Scarcity Mindset Neuro Network Decoding With Reward: A Tree-Based Model and Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Behavioral Economics

Background:

• Resource scarcity negatively impacts cognitive function.
• Reward positively influences cognitive performance.
• The interplay between scarcity and reward on cognition is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the simultaneous effects of reward and scarcity on cognitive performance.
• To explore the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying the scarcity mindset and reward.
• To analyze behavioral and brain activity changes under experimental scarcity and reward conditions.

Main Methods:

• Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to record brain activity.
• Participants underwent experimental manipulation to induce scarcity mindset and reward conditions.
• Machine learning models, including base-tree and SHAP, were employed to analyze neural data.

Main Results:

• A scarcity mindset decreased functional connectivity between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC).
• Reward conditions increased brain activation, primarily in the left prefrontal cortex (L-VLPFC, L-DLPFC) and right DLPFC (R-DLPFC).
• Machine learning analysis identified channel 8 as crucial for understanding reward mechanisms in the prefrontal cortex (PFC).

Conclusions:

• The findings elucidate the neural underpinnings of the scarcity mindset's impact on cognitive control.
• Reward processing is associated with distinct patterns of brain activation in the prefrontal cortex.
• This study provides insights into how scarcity and reward interact to shape cognitive function and neural activity.