Abstract
BackgroundThe processing of reward and punishment stimuli in humans appears to involve brain oscillatory activity of several frequencies, probably each with a distinct function. The exact nature of associations of these electrophysiological measures with impulsive or risk-seeking personality traits is not completely clear. Thus, the aim of the present study was to investigate event-related oscillatory activity during reward processing across a wide spectrum of frequencies, and its associations with impulsivity and sensation seeking in healthy subjects.MethodsDuring recording of a 32-channel EEG 22 healthy volunteers were characterized with the Barratt Impulsiveness and the Sensation Seeking Scale and performed a computerized two-choice gambling task comprising different feedback options with positive vs. negative valence (gain or loss) and high or low magnitude (5 vs. 25 points).ResultsWe observed greater increases of amplitudes of the feedback-related negativity and of activity in the theta, alpha and low-beta frequency range following loss feedback and, in contrast, greater increase of activity in the high-beta frequency range following gain feedback. Significant magnitude effects were observed for theta and delta oscillations, indicating greater amplitudes upon feedback concerning large stakes. The theta amplitude changes during loss were negatively correlated with motor impulsivity scores, whereas alpha and low-beta increase upon loss and high-beta increase upon gain were positively correlated with various dimensions of sensation seeking.ConclusionsThe findings suggest that the processing of feedback information involves several distinct processes, which are subserved by oscillations of different frequencies and are associated with different personality traits.
Highlights
The ability to evaluate the outcomes of one’s actions is of cardinal importance for learning and decision-making, and for developing adaptive behaviors
The latter belongs to the general family of medial frontal negativities (MFN), i.e. event-related potentials with a frontal scalp distribution elicited by error responses or feedback related therewith [7]
A feedback- (or outcome-) related negativity (FRN) with maximum peak at frontocentral sites and around 260 ms was observed in the grand averages of all conditions
Summary
The ability to evaluate the outcomes of one’s actions is of cardinal importance for learning and decision-making, and for developing adaptive behaviors This function is carried out by the reward network, which comprises several frontostriatal and midbrain areas [1,2,3]. Event-related potential studies investigating the processing of positive (reward) or negative (punishment) feedback in gambling tasks have identified a negative deflection that reaches its maximal amplitude 250 to 300 ms following negative feedback stimuli, the so-called feedback- (or outcome-) related negativity (FRN) [4,5,6]. The aim of the present study was to investigate event-related oscillatory activity during reward processing across a wide spectrum of frequencies, and its associations with impulsivity and sensation seeking in healthy subjects
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