Monetary Anticipation Research Articles

A Meta-Analysis of Neural Correlates of Reward Anticipation in Individuals at Clinical Risk for Schizophrenia.

Aberrant striatal responses to reward anticipation have been observed in schizophrenia. However, it is unclear whether these dysfunctions predate the onset of psychosis, and whether reward anticipation is impaired in individuals at clinical high risk for schizophrenia (CHR). To examine the neural correlates of monetary anticipation in the prodromal phase of schizophrenia, we performed a whole-brain meta-analysis of thirteen functional neuroimaging studies that compared reward anticipation signals between CHR individuals and healthy controls (HC). Three databases (PubMed, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect) were systematically searched from 1 January 2000 to 1 May 2022. Thirteen whole-brain functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies including 318 CHR subjects and 426 HC were identified through comprehensive literature searches. Relative to HC, CHR subjects showed increased brain responses in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and decreased activation in the mesolimbic circuit, including the putamen, parahippocampal gyrus, insula, cerebellum, and supramarginal gyrus, during reward anticipation. Our findings in the CHR group confirmed the existence of abnormal motivational-related activation during reward anticipation, thus demonstrating the pathophysiological characteristics of the risk populations. These results have the potential to lead to the early identification and more accurate prediction of subsequent psychosis, as well as a deeper understanding of the neurobiology of high-risk state of psychotic disorder.

A meta-analysis of the neural substrates of monetary reward anticipation and outcome in alcohol use disorder.

The capacity to anticipate and detect rewarding outcomes is fundamental for the development of adaptive decision-making and goal-oriented behavior. Delineating the neural correlates of different stages of reward processing is imperative for understanding the neurobiological mechanism underlying alcohol use disorder (AUD). To examine the neural correlates of monetary anticipation and outcome in AUD patients, we performed two separate voxel-wise meta-analyses of functional neuroimaging studies, including 12 studies investigating reward anticipation and 7 studies investigating reward outcome using the monetary incentive delay task. During the anticipation stage, AUD patients displayed decreased activation in response to monetary cues in mesocortical-limbic circuits and sensory areas, including the ventral striatum (VS), insula, hippocampus, inferior occipital gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, lingual gyrus and fusiform gyrus. During the outcome stage, AUD patients exhibited reduced activation in the dorsal striatum, VS and insula, and increased activation in the orbital frontal cortex and medial temporal area. Our findings suggest that different activation patterns are associated with nondrug rewards during different reward processing stages, potentially reflecting a changed sensitivity to monetary reward in AUD.

Neurofunctional mapping of reward anticipation and outcome for major depressive disorder: a voxel-based meta-analysis.

Aberrations in how people form expectations about rewards and how they respond to receiving rewards are thought to underlie major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the underlying mechanism linking the appetitive reward system, specifically anticipation and outcome, is still not fully understood. To examine the neural correlates of monetary anticipation and outcome in currently depressed subjects with MDD, we performed two separate voxel-wise meta-analyses of functional neuroimaging studies using the monetary incentive delay task. During reward anticipation, the depressed patients exhibited an increased response in the bilateral middle cingulate cortex (MCC) extending to the anterior cingulate cortex, the medial prefrontal cortex, the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and the postcentral gyrus, but a reduced response in the mesolimbic circuit, including the left striatum, insula, amygdala, right cerebellum, striatum, and IFG, compared to controls. During the outcome stage, MDD showed higher activity in the left inferior temporal gyrus, and lower activity in the mesocortical pathway, including the bilateral MCC, left caudate nucleus, precentral gyrus, thalamus, cerebellum, right striatum, insula, IFG, middle frontal gyrus, and temporal pole. Our findings suggest that cMDD may be characterised by state-dependent hyper-responsivity in cortical regions during the anticipation phase, and hypo-responsivity of the mesocortico-limbic circuit across the two phases of the reward response. Our study showed dissociable neural circuit responses to monetary stimuli during reward anticipation and outcome, which help to understand the dysfunction in different aspects of reward processing, particularly motivational v. hedonic deficits in depression.

Altered prefrontal correlates of monetary anticipation and outcome in chronic pain.

