DA AND DECISIONS · The role of dopamine and novelty in decision-making in humans: behavioral and neuroimaging studies
FP7 — People (Marie Curie Actions)
- Duration
- 2008-07-01 → 2010-06-30
- EU contribution
- €169,391
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MC-IEF
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Results in brief
The role of dopamine and novelty in decision-making in humans: behavioral and neuroimaging studies
Using fMRI, we showed for the first time that neural responses to rewarding stimuli in the striatum were enhanced in the context of novelty. Using MEG we discovered that neural correlates of reward anticipation emerge as a modulation of oscillatory activity over frontal sensors within 150 ms. Finally, contextual novelty enhanced the effects of reward anticipation on oscillatory activity. In a series of behavioural experiments we could show that after conditioning abstract stimuli to monetary wins or losses, the incidental presentation of these stimuli as contextual cues in an independent gamble task biased the participants’ decisions to choose between a gamble and a sure option. This contextual bias is analogous to the framing effect described in prospect theory of decision making, and suggests that the framing effect could be explained as arising from an influence of conditioned associations on goal directed decision making. Moreover, we conducted an fMRI study using the same task and found that activation of the amygdala was the brain correlate of the observed bias as has been described in previous fMRI experiments of the classical framing effect.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Decision-making involves evaluating the costs and benefits of available options for action. Many psychiatric disorders involve a disruption of decision-making processes. Application of concepts derived from instrumental learning theories, computational models, and fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Image) technology has allowed identification of key neuronal substrates of these processes. A key control influence is mediated by dopamine transmission, vie its modulatory influences on the striatum and prefrontal areas. Work using experimental animals has drawn an accurate picture of the neuronal mechanisms that regulate dopamine transmission including an important effect elicited by novelty. The objective of the project is to deepen in the understanding of the behavioral and neurological interrelationships of dopamine neurotransmission, novelty processing and decision-making in humans. To achieve this goal we will use computational models in conjunction with brain imaging technologies, specifically fMRI and MEG (Magnetoencephalograpy). In a first step, we will address the human brain’s response to different aspects of novelty and how this is mediated by dopamine. In a second step we will focus on the effect of different kinds of novelty in decision making during probabilistic gambling from a behavioral and brain imaging perspective. Finally, in a third step we will try to understand the effect of pharmacological manipulations upon probabilistic decision making from a behavioral and neurobiological perspective. Results obtained within this project will inform how humans make decisions under uncertainty, and how novelty influences choice behaviour. Understanding how critical brain computations are implemented in the human brain will also inform an understanding of psychiatric disorders where aberrant novelty processing may reflect a fundamental component such as attention deficit disorder (ADHD).
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON · LONDONCoordinatorUnknown Region
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union