Scult Matthew A, Knodt Annchen R, Hanson Jamie L, Ryoo Minyoung, Adcock R Alison, Hariri Ahmad R, Strauman Timothy J
a Department of Psychology & Neuroscience , Duke University , Durham , NC , USA.
b Center for Developmental Science , University of North Carolina Chapel Hill , Chapel Hill , NC , USA.
Soc Neurosci. 2017 Aug;12(4):419-429. doi: 10.1080/17470919.2016.1178170. Epub 2016 Apr 30.
Although goal pursuit is related to both functioning of the brain's reward circuits and psychological factors, the literatures surrounding these concepts have often been separate. Here, we use the psychological construct of regulatory focus to investigate individual differences in neural response to reward. Regulatory focus theory proposes two motivational orientations for personal goal pursuit: (1) promotion, associated with sensitivity to potential gain, and (2) prevention, associated with sensitivity to potential loss. The monetary incentive delay task was used to manipulate reward circuit function, along with instructional framing corresponding to promotion and prevention in a within-subject design. We observed that the more promotion oriented an individual was, the lower their ventral striatum response to gain cues. Follow-up analyses revealed that greater promotion orientation was associated with decreased ventral striatum response even to no-value cues, suggesting that promotion orientation may be associated with relatively hypoactive reward system function. The findings are also likely to represent an interaction between the cognitive and motivational characteristics of the promotion system with the task demands. Prevention orientation did not correlate with ventral striatum response to gain cues, supporting the discriminant validity of regulatory focus theory. The results highlight a dynamic association between individual differences in self-regulation and reward system function.
尽管目标追求与大脑奖励回路的功能以及心理因素都有关联，但围绕这些概念的文献往往是相互独立的。在此，我们运用调节焦点这一心理结构来探究个体对奖励的神经反应差异。调节焦点理论提出了个人目标追求的两种动机取向：（1）促进取向，与对潜在收益的敏感性相关；（2）预防取向，与对潜在损失的敏感性相关。在一项被试内设计中，使用金钱激励延迟任务来操纵奖励回路功能，并结合与促进和预防相对应的指令框架。我们观察到，个体的促进取向越强，其腹侧纹状体对收益线索的反应就越低。后续分析表明，更强的促进取向甚至与腹侧纹状体对无价值线索的反应降低有关，这表明促进取向可能与奖励系统功能相对不活跃有关。这些发现也可能代表了促进系统的认知和动机特征与任务需求之间的相互作用。预防取向与腹侧纹状体对收益线索的反应无关，这支持了调节焦点理论的区分效度。结果凸显了自我调节的个体差异与奖励系统功能之间的动态关联。
