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Dissociation of BOLD responses to reward prediction errors and reward receipt by a model comparison
Author(s) -
Rohe Tim,
Weber Bernd,
Fliessbach Klaus
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
european journal of neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.346
H-Index - 206
eISSN - 1460-9568
pISSN - 0953-816X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2012.08125.x
Subject(s) - orbitofrontal cortex , reward system , ventral striatum , anticipation (artificial intelligence) , psychology , brain stimulation reward , mean squared prediction error , neuroscience , striatum , cognitive psychology , reward dependence , prefrontal cortex , curiosity , nucleus accumbens , dopamine , cognition , computer science , social psychology , novelty seeking , artificial intelligence , machine learning , personality , temperament
The representation of reward anticipation and reward prediction errors is the basis for reward‐associated learning. The representation of whether or not a reward occurred (reward receipt) is important for decision making. Recent studies suggest that, while reward anticipation and reward prediction errors are encoded in the midbrain and the ventral striatum, reward receipts are encoded in the medial orbitofrontal cortex. In order to substantiate this functional specialization we analyzed data from an fMRI study in which 59 subjects completed two simple monetary reward paradigms. Because reward receipts and reward prediction errors were correlated, a statistical model comparison was applied separating the effects of the two. Reward prediction error fitted BOLD responses significantly better than reward receipt in the midbrain and the ventral striatum. Conversely, reward receipt fitted BOLD responses better in the orbitofrontal cortex. Activation related to reward anticipation was found in the orbitofrontal cortex. The results confirm a functional specialization of behaviorally important aspects of reward processing within the mesolimbic dopaminergic system.