Chronic pain may alter both affect- and value-related behaviors, which represents a potentially treatable aspect of chronic pain experience. Current understanding of how chronic pain influences the function of brain reward systems, however, is limited. Using a monetary incentive delay task and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we measured neural correlates of reward anticipation and outcomes in female participants with the chronic pain condition of fibromyalgia (N = 17) and age-matched, pain-free, female controls (N = 15). We hypothesized that patients would demonstrate lower positive arousal, as well as altered reward anticipation and outcome activity within corticostriatal circuits implicated in reward processing. Patients demonstrated lower arousal ratings as compared with controls, but no group differences were observed for valence, positive arousal, or negative arousal ratings. Group fMRI analyses were conducted to determine predetermined region of interest, nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), responses to potential gains, potential losses, reward outcomes, and punishment outcomes. Compared with controls, patients demonstrated similar, although slightly reduced, NAcc activity during gain anticipation. Conversely, patients demonstrated dramatically reduced mPFC activity during gain anticipation-possibly related to lower estimated reward probabilities. Further, patients demonstrated normal mPFC activity to reward outcomes, but dramatically heightened mPFC activity to no-loss (nonpunishment) outcomes. In parallel to NAcc and mPFC responses, patients demonstrated slightly reduced activity during reward anticipation in other brain regions, which included the ventral tegmental area, anterior cingulate cortex, and anterior insular cortex. Together, these results implicate altered corticostriatal processing of monetary rewards in chronic pain.

Differential heart rate responses to social and monetary reinforcement in women with obesity.

Obesity is often accompanied by weight stigmatization; subsequently, individuals with obesity frequently face social rejection. It has been shown that recurrent negative social experiences can alter the perception of social cues. However, the way individuals with obesity process social stimuli is not well understood. This study aims to investigate obesity-related alterations in social compared to nonsocial information processing. Women with obesity (n = 14) and without obesity (n = 14) participated in a social and a monetary incentive delay task in which they anticipated and received positive, negative, and neutral outcomes in the form of faces or money. During the experiment, phasic heart rate changes and reaction times were measured. Women with obesity, compared to lean women, exhibited a stronger differentiation during the anticipation of monetary and social reinforcement, showing slower reaction times to social cues compared to monetary cues. During the outcome processing phase, women with obesity relative to controls demonstrated diminished heart rate responses particularly to negative social outcomes. Interestingly, differences in cardiac responses in participants with obesity were moderated by weight-related teasing experiences. In women with obesity, a higher BMI was associated with blunted cardiac responses to social cues relative to monetary cues only if they reported more emotional pain after weight-related teasing. Our results contribute to a better understanding of social information processing in obesity and give first evidence for the role of negative social experiences in reinforcement processing.

Interaction between COMT Val158Met polymorphism and childhood adversity affects reward processing in adulthood

BackgroundAccumulating evidence suggests that altered dopamine transmission may increase the risk of mental disorders such as ADHD, schizophrenia or depression, possibly mediated by reward system dysfunction. This study aimed to clarify the impact of the COMT Val158Met polymorphism in interaction with environmental variation (G×E) on neuronal activity during reward processing. Methods168 healthy young adults from a prospective study conducted over 25years participated in a monetary incentive delay task measured with simultaneous EEG-fMRI. DNA was genotyped for COMT, and childhood family adversity (CFA) up to age 11 was assessed by a standardized parent interview. ResultsAt reward delivery, a G×E revealed that fMRI activation for win vs. no-win trials in reward-related regions increased with the level of CFA in Met homozygotes as compared to Val/Met heterozygotes and Val homozygotes, who showed no significant effect. During the anticipation of monetary vs. verbal rewards, activation decreased with the level of CFA, which was also observed for EEG, in which the CNV declined with the level of CFA. ConclusionsThese results identify convergent genetic and environmental effects on reward processing in a prospective study. Moreover, G×E effects during reward delivery suggest that stress during childhood is associated with higher reward sensitivity and reduced efficiency in processing rewarding stimuli in genetically at-risk individuals. Together with previous evidence, these results begin to define a specific system mediating interacting effects of early environmental and genetic risk factors, which may be targeted by early intervention and prevention.

The neural correlates of reward-related processing in major depressive disorder: A meta-analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies

BackgroundA growing number of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have been conducted in major depressive disorder (MDD) to elucidate reward-related brain functions. The aim of this meta-analysis was to examine the common reward network in the MDD brain and to further distinguish the brain activation patterns between positive stimuli and monetary rewards as well as reward anticipation and outcome. MethodsA series of activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analyses were performed across 22 fMRI studies that examined reward-related processing, with a total of 341 MDD patients and 367 healthy controls. ResultsWe observed several frontostriatal regions that participated in reward processing in MDD. The common reward network in MDD was characterized by decreased subcortical and limbic areas activity and an increased cortical response. In addition, the cerebellum, lingual gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus and fusiform gyrus preferentially responded to positive stimuli in MDD, while the insula, precuneus, cuneus, PFC and inferior parietal lobule selectively responded to monetary rewards. Our results indicated a reduced caudate response during both monetary anticipation and outcome stages as well as increased activation in the middle frontal gyrus and dorsal anterior cingulate during reward anticipation in MDD. LimitationsThe reward-related tasks and mood states of patients included in our analysis were heterogeneous. ConclusionsOur current findings suggest that there exist emotional or motivational pathway dysfunctions in MDD during reward-related processing. Future studies may be strengthened by paying careful attention to the types of reward used as well as the different components of reward processing examined.

