Human oscillatory activity associated to reward processing in a gambling task

Previous event-related brain potential (ERP) studies have identified a medial frontal negativity (MFN) in response to negative feedback or monetary losses. In contrast, no EEG correlates have been identified related to the processing of monetary gains or positive feedback. This result is puzzling cons...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Marco Pallarés, Josep, Cucurell, David, Cunillera, Toni, García, Rafael, Andrés Pueyo, Antonio, Münte, Thomas F., Rodríguez Fornells, Antoni
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2008
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/69545
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/69545
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Jocs d'atzar
Potencials evocats (Electrofisiologia)
Mapatge del cervell
Gambling
Evoked potentials (Electrophysiology)
Brain mapping
Descripción
Sumario:Previous event-related brain potential (ERP) studies have identified a medial frontal negativity (MFN) in response to negative feedback or monetary losses. In contrast, no EEG correlates have been identified related to the processing of monetary gains or positive feedback. This result is puzzling considering the large number of brain regions involved in the processing of rewards. In the present study we used a gambling task to investigate this issue with trial-by-trial wavelet-based time-frequency analysis of the electroencephalographic signal recorded non-invasively in healthy humans. Using this analysis a mediofrontal oscillatory component in the beta range was identified which was associated to monetary gains. In addition, standard time-domain ERP analysis showed an MFN for losses that was associated with an increase in theta power in the time-frequency analysis. We propose that the reward-related beta oscillatory activity signifies the functional coupling of distributed brain regions involved in reward processing.