Reward anticipation and punishment anticipation are instantiated in the brain via opponent mechanisms

Abstract

fMRI investigations have examined the extent to which reward and punishment motivation are associated with common or opponent neural systems, but such investigations have been limited by confounding variables and methodological constraints. The present study aimed to address limitations of earlier approaches and more comprehensively evaluate the extent to which neural activation associated with reward and punishment motivation reflects opponent or shared systems. Participants completed a modified monetary incentive delay task, which involved the presentation of a cue followed by a target to which participants were required to make a speeded button press. Using a factorial design, cues indicated whether monetary reward and/or loss (i.e., cues signaled probability of reward, punishment, both, or neither) could be expected depending upon response speed. Neural analyses evaluated evidence of (a) directionally opposing effects by testing for regions of differential activation for reward and punishment anticipation, (b) mutual inhibition by testing for interactive effects of reward and punishment anticipation within a factorial design, and (c) opposing effects on shared outputs via a psychophysiological interaction analysis. Evidence supporting all three criteria for opponent systems was obtained. Collectively, present findings support conceptualizing reward and punishment motivation as opponent forces influencing brain and behavior and indicate that shared activation does not suggest the operation of a common neural mechanism instantiating reward and punishment motivation.

Believing and Beliefs—Neurophysiological Underpinnings

“…Also, during the generation and control of behavior, subliminal stimuli are thought to trigger inhibitory processes in extended prefrontal cortical areas that act on the pre-supplementary motor area (van Gaal et al, 2008 ). Notably, it has been found that anticipation of reward and punishment are mediated by opponent mechanisms but have some shared activations (Lake et al, 2019 ). Furthermore, activation of the orbitofrontal cortex reflects the subjective value of anticipated outcomes, whereas activation of the SMA reflects the probability of a persons' choice (FitzGerald et al, 2009 ).…”

Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex Encodes the Integrated Incentive Motivational Value of Cognitive Task Performance

“…Previous studies have demonstrated that dACC is engaged during incentivized cognitive tasks (Parro et al, 2018) and motivated action selection (Holroyd & Yeung, 2012;Rushworth et al, 2004). Further, dACC is sensitive to reward and punishment (Fujiwara et al, 2009;Lake et al, 2019), and to benefits and costs associated with cognitive control (Sayalı & Badre, 2018;Westbrook et al, 2019).…”

Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex Encodes the Integrated Incentive Motivational Value of Cognitive Task Performance

“…The prior literature is broadly consistent with this account, as prior studies have demonstrated that dACC is reliably activated during incentivized cognitive tasks (Parro, Dixon and Christoff, 2018), and engaged at the interface between incentive motivation and action selection (Rushworth et al ., 2004; Holroyd and Yeung, 2011; Heilbronner and Hayden, 2016). Critically, and most relevant to the current study, dACC also appears to be sensitive to both costs and benefits of engaging in cognitive control tasks (Sayali and Badre, 2019; Westbrook, Lamichhane and Braver, 2019), as well as to both reward and punishment cues (Fujiwara et al ., 2009; Monosov, 2017; Lake et al ., 2019). Nevertheless, in order to provide a strong test of the claim that dACC serves as an integrative motivation-cognition hub, consistent with the EVC account, it is necessary to demonstrate that activity in this brain region: a) integrates the value of diverse incentives; b) integrates incentives with positive (i.e., appetitive) and negative (i.e., aversive) value; c) is directly associated with fluctuations in self-reported motivation; and d) that such motivational fluctuations are themselves linked with variation in cognitive task performance.…”