Reward-related fMRI activation of dopaminergic midbrain is associated with enhanced hippocampus-dependent long-term memory formation

Wittmann, Bianca C.; Schott, Björn H.; Guderian, Sebastian; Frey, Julietta U.; Heinze, Hans Jochen; Düzel, Emrah

doi:10.1515/nf-2005-0205

Cited by 72 publications

(126 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

110

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…These results provide preliminary evidence that individual differences in valence-driven memory biases, both in the normal population and in special populations like depressed patients (Dalgleish & Watts, 1990) or older adults (Mather & Knight, 2005), might be partially underscored by individual differences in the experience of pleasure and the affiliated reward circuitry. Although there has been increasing interest in the relationship between reward processes and memory (Adcock, Thangavel, Whitfield-Gabrieli, Knutson, & Gabrieli, 2006; Wittmann, et al, 2005), little attention has been paid to how reward processes may contribute to memory for positive scenes within a standard emotional memory paradigm (but see Wittmann, Schiltz, Boehler, & Düzel, 2008). It would be worthwhile to unite these literatures by further examining the contribution of the caudate and other parts of the striatum, known to be involved in reward processing (Delgado, 2007), during emotional memory formation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Level of Processing Modulates the Neural Correlates of Emotional Memory Formation

Ritchey

LaBar²,

Cabeza³

2011

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Emotion is known to influence multiple aspects of memory formation, including the initial encoding of the memory trace and its consolidation over time. However, the neural mechanisms whereby emotion impacts memory encoding remain largely unexplored. The present study employed a levels-of-processing manipulation to characterize the impact of emotion on encoding with and without the influence of elaborative processes. Participants viewed emotionally negative, neutral, and positive scenes under two conditions: a shallow condition focused on the perceptual features of the scenes and a deep condition that queried their semantic meaning. Recognition memory was tested 2 days later. Results showed that emotional memory enhancements were greatest in the shallow condition. FMRI analyses revealed that the right amygdala predicted subsequent emotional memory in the shallow more than deep condition, whereas the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex demonstrated the reverse pattern. Furthermore, the association of these regions with the hippocampus was modulated by valence: the amygdala-hippocampal link was strongest for negative stimuli, whereas the prefrontal-hippocampal link was strongest for positive stimuli. Taken together, these results suggest two distinct activation patterns underlying emotional memory formation: an amygdala component that promotes memory during shallow encoding, especially for negative information, and a prefrontal component that provides extra benefits during deep encoding, especially for positive information.Memories tinged with emotional salience tend to be remembered better and with greater vividness than emotionally neutral memories (Dolcos, Labar, & Cabeza, 2005;Ochsner, 2000). This influence of emotion on memory has been demonstrated to operate on multiple memory processes, including encoding--the initial formation of a memory trace (Dolcos, LaBar, & Cabeza, 2004a;Kensinger & Corkin, 2004)--and consolidation--the strengthening of this memory trace over time (LaBar & Phelps, 1998). Previous studies of emotional memory have tended to emphasize the role of consolidation processes in mediating these enhancements, driven by neurohormonal interactions between the amygdala and medial temporal lobe (MTL) memory system (McGaugh, 2004). Human neuroimaging has likewise demonstrated the importance of the amygdala and MTL memory system in promoting emotional memory formation. These regions tend to predict subsequent memory accuracy for emotional relative to neutral stimuli (Cahill, et al., 1996;Canli, Zhao, Brewer, Gabrieli, & Cahill, 2000;Dolcos, LaBar, & Cabeza, 2004b;Hamann, Ely, Grafton, & Kilts, 1999;Kensinger & Corkin, 2004), and demonstrate enhanced functional coupling during emotional memory encoding (Dolcos, et al., 2004b;Hamann, et al., 1999;Richardson, Strange, & Dolan, 2004). Consistent with a consolidation account, interactions between the amygdala and MTL memory system increasingly predict emotional memory over time (Ritchey, Dolcos, & Cabeza, 2008 Despite this emphasis on consolidati...

