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Feedback Dependence of Dopaminergic Involvement in an Information-Integration Task

Reka Daniel1* and Stefan Pollmann1
  • 1 Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Department of Experimental Psychology, Germany

The dopaminergic system has been shown to play a crucial role in reward-based learning in humans mainly in studies using gambling paradigms with the reward being earnings in money (e.g. Smith et al. (2009)). However, it was also claimed to participate in learning when only cognitive feedback is provided (Aron et al., 2004). We therefore conducted two experiments assessing the feedback dependence of dopaminergic involvement in an information-integration category learning task (Ashby and Maddox, 2005). In the first experiment (Daniel and Pollmann, 2010) two parallel versions of the task were developed. The same subjects performed both task versions, receiving monetary reward in one version and only information about the correctness of their response in the other version. Functional imaging data showed similar activations in the dopaminergic system in both versions with the Nucleus Accumbens being activated in response to the receipt of both cognitive positive feedback and monetary reward compared to negative feedback. However, activation in the Nucleus accumbens was more pronounced when subjects expected monetary reward compared to cognitive feedback. In the second experiment an observational version of the same task was developed in which subjects never received feedback. Functional imaging data was acquired for each subject during a naïve session and after extensive training. Here we also observed activations in the dopaminergic system. Our results therefore indicate that it is involved independently of the type of reward, monetary or cognitive, and could also contribute to learning in tasks where only internal feedback signals from self-monitoring are present.

References

1. Aron, A. R., Shohamy, D., Clark, J., Myers, C., Gluck, M. A., & Poldrack, R. A. (2004). Human midbrain sensitivity to cognitive feedback and uncertainty during classification learning. Journal of Neurophysiology, 92, 1144–1152.

2. Ashby, F. G., & Maddox, W. T. (2005). Human category learning. Annual Review of Psychology, 56, 149–178.

3. Daniel, R. & Pollmann, S. (2010). Comparing the Neural Basis of Monetary Reward and Cognitive Feedback during Information-Integration Category Learning. The Journal of Neuroscience, 30(1), 47–55.

4. Smith B. W., Mitchell D. G. V., Hardin M. G., Jazbec S., Fridberg D., Blair R.J.R. & Ernst M. (2009). Neural substrates of reward magnitude, probability, and risk during a wheel of fortune decision-making task. Neuroimage 44, 600–609.

Conference: Computations, Decisions and Movement, Giessen, Germany, 19 May - 22 May, 2010.

Presentation Type: Poster Presentation

Topic: Posters

Citation: Daniel R and Pollmann S (2010). Feedback Dependence of Dopaminergic Involvement in an Information-Integration Task. Front. Comput. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: Computations, Decisions and Movement. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnins.2010.01.00002

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Received: 29 Jan 2010; Published Online: 29 Jan 2010.

* Correspondence: Reka Daniel, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Department of Experimental Psychology, Magdeburg, Germany, rdaniel@ovgu.de