The Neural Basis Underlying the Experience of Control in the Human Brain

Leotti, Lauren A.; Cho, Catherine; Delgado, Mauricio R.

doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190267278.003.0006

Cited by 25 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The VLPFC has been associated with computing behavioral significance by integrating input from regions processing motivational and affective information (Sakagami and Pan, 2007). Experiencing control via exerting self-initiated choice is motivating and can be rewarding in it of itself (Ryan and Deci, 2000b; Bhanji and Delgado, 2014; Leotti et al, 2015). A region linked with tracking reward expectancy value (Pochon et al, 2002), the recruitment of VLPFC during free choice in reward sensitive individuals might suggest a role for the region in increasing attentional control (Duncan and Owen, 2000; Bunge et al, 2004; Badre and Wagner, 2007) and guiding goal-directed behavior (Sakagami and Pan, 2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reward Sensitivity Enhances Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex Activation during Free Choice

2016

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Expressing one's preference via choice can be rewarding, particularly when decisions are voluntarily made as opposed to being forced. An open question is whether engaging in choices involving rewards recruits distinct neural systems as a function of sensitivity to reward. Reward sensitivity is a trait partly influenced by the mesolimbic dopamine system, which can impact an individual's neural and behavioral response to reward cues. Here, we investigated how reward sensitivity contributes to neural activity associated with free and forced choices. Participants underwent a simple decision-making task, which presented free- or forced-choice trials in the scanner. Each trial presented two cues (i.e., points or information) that led to monetary reward at the end of the task. In free-choice trials, participants were offered the opportunity to choose between different reward cues (e.g., points vs. information), whereas forced-choice trials forced individuals to choose within a given reward cue (e.g., information vs. information, or points vs. points). We found enhanced ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) activation during free choice compared to forced choice in individuals with high reward sensitivity scores. Next, using the VLPFC as a seed, we conducted a PPI analysis to identify brain regions that enhance connectivity with the VLPFC during free choice. Our PPI analyses on free vs. forced choice revealed increased VLPFC connectivity with the posterior cingulate and precentral gyrus in reward sensitive individuals. These findings suggest reward sensitivity may recruit attentional control processes during free choice potentially supporting goal-directed behavior and action selection.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reward Sensitivity Enhances Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex Activation during Free Choice

2016

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The advancement of neuroscientific knowledge actually allows to explain plurisemantic and sometimes paradoxical phenomena linked to pleasure and to the search of pleasure. The development of “bordering” or “bridging” disciplines, such as neuropsychoanalysis, that study conceptual methodologies of modeling of experimental data that can be understood with a theory of the functioning of the mind and that have possible clinical applications, seems to confirm the need for integrated knowledge ( Moore et al, 2010 ; Leotti and Delgado, 2014 ; Leotti et al, 2015 ; Murayama et al, 2015 ). However, it is appropriate to ask whether the level of knowledge so far achieved is enough to speak of interaction, mutual influence, however, promising it may be, correspondences, or even of proper integrations.…”

Section: To Conclude: Interactions Of Integrations?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Experience of Pleasure: A Perspective Between Neuroscience and Psychoanalysis

Moccia

Mazza

Nicola

et al. 2018

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Pleasure is more than a mere sensory event, but rather it can be conceptualized as a complex, multiform experience involving memory, motivation, homeostasis, and, sometimes, negative affects. According to Freud, affect is a perceptual modality that registers the internal drive state of the subject rather than the objective experience of the external world, and the quality of this perceptual modality is calibrated in degrees of pleasure and displeasure. Within this conceptual framework, the aim of drive is always pleasure, and objects become significant in so far as they provide a way of discharging drives pressure. Subsequent conceptual psychoanalytic developments have partially rejected such metapsychological theorizations, postulating that other intrinsic motivations that are independent from libido can be observed in humans. Intrinsic motivation broadly refers to a set of psychological concepts including the inherent propensity to pursue one’s choices, to seek out novelty and challenges, to satisfy curiosity and competence, and to extend one’s capacities and control over events. What these concepts have in common is an inner endorsement of one’s action, which is the sense that action is self-generated and is one’s own. The notions of pleasure, drives, and affects are all of utmost importance for a neuropsychoanalytic understanding of mental functioning, due to their capability to explain desire, thought, and behavior from the perspective of human subjective experience. The purpose of this paper is thus to discuss psychoanalytic conceptual developments that have addressed pleasure, drives, and affects, in the light of recent findings coming from neurosciences. In particular, we will explore for insights from Panksepp’s theory of primary-process emotional feelings, including the notion of “wanting” and “liking” as dissociable components of reward. In the last part of the paper, we will indicate possible theoretical implications for a neuropsychoanalytic understanding of libido-independent intrinsic motivations and their relationship with the self, including neuroscientific observations on self-related processes, agency, body-ownerships, and attachment.

show abstract

“…Recently, attention has been directed to an explanation for SoA from the standpoint of associative learning (23). Individuals develop SoA through the adaptiveness of perceiving controllability over their environment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Instrumental learning consists of goal-directed learning and habit learning (24). Considering the adaptiveness of perceiving controllability in SoA, SoA is deeply associated with instrumental learning, especially goal-directed learning including reinforcement learning (23, 25). In the learning process, perceiving controllability is desirable and could be inherently rewarding (23).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although their task designs were useful for evaluating one neural network, they did not target the learning process in agency adaptation. Therefore, since individuals develop SoA through associative learning, a task which evaluates the adaptation process of SoA is needed (23). We have investigated SoA in schizophrenia using our original agency attribution task to assess participants' explicit experience of the temporal causal relationship between an action and an external event with random temporal biases (5, 6).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Dysconnectivity of the Agency Network in Schizophrenia: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Self-disturbances in schizophrenia have recently been explained by an abnormality in the sense of agency (SoA). The cerebral structures of SoA in healthy people are considered to mainly include the insula and inferior parietal lobule. In contrast, the functional lesion of aberrant SoA in schizophrenia is not yet fully understood. Considering the recent explanation of establishing SoA from the standpoint of associative learning, the “agency network” may include not only the insula and inferior parietal lobule but also the striatum. We hypothesized that aberrant SoA in schizophrenia is based on a deficit in the “agency network.” Methods: Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired while patients with schizophrenia ( n = 15) and matched controls ( n = 15) performed our adaptation method of agency attribution task on a trial-by-trial basis to assess participants' explicit experience of the temporal causal relationship between an action and an external event with temporal biases. Analysis of functional connectivity was done using the right supramarginal gyrus and the right middle frontal gyrus as seed regions. Results: In healthy controls, analyses revealed increased activation of the right inferior parietal lobule (mainly the supramarginal gyrus), right insula, and right middle frontal gyrus as an activation of the agency condition. We defined activated Brodmann areas shown in the agency condition of healthy controls as the seed region for connectivity analysis. The connectivity analysis revealed lower connectivity between the head of the left caudate nucleus and right supramarginal gyrus in the patients compared to healthy controls. Conclusions: This dysconnectivity of the agency network in schizophrenia may lead to self-disturbance through deficits in associative learning of SoA. These findings may explain why pathological function of the striatum in schizophrenia leads to self-disturbance.

show abstract

The Neural Basis Underlying the Experience of Control in the Human Brain

Cited by 25 publications

References 0 publications

Reward Sensitivity Enhances Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex Activation during Free Choice

Reward Sensitivity Enhances Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex Activation during Free Choice

The Experience of Pleasure: A Perspective Between Neuroscience and Psychoanalysis

Dysconnectivity of the Agency Network in Schizophrenia: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About