Differential patterns of nucleus accumbens activation during anticipation of monetary and social reward in young and older adults.

Recent studies have reported inconsistent results regarding the loss of reward sensitivity in the aging brain. Although such an age effect might be due to a decline of physiological processes, it may also be a consequence of age-related changes in motivational preference for different rewards. Here, we examined whether the age effects on neural correlates of reward anticipation are modulated by the type of expected reward. Functional magnetic resonance images were acquired in 24 older (60-78 years) and 24 young participants (20-28 years) while they performed an incentive delay task offering monetary or social rewards. Anticipation of either reward type recruited brain structures associated with reward, including the nucleus accumbens (NAcc). Region of interest analysis revealed an interaction effect of reward type and age group in the right NAcc: enhanced activation to cues of social reward was detected in the older subsample while enhanced activation to cues of monetary reward was detected in the younger subsample. Our results suggest that neural sensitivity to reward-predicting cues does not generally decrease with age. Rather, neural responses in the NAcc appear to be modulated by the type of reward, presumably reflecting age-related changes in motivational value attributed to different types of reward.

Reward Circuitry Function in Autism During Face Anticipation and Outcomes

The aim of this study was to investigate reward circuitry responses in autism during reward anticipation and outcomes for monetary and social rewards. During monetary anticipation, participants with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) showed hypoactivation in right nucleus accumbens and hyperactivation in right hippocampus, whereas during monetary outcomes, participants with ASDs showed hyperactivation in left midfrontal and anterior cingulate gyrus. Groups did not differ in nucleus accumbens responses to faces. The ASD group demonstrated hyperactivation in bilateral amygdala during face anticipation that predicted social symptom severity and in bilateral insular cortex during face outcomes. These results add to the growing body of evidence that autism is characterized by altered functioning of reward circuitry. Additionally, atypical amygdala activation during the processing of social rewards may contribute to the development or expression of autistic features.

Reward circuitry function in autism spectrum disorders

Social interaction deficits and restricted repetitive behaviors and interests that characterize autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) may both reflect aberrant functioning of brain reward circuits. However, no neuroimaging study to date has investigated the integrity of reward circuits using an incentive delay paradigm in individuals with ASDs. In the present study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess blood-oxygen level-dependent activation during reward anticipation and outcomes in 15 participants with an ASD and 16 matched control participants. Brain activation was assessed during anticipation of and in response to monetary incentives and object image incentives previously shown to be visually salient for individuals with ASDs (e.g., trains, electronics). Participants with ASDs showed decreased nucleus accumbens activation during monetary anticipation and outcomes, but not during object anticipation or outcomes. Group × reward-type-interaction tests revealed robust interaction effects in bilateral nucleus accumbens during reward anticipation and in ventromedial prefrontal cortex during reward outcomes, indicating differential responses contingent on reward type in these regions. Results suggest that ASDs are characterized by reward-circuitry hypoactivation in response to monetary incentives but not in response to autism-relevant object images. The clinical implications of the double dissociation of reward type and temporal phase in reward circuitry function in ASD are discussed.

Anticipation of monetary and social reward differently activates mesolimbic brain structures in men and women.

Motivation for goal-directed behaviour largely depends on the expected value of the anticipated reward. The aim of the present study was to examine how different levels of reward value are coded in the brain for two common forms of human reward: money and social approval. To account for gender differences 16 male and 16 female participants performed an incentive delay task expecting to win either money or positive social feedback. fMRI recording during the anticipation phase revealed proportional activation of neural structures constituting the human reward system for increasing levels of reward, independent of incentive type. However, in men activation in the prospect of monetary rewards encompassed a wide network of mesolimbic brain regions compared to only limited activation for social rewards. In contrast, in women, anticipation of either incentive type activated identical brain regions. Our findings represent an important step towards a better understanding of motivated behaviour by taking into account individual differences in reward valuation.

Monetary anticipations and the demand for money: Further tests of shock-absorber price equations

This paper provides further evidence on the Carr-Darby-Thornton (CDT) “shock absorber” approach in which a conventional demand-for-money function, augmented with unanticipated money supply shocks, is characterized as a price equation. The parameter restrictions implied by this model are jointly tested using New Zealand data. Unlike previous studies, the approach adopted does not require the “price” equation to be a true reduced form. The sensitivity of the test results to the assumption of exogeneity of income and interest rates is examined. The results obtained strongly reject the restrictions embodied in the CDT approach.

