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Right prefrontal and ventral striatum interactions underlying impulsive choice and impulsive responding
Brendan Behan1, Adam Stone, Hugh Garavan
1Department of Psychology and Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, School of Psychology and Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Human Brain Mapping
|August 27, 2014
Summary
Impulsivity may stem from brain interactions. This study found successful inhibition of impulsive actions, particularly for rewards, involved specific brain regions like the right inferior frontal gyrus and ventral striatum.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Decision Making
Background:
- Impulsivity is complex, potentially arising from interactions between cognitive control and reward processing.
- Understanding these interactions is crucial for addressing impulsive behaviors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the interplay between reward anticipation and cognitive control in impulsivity.
- To develop and utilize a novel task combining elements of reward and inhibition.
Main Methods:
- A novel task merging the Monetary Incentive Delay and Go/No-Go paradigms was employed.
- Human subjects responded to targets for financial reward, inhibiting responses to NoGo signals.
- Brain activity and functional connectivity were analyzed during reward anticipation and response inhibition.
Main Results:
- Successful inhibition of monetary rewards correlated with increased right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) activation and decreased ventral striatum (VS) activity during anticipation.
- Altered functional connectivity was observed between the rIFG and VS during successful inhibitions.
- Distinct adjacent regions within the rIFG were involved in reward anticipation and motor response inhibition.
Conclusions:
- Adjacent regions of the rIFG play a role in both impulsive choice and impulsive responding.
- A functional coupling exists between the rIFG and VS in the context of reward and control.
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