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Perceived ownership impacts reward evaluation within medial-frontal cortex
Olave E Krigolson1, Cameron D Hassall, Lynsey Balcom
1Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Life Sciences Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3H 4R2. krigolson@dal.ca
Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience
|January 4, 2013
Summary
Perceived ownership enhances brain reward processing. The medial-frontal reward system shows diminished responses to potential gains and losses when they are not personally relevant, indicating self-relevance biases reward evaluation.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Decision Science
Background:
- Perceived ownership enhances attention, memory, and attitudes.
- Self-relevance is a key factor in cognitive and affective processes.
- Understanding how ownership influences neural reward systems is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if self-relevance biases neural reward evaluation systems.
- To examine the impact of personal versus other-regarding gambles on brain activity.
Main Methods:
- Participants completed a gambling task involving self or other.
- Electroencephalography (EEG) was used to record brain activity.
- Analysis focused on the feedback error-related negativity (fERN) component.
Main Results:
- The amplitude of the fERN was reduced for gambles not involving the self.
- Ownership cues influenced the processing of potential gains and losses.
- Self-relevant gambles were processed as utilitarian gains, while other-gambles were processed non-utilitarianly.
Conclusions:
- The medial-frontal reward system is sensitive to perceived ownership.
- Neural reward processing may not fully account for utility changes when not self-relevant.
- Self-relevance plays a critical role in modulating the brain's response to rewards.
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