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An Electrophysiology Protocol to Measure Reward Anticipation and Processing in Children
Published on: October 4, 2018
Neural markers of social and monetary rewards in children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism
Maria Luz Gonzalez-Gadea1, Mariano Sigman2, Alexia Rattazzi3
1Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva y Traslacional (INCYT), Laboratorio de Psicología Experimental y Neurociencias (LPEN), Fundación INECO, Universidad Favaloro, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Insights
Neurotypical children show similar brain responses to monetary losses and social betrayal. Children with ADHD lack these responses, while those with Autism Spectrum Disorder show altered social reward processing.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Computational Psychiatry
Background:
- Decision-making theories propose shared neural mechanisms for monetary and social rewards.
- Understanding atypical reward processing in neurodevelopmental disorders is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate neural correlates of monetary and social reward processing in children with ADHD and ASD.
- To test a shared value-based brain mechanism model in these populations.
Main Methods:
- High-density electroencephalography (EEG) was used to monitor brain dynamics.
- Participants included children with ADHD, ASD, and typically developing controls.
- Monetary and social reward tasks were administered during EEG recording.
Main Results:
- Control children showed feedback Error-Related Negativity (fERN) and Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) activation for both reward types, with heightened responses to betrayal.
- Children with ADHD exhibited absent fERN modulation and reduced ACC activation.
- Children with ASD displayed normal fERN modulation for monetary choices but inverted responses for social options.
Conclusions:
- Neurotypical individuals exhibit overlapping neural responses to monetary losses and social disloyalty.
- ADHD is associated with early-stage reward processing deficits affecting both monetary and social decisions.
- ASD involves intact neural processing for monetary rewards but atypical responses to social prosociality.
Abstract:
Recent theories of decision making propose a shared value-related brain mechanism for encoding monetary and social rewards. We tested this model in children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and control children. We monitored participants' brain dynamics using high density-electroencephalography while they played a monetary and social reward tasks. Control children exhibited a feedback Error-Related Negativity (fERN) modulation and Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) source activation during both tasks. Remarkably, although cooperation resulted in greater losses for the participants, the betrayal options generated greater fERN responses. ADHD subjects exhibited an absence of fERN modulation and reduced ACC activation during both tasks. ASD subjects exhibited normal fERN modulation during monetary choices and inverted fERN/ACC responses in social options than did controls. These results suggest that in neurotypicals, monetary losses and observed disloyal social decisions induced similar activity in the brain value system. In ADHD children, difficulties in reward processing affected early brain signatures of monetary and social decisions. Conversely, ASD children showed intact neural markers of value-related monetary mechanisms, but no brain modulation by prosociality in the social task. These results offer insight into the typical and atypical developments of neural correlates of monetary and social reward processing.
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