However, incentive anticipation and outcomes were not separately modeled in this experiment, and the investigators were not able to acquire images in the anterior portion of the prefrontal cortex. In a second study utilizing a gambling task, trials involving financial gains activated striatal regions in the putamen (as well as the midbrain), while trials involving financial losses activated other subcortical regions (in the medial temporal lobe) ( Elliott et al ., 2000 ).
Although this study identified distinct patterns of activation for gambles involving gains versus losses, the study’s design did not allow separate analysis of incentive anticipation and outcomes. In a third study using a different gambling task that controlled for anticipation, gain outcomes elicited sustained activation of striatal regions in the caudate relative to loss and neutral outcomes ( Delgado et al ., 2000 ).
In a fourth study using a reversal learning task, gain versus neutral outcomes activated medial prefrontal regions, while loss versus neutral outcomes activated more lateral prefrontal regions ( O’Doherty et al ., 2001 ). However, in this study investigators acquired data from the prefrontal cortex only, but not the striatum. Subsequent fMRI studies utilizing monetary incentives attempted to dissociate incentive anticipation from outcomes. One study using a gambling task revealed activations of NAcc and other regions (medial OFC and cerebellum) for gain versus neutral gambles, but activations of other regions (temporal lobe, lateral OFC, and cuneus) for the loss versus neutral gambles ( Breiter et al ., 2001 ). The authors concluded that both anticipation and outcomes related to monetary gains activated ventral striatum as well as other mesolimbic regions (medial OFC, and hypothalamus).
A second study using a cued reaction time task revealed proportional activation in the NAcc, medial caudate, and anterior thalamus during anticipation of increasing monetary gains, but only proportional activation in the medial caudate and anterior thalamus during anticipation of increasing monetary IV.
Barry Demp Coaching