Monetary Anticipations and the Demand for Money in the U. S.: Further Results

A flourishing debate has arisen in the literature concerning both the interpretation of the original Carr-Darby [1] (C-D) shock-absorber approach to the for and the choice of an appropriate estimation technique for empirical tests of the hypothesis. The C-D hypothesis holds that unanticipated shocks to the supply are partially accommodated by a temporary increase in short-run real balances, whilst anticipated monetary movements are reflected in the current price level and so are neutral with respect to the level of real holdings. C-D test this proposition by generating monetary anticipations series (by fitting univariate ARIMA processes) which are then substituted into fairly standard, partial adjustment equations. Using this two-step technique they find empirical support for the hypothesis for a number of countries. Mackinnon and Milbourne [13] (M-M) argue that the C-D method may be subject to a simultaneity bias which can be corrected by an appropriate reparameterisation. They then produce empirical evidence, using their reparameterisation, which appears to overturn the C-D results, at least for U.S. data. In a rejoinder to M-M, Carr, Darby and Thornton [2] (C-D-T), argue that standard monetary economics and, indeed, the logic of the C-D hypothesis suggests that the stock should be taken as exogenous at the aggregate level and that the aggregate money demand equation is in fact a price equation. If this is the case then the variable appears on the left hand side of the aggregate money demand equation merely to impose price level homogeneity and, in particular, the augmented or shock absorber equation can be consistently estimated by ordinary least squares (OLS) (assuming the exogeneity of other regressors). We argue below that the hypothesis does not make sense unless is taken as exogenous.

Monetary Anticipations and the Demand for Money: An Application for the South Asian Region

While there are a number of issues in economics which are frequently scrutinized, the most important of them probably is the determination of a stable money demand function. Other issues in this regard relate to the choice between (i) broad vs. narrow definition of money; (ii) measured vs. permanent income; (iii) short-term vs. long-term interest rate; and (iv) inclusion of a variable for inflation or expected inflation. Quite recently, a new dimension has been added to the demand for money function. It is now argued that unanticipatory changes in the nominal money supply also affect the real demand for money. Darby (1972) has proposed that unanticipatory nominal money supply behaves as a shock-absorber in the money demand function. Initially, Laidler (1980) and then Carr and Darby (1981) formulated a shock-absorber model in which they have shown empirically that unanticipatory shocks in money supply positively affect the demand for money. Inclusion of this shock variable was justified by Darby (1972) on the ground that money balances serve as a buffer stock or shock-absorber which temporarily absorbs unexpected variations in income, especially the transitory income, until an adjustment is reached in adjusting the portfolio of securities and in consumer durable goods. The shock absorber model of Carr and Darby is based on the following two hypotheses:

Monetary anticipations and the demand for money: Some evidence for the U.K.

The role of money as a buffer stock has been widely debated in the recent literature. One strand of this hypothesis is the view that money supply shocks are temporarily held as additional money balances. This mechanism mitigates the degree of (interest rate) overshooting when conventional demand functions are inverted under the assumption of independent movement in the money supply. We used a structural time series model due to Harvey and Todd [1983] to generate a series for anticipated money. The advantages of this procedure are, firstly, that it implies forecasting behaviour on the part of economic agents which may be more plausible than that implied by the use of a more specific ARIMA model and, secondly, that problems of appropriate model selection are avoided. Using U.K. data on Ml and a stable money demand specification belonging to a widely used class of functions, we find support for the Carr-Darby hypothesis. That is, we find that unanticipated changes in the money supply are partially taken up in additional money balances, whereas expected changes do not influence real money balances. This finding has clear implications for the appropriate conduct of monetary policy.

Monetary anticipation and the demand for money in the U.K.: Testing rationality in the Shock‐Absorber hypothesis

AbstractThe Carr‐Darby shock‐absorber hypothesis that unanticipated changes in the money supply cause changes in real balances but anticipated changes have a unit impact on the price level (and therefore leave real balances unchanged) is tested using two‐step and joint estimation techniques. For the U.K., two‐step methods appear to support the shock‐absorber hypothesis, but the superior joint estimation technique decisively rejects the hypothesis, particularly the implicit rational expectations cross‐equation restrictions.

Monetary anticipations and the demand for money: Reply to MacKinnon and Milbourne

MacKinnon and Milbourne (1984), in an extended comment on Carr and Darby (1981), claim that money supply shocks do not enter the money demand function for the United States. This reply discusses the economic and econometric errors which led to this conclusion and presents further empirical evidence in support of our approach.

Monetary anticipations and the demand for money

It has recently been argued that unanticipated changes in nominal money supply should affect the real demand for money, and empirical results which appear to support this hypothesis have been presented. Unfortunately, the econometric techniques used by previous authors yield severel biased estimates. In this paper we show how valid estimates may easily be obtained, and present some illustrative empirical results using U.S. data. These results do not support the conclusions of earlier authors. We find that unanticipated money supply changes do indeed affect the real demand for money, but with the wrong sign, and that anticipated changes also have a significant effect.A consistency test for all models employing the anticipated-unanticipated distinction is also proposed.