title: The role of high-frequency oscillatory activity in reward processing and learning.
abstract: Oscillatory activity has been proposed as a key mechanism in the integration of brain activity of distant structures. Particularly, high frequency brain oscillatory activity in the beta and gamma range has received increasing interest in the domains of attention and memory. In addition, a number of recent studies have revealed an increase of beta-gamma activity (20-35 Hz) after unexpected or relevant positive reward outcomes. In the present manuscript we review the literature on this phenomenon and we propose that this activity is a brain signature elicited by unexpected positive outcomes in order to transmit a fast motivational value signal to the reward network. In addition, we hypothesize that beta-gamma oscillatory activity indexes the interaction between attentional and emotional systems, and that it directly reflects the appearance of unexpected positive rewards in learning-related contexts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Basic Psychology, University of Barcelona, 08035 Barcelona, Spain; Cognition and Brain Plasticity Unit, Bellvitge Research Biomedical Institute (IDIBELL), Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: josepmarco@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Josep
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Marco-Pallarés
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany; Institute of Psychology II, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Münte
authors.affiliation: Department of Basic Psychology, University of Barcelona, 08035 Barcelona, Spain; Cognition and Brain Plasticity Unit, Bellvitge Research Biomedical Institute (IDIBELL), Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain; Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Antoni
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Fornells
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001611:Beta Rhythm; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D065818:Gamma Rhythm; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D009042:Motivation / Q000502:physiology; D012201:Reward
keywords: Beta; Gamma; Novelty; Oscillatory activity; Reward