Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 14, 2026
05:04
An Electrophysiology Protocol to Measure Reward Anticipation and Processing in Children
Published on: October 4, 2018
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Parsing Reward Processing Substages With Multimodal EEG-fMRI.
Ken J Lau1, Brian J Roach2, Samantha Abram1,3
1Mental Health Services, Veterans Affairs San Francisco Healthcare System, San Francisco, California, USA.
Human Brain Mapping
|February 13, 2026
Summary
This study used multimodal imaging to map brain activity during reward anticipation and feedback. Findings reveal distinct neural networks for different reward processing stages, linking electrophysiology and fMRI signals.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Neuroimaging
Background:
- Understanding reward neurocircuitry is crucial for neuroscience.
- Previous studies often confound basic reward responses with higher-order cognitive and motor processes.
- Multimodal imaging offers a way to precisely map reward processing stages.
Purpose of the Study:
- To integrate electrophysiological (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data to investigate reward anticipation and consummatory substages.
- To minimize cognitive and motor demands during reward processing tasks.
- To reveal how temporally and spatially precise signals relate to functional network activity.
Main Methods:
- Simultaneously recorded fMRI and EEG data from 52 adults during a simple slot machine task.
- Utilized Joint Independent Component Analyses (jICAs) on EEG event-related potential (ERP) difference waveforms and fMRI contrast images.
- Analyzed data specific to reward anticipation and outcome processing substages.
Main Results:
- Joint independent components (JICs) successfully segregated reward processing substages, showing co-modulation between temporal ERP and spatial fMRI signals (p < 0.001).
- Reward anticipation involved the stimulus preceding negativity (SPN) ERP component covarying with fMRI activation in pre-SMA/SMA and salience network regions.
- Reward feedback involved the reward positivity (RewP) ERP component covarying with fMRI activation in dACC, ventral striatum, SMA, and inferior frontal cortex.
Conclusions:
- Temporally precise electrophysiological and spatially rich hemodynamic measures converge to map specific reward processing substages.
- EEG and fMRI signals during reward feedback demonstrate covariation of RewP with dACC-striatal networks.
- SPN covaried with fMRI signals in pre-SMA/SMA and fronto-insular regions, implicating motor planning, salience, and attention in reward processing.
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