Fallon Sean James, Cools Roshan
Radboud University Nijmegen.
J Cogn Neurosci. 2014 Dec;26(12):2812-26. doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_00676. Epub 2014 Jun 4.
Working memory and reward processing are often thought to be separate, unrelated processes. However, most daily activities involve integrating these two types of information, and the two processes rarely, if ever, occur in isolation. Here, we show that working memory and reward interact in a task-dependent manner and that this task-dependent interaction involves modulation of the pFC by the ventral striatum. Specifically, BOLD signal during gains relative to losses in the ventral striatum and pFC was associated not only with enhanced distractor resistance but also with impairment in the ability to update working memory representations. Furthermore, the effect of reward on working memory was accompanied by differential coupling between the ventral striatum and ignore-related regions in the pFC. Together, these data demonstrate that reward-related signals modulate the balance between cognitive stability and cognitive flexibility by altering functional coupling between the ventral striatum and the pFC.
工作记忆和奖赏处理通常被认为是相互独立、没有关联的过程。然而，大多数日常活动都涉及整合这两种类型的信息，而且这两个过程很少（如果有的话）单独发生。在这里，我们表明工作记忆和奖赏以任务依赖的方式相互作用，并且这种任务依赖的相互作用涉及腹侧纹状体对前额叶皮质的调节。具体而言，腹侧纹状体和前额叶皮质中收益相对于损失期间的血氧水平依赖（BOLD）信号不仅与增强的干扰抗性有关，还与更新工作记忆表征能力的损害有关。此外，奖赏对工作记忆的影响伴随着腹侧纹状体与前额叶皮质中与忽略相关区域之间的差异耦合。总之，这些数据表明，奖赏相关信号通过改变腹侧纹状体和前额叶皮质之间的功能耦合来调节认知稳定性和认知灵活性之间的平衡。
