have received little attention. The aim of the present study was to explore these processes of prediction formation and their influence on subsequent feedback signals. Twenty healthy, right‐handed volunteers performed a forced‐choice task in which they had to indicate which of two presented objects was more expensive. After the volunteer's choice, an expert cue, which was accurate in 80% of trials, was presented to manipulate prediction formation about future reward and punishment. ERPs were recorded during presentation of the expert cue and during feedback. Results revealed that prediction formation of future rewards and punishments is accompanied by differences in the P2 component and a subsequent delay period. During feedback processing, the prediction‐related P2 was associated with the processing of valence reflected in the feedback‐related P2. Furthermore, the prediction‐related difference in the delay period was associated with error processing in feedback‐related medial frontal negativity. These findings suggest that prediction signals prior to feedback contain information about whether a prediction is correct or wrong (expectancy) and if the outcome will be a reward or punishment (valence).

During feedback processing, a prediction of future outcome is affected by contextual information. Here, we show that electrocortical signals related to future outcome following contextual information inversely predict reward signals during feedback processing. Additionally, signal differences after presentation of contextual information relate to future signal differences reflecting prediction error during feedback processing.

No Money, No Problem: Enhanced Reward Positivity in the Absence of Monetary Reward

The reward-related positivity (RewP) is an event-related potential (ERP) with a positive amplitude occurring approximately 250–350 ms post-feedback at frontocentral electroencephalogram (EEG) electrode sites. The RewP is typically elicited in monetary gambling tasks and has a relatively larger amplitude for positive vs. negative outcomes. However, the extent to which RewP amplitude is modulated by non-monetary feedback is less clear. To address this issue, EEG was used to record reward-related electrocortical activity during a simple non-monetary gambling task. We hypothesized that the RewP would be enhanced for non-monetary wins relative to losses, which was supported by the results. In our supplementary material, we provide additional analyses suggesting that this effect was not observed for the P3. In sum, RewP amplitudes were larger for positive (nonmonetary) feedback relative to negative feedback at frontocentral electrode sites—suggesting that monetary reward is not necessary to elicit the RewP.

Electrical Brain Responses Reveal Sequential Constraints on Planning during Music Performance

Elements in speech and music unfold sequentially over time. To produce sentences and melodies quickly and accurately, individuals must plan upcoming sequence events, as well as monitor outcomes via auditory feedback. We investigated the neural correlates of sequential planning and monitoring processes by manipulating auditory feedback during music performance. Pianists performed isochronous melodies from memory at an initially cued rate while their electroencephalogram was recorded. Pitch feedback was occasionally altered to match either an immediately upcoming Near-Future pitch (next sequence event) or a more distant Far-Future pitch (two events ahead of the current event). Near-Future, but not Far-Future altered feedback perturbed the timing of pianists' performances, suggesting greater interference of Near-Future sequential events with current planning processes. Near-Future feedback triggered a greater reduction in auditory sensory suppression (enhanced response) than Far-Future feedback, reflected in the P2 component elicited by the pitch event following the unexpected pitch change. Greater timing perturbations were associated with enhanced cortical sensory processing of the pitch event following the Near-Future altered feedback. Both types of feedback alterations elicited feedback-related negativity (FRN) and P3a potentials and amplified spectral power in the theta frequency range. These findings suggest similar constraints on producers' sequential planning to those reported in speech production.

Prefrontal cortex development and emergence of self-regulatory competence: the two cardinal features of adolescence disrupted in context of alcohol abuse

Adolescence is a tumultuous period in the lifetime of an individual confronted to major changes in emotional, social and cognitive appraisal. During this period of questioning and doubt, while the executive functions are still maturing, the abstract reasoning remains vague and the response inhibition loose; ultimately the adolescent scarcely resists temptation. Consequently, adolescence is often associated with uninhibited risk-taking, reckless behaviours, among which are alcohol and illicit drugs use. Here, we discuss how the development of the prefrontal cortex (which critically contributes to rational decision-making and temporal processing of complex events) can be associated with the idiosyncratic adolescent behaviour, and potentially uncontrolled alcohol use. Most importantly, we present clinical and preclinical evidence supporting that ethanol exposure has deleterious effects on the adolescent developing brain. Ultimately, we discuss why a late maturing prefrontal cortex represents a ripe candidate to environmental influences that contribute to shape the adolescent brain but, potentially, can also trigger lifelong maladaptive responses, including increased vulnerability to develop substance use disorder later in life.

