title: Human oscillatory activity associated to reward processing in a gambling task.
abstract: Previous event-related brain potential (ERP) studies have identified a medial frontal negativity (MFN) in response to negative feedback or monetary losses. In contrast, no EEG correlates have been identified related to the processing of monetary gains or positive feedback. This result is puzzling considering the large number of brain regions involved in the processing of rewards. In the present study we used a gambling task to investigate this issue with trial-by-trial wavelet-based time-frequency analysis of the electroencephalographic signal recorded non-invasively in healthy humans. Using this analysis a mediofrontal oscillatory component in the beta range was identified which was associated to monetary gains. In addition, standard time-domain ERP analysis showed an MFN for losses that was associated with an increase in theta power in the time-frequency analysis. We propose that the reward-related beta oscillatory activity signifies the functional coupling of distributed brain regions involved in reward processing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychology, Otto von Guericke University, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Josep
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Marco-Pallares
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cucurell
authors.forename: Toni
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cunillera
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: García
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Andrés-Pueyo
authors.forename: Thomas F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Münte
authors.forename: Antoni
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Fornells
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001683:Biological Clocks / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D005715:Gambling; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012201:Reward; D013057:Spectrum Analysis / Q000379:methods; D013997:Time Factors