Knowing good from bad: differential activation of human cortical areas by positive and negative outcomes
Sander Nieuwenhuis,Heleen A. Slagter,Niels J. Alting von Geusau,Dirk J. Heslenfeld,Clay B. Holroyd +4 more
TL;DR: Results support a new hypothesis regarding the neural generators of the FRN, and have important implications for the use of this component as an electrophysiological index of performance monitoring and reward processing.
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Abstract: Previous research has identified a component of the event-related brain potential (ERP), the feedback-related negativity, that is elicited by feedback stimuli associated with unfavourable outcomes. In the present research we used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings to test the common hypothesis that this component is generated in the caudal anterior cingulate cortex. The EEG results indicated that our paradigm, a time estimation task with trial-to-trial performance feedback, elicited a large feedback-related negativity (FRN). Nevertheless, the fMRI results did not reveal any area in the caudal anterior cingulate cortex that was differentially activated by positive and negative performance feedback, casting doubt on the notion that the FRN is generated in this brain region. In contrast, we found a number of brain areas outside the posterior medial frontal cortex that were activated more strongly by positive feedback than by negative feedback. These included areas in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, right superior frontal gyrus, and striatum. An anatomically constrained source model assuming equivalent dipole generators in the rostral anterior cingulate, posterior cingulate, and right superior frontal gyrus produced a simulated scalp distribution that corresponded closely to the observed scalp distribution of the FRN. These results support a new hypothesis regarding the neural generators of the FRN, and have important implications for the use of this component as an electrophysiological index of performance monitoring and reward processing.
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Figures
Fig. 3. Results from the EEG experiment. Upper panel: Grand-average ERP waveforms from electrode Cz for each of the four feedback conditions. Uninf, uninformative. Lower panel: ERP difference waves (negative–positive feedback) for each of the eight participants. 
Fig. 1. Brain areas showing greater activity for positive feedback than for negative feedback. P < 0.0005 (uncorrected, voxel contiguity ¼ 120 mm3). Left: activations in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (two foci) and posterior cingulate cortex. Middle: activations in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (two foci) and right superior frontal gyrus. Right: activations in the left and right caudate ⁄ putamen. 
Fig. 2. (A) Region of the cACC ⁄ presupplementary motor area that is activated to a similar extent by positive and feedback, as revealed by a conjunction analysis (see text for details). (B) Event-related BOLD signal averages associated with this area. Note that the BOLD signal responses set off before the presentation of the feedback, suggesting that they are elicited by an event preceding the feedback. 
Fig. 4. (A) Grand-average, average-reference, spline-interpolated iso-potential map reflecting the scalp topography of the FRN in the negative–positive difference wave at its peak latency, t ¼ 300 ms. (B) Simulated scalp topography (forward solution) associated with an anatomically constrained model with dipoles in the ventral rostral ACC and posterior cingulate. (C) Simulated scalp topography associated with an anatomically constrained model with dipoles in the ventral rostral ACC, posterior cingulate, and right superior frontal gyrus. The difference in voltage value represented by each isopotential line is 0.4 lV.
Citations
Influence of cognitive control and mismatch on the N2 component of the ERP: a review.
TL;DR: This work focuses on paradigms that elicit N2 components with an anterior scalp distribution, namely, cognitive control, novelty, and sequential matching, and argues that the anterior N2 should be divided into separate control- and mismatch-related subcomponents.
The neuropsychology of anxiety
Jeffrey A. Gray
- 01 Jan 1982
TL;DR: This paper is a rough precis of a recent book concerned with the question: what are the brain structures which mediate the psychology as well as the neurology of anxiety?
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Anterior cingulate cortex and conflict detection: an update of theory and data.
TL;DR: Evidence that trial-to-trial changes in control engagement can be understood as driven by conflict detection and levels of activation of the ACC and the DLPFC in such tasks do indeed reflect conflict and control is reviewed.
Common and distinct networks underlying reward valence and processing stages: A meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies
TL;DR: To better understand the reward circuitry in human brain, activation likelihood estimation (ALE) and parametric voxel-based meta-analyses (PVM) on 142 neuroimaging studies that examined brain activation in reward-related tasks in healthy adults were conducted.
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The reward positivity: From basic research on reward to a biomarker for depression
TL;DR: A programmatic line of research indicating that apparent negativity in feedback actually reflects a reward-related positivity (RewP) that is absent or suppressed following nonreward is reviewed.
References
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Errors without conflict: Implications for performance monitoring theories of anterior cingulate cortex
Vincent van Veen,Clay B. Holroyd,Jonathan D. Cohen,Jonathan D. Cohen,V. Andrew Stenger,Cameron S. Carter +5 more
TL;DR: The results question involvement of the ACC in the detection of errors per se when controlling for conflict and suggest the ACC may not be involved in the generation of this ERP component.
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TL;DR: A saccade-countermanding task affords an experimental dissociation of neural signals of error, reinforcement, and conflict, consistent with the hypothesis that the anterior cingulate cortex monitors the consequences of actions.
On the Relationship of Synaptic Activity to Macroscopic Measurements: Does Co-Registration of EEG with fMRI Make Sense?
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Neuroinflammation of the nigrostriatal pathway during progressive 6-OHDA dopamine degeneration in rats monitored by immunohistochemistry and PET imaging.
F. Cicchetti,Anna-Liisa Brownell,Kenneth C. Williams,Yin-Ching Iris Chen,E. Livni,Ole Isacson +5 more
TL;DR: The hypothesis that inflammation is a significant component of progressive dopaminergic degeneration that can be monitored by PET imaging is supported.