Gambling on Smartphones: A Study of a Potentially Addictive Behaviour in a Naturalistic Setting

Smartphone users engage extensively with their devices, on an intermittent basis for short periods of time. These patterns of behaviour have the potential to make mobile gambling especially perseverative. This paper reports the first empirical study of mobile gambling in which a simulated gambling app was used to measure gambling behaviour in phases of acquisition and extinction. We found that participants showed considerable perseverance in the face of continued losses that were linearly related to their prior engagement with the app. Latencies between gambles were associated with the magnitude of reinforcement; more positive outcomes were associated with longer breaks between play and a greater propensity to end a gambling session. Greater latencies were associated with measurements of problem gambling, and perseverance with gambling-related cognitions and sensation-seeking behaviour.

Different Electrophysiological Responses to Informative Value of Feedback Between Children and Adults

The ability to learn from feedback is important for children's adaptive behavior and school learning. Feedback has two main components, informative value and valence. How to disentangle these two components and what is the developmental neural correlates of using the informative value of feedback is still an open question. In this study, 23 children (7-10 years old) and 19 adults (19-22 years old) were asked to perform a rule induction task, in which they were required to find a rule, based on the informative value of feedback. Behavioral results indicated that the likelihood of correct searching behavior under negative feedback was low for children. Event-related potentials showed that (1) the effect of valence was processed in a wide time window, particularly in the N2 component; (2) the encoding process of the informative value of negative feedback began later for children than for adults; (3) a clear P300 was observed for adults; for children, however, P300 was absent in the frontal region; and (4) children processed the informative value of feedback chiefly in the left sites during the P300 time window, whereas adults did not show this laterality. These results suggested that children were less sensitive to the informative value of negative feedback possibly because of the immature brain.

Electrophysiological Response to the Informative Value of Feedback Revealed in a Segmented Wisconsin Card Sorting Test

Feedback has two main components. One is valence that indicates the wrong or correct behavior, and the other is the informative value that refers to what we can learn from feedback. Aimed to explore the neural distinction of these two components, we provided participants with a segmented Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, in which they received either positive or negative feedback at different steps. The informative value was manipulated in terms of the order of feedback presentation. The results of event-related potentials time-locked to the feedback presentation confirmed that valence of feedback was processed in a broad epoch, especially in the time window of feedback-related negativity (FRN), reflecting detection of correct or wrong card sorting behavior. In contrast, the informative value of positive and negative feedback was mainly processed in the P300, possibly reflecting information updating or hypothesis revision. These findings provide new evidence that informative values of feedback are processed by cognitive systems that differ from those of feedback valence.

Medial frontal cortex response to unexpected motivationally salient outcomes

The medial frontal cortex (MFC) plays a central role allocating resources to process salient information, in part by responding to prediction errors. While there is some recent debate, the feedback-related negativity (FRN) is thought to index a reward prediction error by signaling outcomes that are worse than expected. A recent study utilizing electric shock provided data inconsistent with these accounts and reported that the omission of both appetitive (money) and aversive outcomes (electric shocks) elicited a medial frontal negativity. These data suggest that the ERPs within this time range support a salience prediction error that responds to unexpected events regardless of valence. To compare the reward and salience prediction error models, we employed a design that delivered both appetitive (monetary) and aversive (noise burst) outcomes. Participants completed a passive S1/S2 prediction design where S1 predicted S2 with 80% accuracy and S2 predicted the outcome with 100% accuracy. We compared both earlier and later ERP responses over the medial frontal cortex to compare the salience and reward prediction hypotheses. Considering both time windows, the ERP response to S2 in the early time window was most positive when S2 signaled that an outcome was unexpectedly delivered and in the later time window, was most negative when an outcome was unexpectedly withheld, regardless of outcome valence. Thus, these results are more consistent with a salience prediction error rather than a reward prediction error.

