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Lenglin V, Wong S, O'Callaghan C, Erzinçlioğlu S, Hornberger M, Lebouvier T, Piguet O, Bourgeois-Gironde S, Bertoux M. Zero the hero: Evidence for involvement of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex in affective bias for free items. Cortex 2023; 160:24-42. [PMID: 36680922 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.12.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2022] [Revised: 10/31/2022] [Accepted: 12/06/2022] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Recent evidence from psycho-economics shows that when the price of an item decreases to the extent that it becomes available for free, one can observe a remarkable increase of subjective utility toward this item. This phenomenon, which is not observed for any other price but zero, has been termed the zero-price effect (ZPE). The ZPE is attributed to an affective heuristic where the positive affect elicited by the free status of an item provides a mental shortcut biasing choice towards that item. Given that the ZPE relies on affective processing, a key role of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) has been proposed, yet neuroscientific studies of the ZPE remain scarce. This study aimed to explore the role of the vmPFC in the ZPE using a novel, within-subject assessment in participants with either an acquired (lesion patients) or degenerative (behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia patients) lesion of the vmPFC, and age-matched healthy controls. All participants were asked to make a series of choices between pairs of items that varied in price. One choice trial involved an equal decrease of both item prices, such that one of the items was priced zero. In contrast to controls, patients with both vmPFC-lesion and behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia showed marked reductions in zero-related changes of preference in pairs of gift-cards, but not for pairs of food items. Our findings suggest that affective evaluations driving the ZPE are altered in patients with focal or degenerative damage to the vmPFC. This supports the notion of a key role of the vmPFC in the ZPE and, more generally, the importance of this region in value-based affective decision-making. Our findings also highlight the potential utility of affective heuristic tasks in future clinical assessments.
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Affiliation(s)
- V Lenglin
- Lille Neuroscience & Cognition, Univ. Lille, Inserm, CHU Lille, LiCEND & DistALZ, Lille, France; ETHICS EA7446, Lille Catholic University, Lille, France
| | - S Wong
- The University of Sydney, School of Psychology and Brain & Mind Centre, Sydney, Australia; Flinders University, College of Education, Psychology & Social Work, Adelaide, Australia
| | - C O'Callaghan
- The University of Sydney, Brain & Mind Centre and School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney, Australia
| | - S Erzinçlioğlu
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge UK
| | - M Hornberger
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
| | - T Lebouvier
- Lille Neuroscience & Cognition, Univ. Lille, Inserm, CHU Lille, LiCEND & DistALZ, Lille, France
| | - O Piguet
- The University of Sydney, School of Psychology and Brain & Mind Centre, Sydney, Australia
| | - S Bourgeois-Gironde
- Department of Economics, Université Paris 2 - Panthéon-Assas, Paris, France; Institut Jean-Nicod, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, Paris, France.
| | - M Bertoux
- Lille Neuroscience & Cognition, Univ. Lille, Inserm, CHU Lille, LiCEND & DistALZ, Lille, France; Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
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Bertoux M, Duclos H, Caillaud M, Segobin S, Merck C, de La Sayette V, Belliard S, Desgranges B, Eustache F, Laisney M. When affect overlaps with concept: emotion recognition in semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia. Brain 2021; 143:3850-3864. [PMID: 33221846 PMCID: PMC7805810 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awaa313] [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: 06/02/2020] [Revised: 07/20/2020] [Accepted: 07/31/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The most recent theories of emotions have postulated that their expression and recognition depend on acquired conceptual knowledge. In other words, the conceptual knowledge derived from prior experiences guide our ability to make sense of such emotions. However, clear evidence is still lacking to contradict more traditional theories, considering emotions as innate, distinct and universal physiological states. In addition, whether valence processing (i.e. recognition of the pleasant/unpleasant character of emotions) also relies on semantic knowledge