Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
Biol Psychol. 2013 Sep;94(1):228-33. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2013.05.021. Epub 2013 Jun 12.
Altered reward processing is a hallmark symptom of many psychiatric disorders. It has recently been shown that people are capable of down-regulating reward processing. Here, we examined whether people are capable of up-regulating emotional responses to reward-predicting stimuli. Participants passively viewed colored squares that predicted a reward or no reward, and up- or down-regulated their emotional responses to these reward-predicting stimuli by focusing on the reward meaning or the color of the squares respectively. The amplitude of the late positive potential (LPP) was taken as an objective index of regulation success. The LPP in response to reward-predicting squares was enhanced by up-regulation, suggesting that up-regulation of emotional responses to reward-predicting stimuli using a cognitive strategy is feasible. These results are highly relevant for the treatment of disorders characterized by diminished motivation, and for reward-based decision making in daily life.
奖励加工改变是许多精神障碍的标志性症状。最近的研究表明，人类有能力下调奖励加工。在这里，我们研究了人类是否有能力上调对奖励预测刺激的情绪反应。参与者被动地观看预测奖励或无奖励的彩色方块，并通过分别关注奖励的含义或方块的颜色来上调或下调对这些奖励预测刺激的情绪反应。晚期正电位（LPP）的幅度被作为调节成功的客观指标。对奖励预测方块的 LPP 反应通过上调得到增强，这表明使用认知策略来上调对奖励预测刺激的情绪反应是可行的。这些结果与治疗以动机减弱为特征的障碍以及日常生活中的基于奖励的决策高度相关。