The Feedback-Related Negativity and the P300 Brain Potential Are Sensitive to Price Expectation Violations in a Virtual Shopping Task

A large body of evidence shows that buying behaviour is strongly determined by consumers' price expectations and the extent to which real prices violate these expectations. Despite the importance of this phenomenon, little is known regarding its neural mechanisms. Here we show that two patterns of electrical brain activity known to index prediction errors-the Feedback-Related Negativity (FRN) and the feedback-related P300 -were sensitive to price offers that were cheaper than participants' expectations. In addition, we also found that FRN amplitude time-locked to price offers predicted whether a product would be subsequently purchased or not, and further analyses suggest that this result was driven by the sensitivity of the FRN to positive price expectation violations. This finding strongly suggests that ensembles of neurons coding positive prediction errors play a critical role in real-life consumer behaviour. Further, these findings indicate that theoretical models based on the notion of prediction error, such as the Reinforcement Learning Theory, can provide a neurobiologically grounded account of consumer behavior.

Neural markers of social and monetary rewards in children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder

Recent theories of decision making propose a shared value-related brain mechanism for encoding monetary and social rewards. We tested this model in children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and control children. We monitored participants’ brain dynamics using high density-electroencephalography while they played a monetary and social reward tasks. Control children exhibited a feedback Error-Related Negativity (fERN) modulation and Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) source activation during both tasks. Remarkably, although cooperation resulted in greater losses for the participants, the betrayal options generated greater fERN responses. ADHD subjects exhibited an absence of fERN modulation and reduced ACC activation during both tasks. ASD subjects exhibited normal fERN modulation during monetary choices and inverted fERN/ACC responses in social options than did controls. These results suggest that in neurotypicals, monetary losses and observed disloyal social decisions induced similar activity in the brain value system. In ADHD children, difficulties in reward processing affected early brain signatures of monetary and social decisions. Conversely, ASD children showed intact neural markers of value-related monetary mechanisms, but no brain modulation by prosociality in the social task. These results offer insight into the typical and atypical developments of neural correlates of monetary and social reward processing.

Altruistic traits are predicted by neural responses to monetary outcomes for self vs charity

Human altruism is often expressed through charitable donation-supporting a cause that benefits others in society, at cost to oneself. The underlying mechanisms of this other-regarding behavior remain imperfectly understood. By recording event-related-potential (ERP) measures of brain activity from human participants during a social gambling task, we identified markers of differential responses to receipt of monetary outcomes for oneself vs for a charitable cause. We focused our ERP analyses on the frontocentral feedback-related negativity (FRN) and three subcomponents of the attention-related P300 (P3) brain wave: the frontocentral P2 and P3a and the parietal P3b. The FRN distinguished between gains and losses for both self and charity outcomes. Importantly, this effect of outcome valence was greater for self than charity for both groups and was independent of two altruism-related measures: participants' pre-declared intended donations and the actual donations resulting from their choices. In contrast, differences in P3 subcomponents for outcomes for self vs charity strongly predicted both of our laboratory measures of altruism-as well as self-reported engagement in real-life altruistic behaviors. These results indicate that individual differences in altruism are linked to individual differences in the relative deployment of attention (as indexed by the P3) toward outcomes affecting other people.