is yet to be determined. To investigate the contribution of semantic knowledge to facial emotion recognition and valence processing, we conducted a behavioural and neuroimaging study in 20 controls and 16 patients with the semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia, a neurodegenerative disease that is prototypical of semantic memory impairment, and in which an emotion recognition deficit has already been described. We assessed participants’ knowledge of emotion concepts and recognition of 10 basic (e.g. anger) or self-conscious (e.g. embarrassment) facial emotional expressions presented both statically (images) and dynamically (videos). All participants also underwent a brain MRI. Group comparisons revealed deficits in both emotion concept knowledge and emotion recognition in patients, independently of type of emotion and presentation. These measures were significantly correlated with each other in patients and with semantic fluency in patients and controls. Neuroimaging analyses showed that both emotion recognition and emotion conceptual knowledge were correlated with reduced grey matter density in similar areas within frontal ventral, temporal, insular and striatal regions, together with white fibre degeneration in tracts connecting frontal regions with each other as well as with temporal regions. We then performed a qualitative analysis of responses made during the facial emotion recognition task, by delineating valence errors (when one emotion was mistaken for another of a different valence), from other errors made during the emotion recognition test. We found that patients made more valence errors. The number of valence errors correlated with emotion conceptual knowledge as well as with reduced grey matter volume in brain regions already retrieved to correlate with this score. Specificity analyses allowed us to conclude that this cognitive relationship and anatomical overlap were not mediated by a general effect of disease severity. Our findings suggest that semantic knowledge guides the recognition of emotions and is also involved in valence processing. Our study supports a constructionist view of emotion recognition and valence processing, and could help to refine current theories on the interweaving of semantic knowledge and emotion processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maxime Bertoux
- Neuropsychology and Imaging of Human Memory research unit, Caen-Normandy University-PSL Research University-EPHE-INSERM-Caen University Hospital, UMRS1077, GIP Cyceron, Caen, France.,Univ. Lille, Inserm, CHU Lille, UMRS1172, Lille Neurosciences & Cognition Institute, F-59000 Lille, France
| | - Harmony Duclos
- Neuropsychology and Imaging of Human Memory research unit, Caen-Normandy University-PSL Research University-EPHE-INSERM-Caen University Hospital, UMRS1077, GIP Cyceron, Caen, France.,CRP-CPO, Picardy Jules Verne University, Amiens, France
| | - Marie Caillaud
- Neuropsychology and Imaging of Human Memory research unit, Caen-Normandy University-PSL Research University-EPHE-INSERM-Caen University Hospital, UMRS1077, GIP Cyceron, Caen, France
| | - Shailendra Segobin
- Neuropsychology and Imaging of Human Memory research unit, Caen-Normandy University-PSL Research University-EPHE-INSERM-Caen University Hospital, UMRS1077, GIP Cyceron, Caen, France
| | - Catherine Merck
- Neuropsychology and Imaging of Human Memory research unit, Caen-Normandy University-PSL Research University-EPHE-INSERM-Caen University Hospital, UMRS1077, GIP Cyceron, Caen, France.,Neurology Department, Pontchaillou University Hospital, Rennes, France
| | - Vincent de La Sayette
- Neuropsychology and Imaging of Human Memory research unit, Caen-Normandy University-PSL Research University-EPHE-INSERM-Caen University Hospital, UMRS1077, GIP Cyceron, Caen, France.,Neurology Department, Caen University Hospital, Caen, France
| | - Serge Belliard
- Neuropsychology and Imaging of Human Memory research unit, Caen-Normandy University-PSL Research University-EPHE-INSERM-Caen University Hospital, UMRS1077, GIP Cyceron, Caen, France.,Neurology Department, Pontchaillou University Hospital, Rennes, France
| | - Béatrice Desgranges
- Neuropsychology and Imaging of Human Memory research unit, Caen-Normandy University-PSL Research University-EPHE-INSERM-Caen University Hospital, UMRS1077, GIP Cyceron, Caen, France
| | - Francis Eustache
- Neuropsychology and Imaging of Human Memory research unit, Caen-Normandy University-PSL Research University-EPHE-INSERM-Caen University Hospital, UMRS1077, GIP Cyceron, Caen, France
| | - Mickaël Laisney
- Neuropsychology and Imaging of Human Memory research unit, Caen-Normandy University-PSL Research University-EPHE-INSERM-Caen University Hospital, UMRS1077, GIP Cyceron, Caen, France
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