University of Geneva, Switzerland.
University of Fribourg, Switzerland.
J Cogn Neurosci. 2022 Mar 31;34(5):729-747. doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_01800.
Motivation is an important feature of emotion. By driving approach to positive events and promoting avoidance of negative stimuli, motivation drives adaptive actions and goal pursuit. The amygdala has been associated with a variety of affective processes, particularly the appraisal of stimulus valence that is assumed to play a crucial role in the generation of approach and avoidance behaviors. Here, we measured amygdala functional connectivity patterns while participants played a video game manipulating goal conduciveness through the presence of good, neutral, or bad monsters. As expected, good versus bad monsters elicited opposing motivated behaviors, whereby good monsters induced more approach and bad monsters triggered more avoidance. These opposing directional behaviors were paralleled by increased connectivity between the amygdala and medial brain areas, such as the OFC and posterior cingulate, for good relative to bad, and between amygdala and caudate for bad relative to good monsters. Moreover, in both conditions, individual connectivity strength between the amygdala and medial prefrontal regions was positively correlated with brain scores from a latent component representing efficient goal pursuit, which was identified by a partial least squares analysis determining the multivariate association between amygdala connectivity and behavioral motivation indices during gameplay. At the brain level, this latent component highlighted a widespread pattern of amygdala connectivity, including a dorsal frontoparietal network and motor areas. These results suggest that amygdala-medial prefrontal interactions captured the overall subjective relevance of ongoing events, which could consecutively drive the engagement of attentional, executive, and motor circuits necessary for implementing successful goal-pursuit, irrespective of approach or avoidance directions.
动机是情感的一个重要特征。通过驱使人们接近积极事件，促进回避消极刺激，动机驱动适应性行动和目标追求。杏仁核与多种情感过程有关，特别是对刺激效价的评价，这被认为在产生接近和回避行为中起着关键作用。在这里，我们测量了参与者在玩一个视频游戏时的杏仁核功能连接模式，该游戏通过存在好、中、坏怪物来操纵目标的有益性。正如预期的那样，好怪物与坏怪物引发了相反的动机行为，好怪物引起了更多的接近，坏怪物引发了更多的回避。这些相反的定向行为与杏仁核和内侧脑区（如 OFC 和后扣带回）之间的连接增加相平行，对于好怪物相对于坏怪物，以及杏仁核和尾状核之间的连接增加，对于坏怪物相对于好怪物。此外，在这两种情况下，杏仁核和内侧前额叶区域之间的个体连接强度与代表有效目标追求的潜在成分的大脑分数呈正相关，该潜在成分是通过偏最小二乘分析确定的，该分析确定了杏仁核连接和行为动机指数之间的多元关联在游戏过程中。在大脑水平上，这个潜在成分突出了杏仁核连接的广泛模式，包括背侧额顶网络和运动区域。这些结果表明，杏仁核-内侧前额叶的相互作用捕捉到了正在进行的事件的整体主观相关性，这可以连续驱动注意力、执行和运动回路的参与，这些回路对于实现成功的目标追求是必要的，无论接近或回避的方向如何。