Cortical Brain Activity Reflecting Attentional Biasing Toward Reward-Predicting Cues Covaries with Economic Decision-Making Performance

Adaptive choice behavior depends critically on identifying and learning from outcome-predicting cues. We hypothesized that attention may be preferentially directed toward certain outcome-predicting cues. We studied this possibility by analyzing event-related potential (ERP) responses in humans during a probabilistic decision-making task. Participants viewed pairs of outcome-predicting visual cues and then chose to wager either a small (i.e., loss-minimizing) or large (i.e., gain-maximizing) amount of money. The cues were bilaterally presented, which allowed us to extract the relative neural responses to each cue by using a contralateral-versus-ipsilateral ERP contrast. We found an early lateralized ERP response, whose features matched the attention-shift-related N2pc component and whose amplitude scaled with the learned reward-predicting value of the cues as predicted by an attention-for-reward model. Consistently, we found a double dissociation involving the N2pc. Across participants, gain-maximization positively correlated with the N2pc amplitude to the most reliable gain-predicting cue, suggesting an attentional bias toward such cues. Conversely, loss-minimization was negatively correlated with the N2pc amplitude to the most reliable loss-predicting cue, suggesting an attentional avoidance toward such stimuli. These results indicate that learned stimulus-reward associations can influence rapid attention allocation, and that differences in this process are associated with individual differences in economic decision-making performance.

Randomised prior feedback modulates neural signals of outcome monitoring

Substantial evidence indicates that decision outcomes are typically evaluated relative to expectations learned from relatively long sequences of previous outcomes. This mechanism is thought to play a key role in general learning and adaptation processes but relatively little is known about the determinants of outcome evaluation when the capacity to learn from series of prior events is difficult or impossible. To investigate this issue, we examined how the feedback-related negativity (FRN) is modulated by information briefly presented before outcome evaluation. The FRN is a brain potential time-locked to the delivery of decision feedback and it is widely thought to be sensitive to prior expectations. We conducted a multi-trial gambling task in which outcomes at each trial were fully randomised to minimise the capacity to learn from long sequences of prior outcomes. Event-related potentials for outcomes (Win/Loss) in the current trial (Outcome_t) were separated according to the type of outcomes that occurred in the preceding two trials (Outcome_t-1 and Outcome_t-2). We found that FRN voltage was more positive during the processing of win feedback when it was preceded by wins at Outcome_t-1 compared to win feedback preceded by losses at Outcome_t-1. However, no influence of preceding outcomes was found on FRN activity relative to the processing of loss feedback. We also found no effects of Outcome_t-2 on FRN amplitude relative to current feedback. Additional analyses indicated that this effect was largest for trials in which participants selected a decision different to the gamble chosen in the previous trial. These findings are inconsistent with models that solely relate the FRN to prediction error computation. Instead, our results suggest that if stable predictions about future events are weak or non-existent, then outcome processing can be determined by affective systems. More specifically, our results indicate that the FRN is likely to reflect the activity of positive affective systems in these contexts. Importantly, our findings indicate that a multifactorial explanation of the nature of the FRN is necessary and such an account must incorporate affective and motivational factors in outcome processing.

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FRN is sensitive to prior events but does this persist when learning is impossible?

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Four FRN theories were examined in a task with fully randomised feedback.

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Previous trial outcome modulated FRN during positive but not negative outcomes.

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Results consistent with a positive affective modulation interpretation of the FRN.

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FRN is determined by factors beyond prediction error (e.g. affective/motivational).

Event-related EEG responses to anticipation and delivery of monetary and social reward

Monetary and a social incentive delay tasks were used to characterize reward anticipation and delivery with electroencephalography. During reward anticipation, N1, P2 and P3 components were modulated by both prospective reward value and incentive type (monetary or social), suggesting distinctive allocation of attentional and motivational resources depending not only on whether rewards or non-rewards were cued, but also on the monetary and social nature of the prospective outcomes. In the delivery phase, P2, FRN and P3 components were also modulated by levels of reward value and incentive type, illustrating how distinctive affective and cognitive processes were attached to the different outcomes. Our findings imply that neural processing of both reward anticipation and delivery can be specific to incentive type, which might have implications for basic as well as translational research. These results are discussed in the light of previous electrophysiological and neuroimaging work using similar tasks.