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Level of Processing Modulates the Neural Correlates of Emotional Memory Formation

Ritchey

LaBar²,

Cabeza³

2011

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…On the relatively coarse level of human fMRI studies, however, studies investigating reward have demonstrated effects bearing the signature of well-described reward-related dopaminergic mechanisms seen in animals (e.g., D'Ardenne, McClure, Nystrom, & Cohen, 2008; Wittmann et al, 2005). Furthermore, a recent study using PET/fMRI in parallel also speaks in favor of a strong relationship between SN/VTA activity and dopaminergic neurotransmission (Schott et al, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Substantia Nigra Activity Level Predicts Trial-to-Trial Adjustments in Cognitive Control

Boehler

Bunzeck

Krebs

et al. 2011

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract■ Effective adaptation to the demands of a changing environment requires flexible cognitive control. The medial and the lateral frontal cortices are involved in such control processes, putatively in close interplay with the BG. In particular, dopaminergic projections from the midbrain (i.e., from the substantia nigra [SN] and the ventral tegmental area) have been proposed to play a pivotal role in modulating the activity in these areas for cognitive control purposes. In that dopaminergic involvement has been strongly implicated in reinforcement learning, these ideas suggest functional links between reinforcement learning, where the outcome of actions shapes behavior over time, and cognitive control in a more general context, where no direct reward is involved. Here, we provide evidence from functional MRI in humans that activity in the SN predicts systematic subsequent trial-to-trial RT prolongations that are thought to reflect cognitive control in a stop-signal paradigm. In particular, variations in the activity level of the SN in one trial predicted the degree of RT prolongation on the subsequent trial, consistent with a modulating output signal from the SN being involved in enhancing cognitive control. This link between SN activity and subsequent behavioral adjustments lends support to theoretical accounts that propose dopaminergic control signals that shape behavior both in the presence and in the absence of direct reward. This SN-based modulatory mechanism is presumably mediated via a wider network that determines response speed in this task, including frontal and parietal control regions, along with the BG and the associated subthalamic nucleus. ■

show abstract

“…Numerous studies in humans have demonstrated that reward anticipation is associated with performance improvement in diverse behavioral domains, including response speed and accuracy (e.g., Bijleveld, Custers, & Aarts, 2010; Knutson, Adams, Fong, & Hommer, 2001), visual discrimination and visual search (e.g., Engelmann & Pessoa, 2007; Kristjansson, Sigurjonsdottir, & Driver, 2010), cognitive control (Locke & Braver, 2008), negative priming (e.g., Della Libera & Chelazzi, 2006), and memory processes (e.g., Adcock, Thangavel, Whitfield-Gabrieli, Knutson, & Gabrieli, 2006; Krebs, Schott, Schutze, & Duzel, 2009; Wittmann et al, 2005). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of reward associations on conflict processing in the Stroop task

2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Performance in a behavioral task can be facilitated by associating stimulus properties with reward. In contrast, conflicting information is known to impede task performance. Here we investigated how reward associations influence the within-trial processing of conflicting information using a color-naming Stroop task in which a subset of ink colors (task-relevant dimension) was associated with monetary incentives. We found that color-naming performance was enhanced on trials with potential reward versus those without. Moreover, in potential-reward trials, typical conflict-induced performance decrements were attenuated if the incongruent word (task-irrelevant dimension) was unrelated to reward. In contrast, incongruent words that were semantically related to reward-predicting ink colors interfered with performance in potential-reward trials and even more so in no-reward trials, despite the semantic meaning being entirely task-irrelevant. These observations imply that the prospect of reward enhances the processing of task-relevant stimulus information, whereas incongruent reward-related information in a task-irrelevant dimension can impede task performance.

show abstract

Reward-related fMRI activation of dopaminergic midbrain is associated with enhanced hippocampus-dependent long-term memory formation

Cited by 72 publications

References 0 publications

Level of Processing Modulates the Neural Correlates of Emotional Memory Formation

Level of Processing Modulates the Neural Correlates of Emotional Memory Formation

Substantia Nigra Activity Level Predicts Trial-to-Trial Adjustments in Cognitive Control

The influence of reward associations on conflict processing in the Stroop task

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About