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Dysfunctional Social Reinforcement Processing in Disruptive Behavior Disorders: An Functional Magnetic Resonance
Soonjo Hwang1, Harma Meffert2, Michelle R VanTieghem3
1Department of Psychiatry, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA.
Summary
Children and adolescents with disruptive behavior disorders (DBDs) show altered brain responses to social and non-social rewards during learning. This suggests compromised reinforcement processing and decision-making in DBDs.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Disruptive behavior disorders (DBDs) are associated with impaired reward processing.
- Previous research used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study non-social reinforcement in DBDs.
- Neural responses to social reinforcement during learning in DBDs remain understudied.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate neural responses to social and non-social reinforcement during instrumental learning in children and adolescents with DBDs.
- To compare brain activity and functional connectivity between healthy individuals and those with DBDs.
Main Methods:
- fMRI was used to scan 29 healthy participants and 19 participants with DBDs.
- Participants performed a task involving social and non-social rewards/non-rewards linked to fractal image stimuli.
- Connectivity analyses examined functional coupling between brain regions.
Main Results:
- DBDs group showed reduced caudate and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) responses to non-social rewards and social non-rewards.
- Decreased functional connectivity was observed between ventral striatum (VST)/ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and lateral frontal cortex in DBDs during reward processing.
- Altered vmPFC-amygdala connectivity was found in response to reward versus non-reward in DBDs.
Conclusions:
- Children/adolescents with DBDs exhibit compromised processing of both social and non-social reinforcement signals.
- Dysfunctional brain network interactions in DBDs may reflect attention deficits towards rewarded stimuli.
- These findings highlight neural underpinnings of decision-making impairments in disruptive behavior disorders.
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