The Role of the Dorsal–Lateral Prefrontal Cortex in Reward Sensitivity During Approach–Avoidance Conflict
Abstract
Approach–Avoidance conflict (AAC) arises from decisions with embedded positive and negative outcomes, such that approaching leads to reward and punishment and avoiding to neither. Despite its importance, the field lacks a mechanistic understanding of which regions are driving avoidance behavior during conflict. In the current task, we utilized transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and drift-diffusion modeling to investigate the role of one of the most prominent regions relevant to AAC—the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). The first experiment uses in-task disruption to examine the right dlPFC’s (r-dlPFC) causal role in avoidance behavior. The second uses single TMS pulses to probe the excitability of the r-dlPFC, and downstream cortical activations, during avoidance behavior. Disrupting r-dlPFC during conflict decision-making reduced reward sensitivity. Further, r-dlPFC was engaged with a network of regions within the lateral and medial prefrontal, cingulate, and temporal cortices that associate with behavior during conflict. Together, these studies use TMS to demonstrate a role for the dlPFC in reward sensitivity during conflict and elucidate the r-dlPFC’s network of cortical regions associated with avoidance behavior. By identifying r-dlPFC’s mechanistic role in AAC behavior, contextualized within its conflict-specific downstream neural connectivity, we advance dlPFC as a potential neural target for psychiatric therapeutics.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Aug 31, 2021
- Source ID
- 10.1093/cercor/bhab292
Entities
People
- Amit Etkin
- Ann Graybiel
- Camarin E Rolle
- Diego A. Pizzagalli
- Ken-Ichi Amemori
- Mads L. Pedersen
- Maria Ironside
- Noriah Johnson
Organizations
- Army Research Office
- Brown University
- Harvard Medical School
- Kyoto University
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
- Stanford University
- University of Oslo