title: Age-related striatal BOLD changes without changes in behavioral loss aversion.
abstract: Loss aversion (LA), the idea that negative valuations have a higher psychological impact than positive ones, is considered an important variable in consumer research. The literature on aging and behavior suggests older individuals may show more LA, although it is not clear if this is an effect of aging in general (as in the continuum from age 20 and 50 years), or of the state of older age (e.g., past age 65 years). We also have not yet identified the potential biological effects of aging on the neural processing of LA. In the current study we used a cohort of subjects with a 30 year range of ages, and performed whole brain functional MRI (fMRI) to examine the ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens (VS/NAc) response during a passive viewing of affective faces with model-based fMRI analysis incorporating behavioral data from a validated approach/avoidance task with the same stimuli. Our a priori focus on the VS/NAc was based on (1) the VS/NAc being a central region for reward/aversion processing; (2) its activation to both positive and negative stimuli; (3) its reported involvement with tracking LA. LA from approach/avoidance to affective faces showed excellent fidelity to published measures of LA. Imaging results were then compared to the behavioral measure of LA using the same affective faces. Although there was no relationship between age and LA, we observed increasing neural differential sensitivity (NDS) of the VS/NAc to avoidance responses (negative valuations) relative to approach responses (positive valuations) with increasing age. These findings suggest that a central region for reward/aversion processing changes with age, and may require more activation to produce the same LA behavior as in younger individuals, consistent with the idea of neural efficiency observed with high IQ individuals showing less brain activation to complete the same task.
authors.affiliation: Medill Integrated Marketing Communications, Northwestern University Evanston, IL, USA ; Applied Neuromarketing Consortium: Northwestern University, Wayne State University, University of Michigan, Loughborough University School of Business and Economics (UK) and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard University Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Vijay
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Viswanathan
authors.affiliation: Mood and Motor Control Laboratory or Laboratory of Neuroimaging and Genetics, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital Boston, MA, USA ; Warren Wright Adolescent Center, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Chicago, IL, USA ; Northwestern University and Massachusetts General Hospital Phenotype Genotype Project in Addiction and Mood Disorders Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Sang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Mood and Motor Control Laboratory or Laboratory of Neuroimaging and Genetics, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Jodi M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gilman
authors.affiliation: Applied Neuromarketing Consortium: Northwestern University, Wayne State University, University of Michigan, Loughborough University School of Business and Economics (UK) and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard University Chicago, IL, USA ; Mood and Motor Control Laboratory or Laboratory of Neuroimaging and Genetics, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital Boston, MA, USA ; Warren Wright Adolescent Center, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Chicago, IL, USA ; Northwestern University and Massachusetts General Hospital Phenotype Genotype Project in Addiction and Mood Disorders Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Byoung Woo
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Applied Neuromarketing Consortium: Northwestern University, Wayne State University, University of Michigan, Loughborough University School of Business and Economics (UK) and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard University Chicago, IL, USA ; Marketing Group, Aston Business School Birmingham, UK.
authors.forename: Nick
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Applied Neuromarketing Consortium: Northwestern University, Wayne State University, University of Michigan, Loughborough University School of Business and Economics (UK) and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard University Chicago, IL, USA ; Marketing Group, Aston Business School Birmingham, UK.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chamberlain
authors.affiliation: Applied Neuromarketing Consortium: Northwestern University, Wayne State University, University of Michigan, Loughborough University School of Business and Economics (UK) and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard University Chicago, IL, USA ; Warren Wright Adolescent Center, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Sherri L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Livengood
authors.affiliation: Medill Integrated Marketing Communications, Northwestern University Evanston, IL, USA ; Applied Neuromarketing Consortium: Northwestern University, Wayne State University, University of Michigan, Loughborough University School of Business and Economics (UK) and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard University Chicago, IL, USA ; Warren Wright Adolescent Center, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Chicago, IL, USA ; Department of Marketing, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University Evanston, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Kalyan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Raman
authors.affiliation: Applied Neuromarketing Consortium: Northwestern University, Wayne State University, University of Michigan, Loughborough University School of Business and Economics (UK) and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard University Chicago, IL, USA ; Mood and Motor Control Laboratory or Laboratory of Neuroimaging and Genetics, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital Boston, MA, USA ; Warren Wright Adolescent Center, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Chicago, IL, USA ; Northwestern University and Massachusetts General Hospital Phenotype Genotype Project in Addiction and Mood Disorders Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Myung Joo
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Mood and Motor Control Laboratory or Laboratory of Neuroimaging and Genetics, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital Boston, MA, USA ; Northwestern University and Massachusetts General Hospital Phenotype Genotype Project in Addiction and Mood Disorders Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Jake
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kuster
authors.affiliation: Applied Neuromarketing Consortium: Northwestern University, Wayne State University, University of Michigan, Loughborough University School of Business and Economics (UK) and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard University Chicago, IL, USA ; Warren Wright Adolescent Center, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Stern
authors.affiliation: Applied Neuromarketing Consortium: Northwestern University, Wayne State University, University of Michigan, Loughborough University School of Business and Economics (UK) and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard University Chicago, IL, USA ; Department of Marketing, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University Evanston, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Bobby
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Calder
authors.affiliation: Medill Integrated Marketing Communications, Northwestern University Evanston, IL, USA ; Applied Neuromarketing Consortium: Northwestern University, Wayne State University, University of Michigan, Loughborough University School of Business and Economics (UK) and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard University Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Frank J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Mulhern
authors.affiliation: Applied Neuromarketing Consortium: Northwestern University, Wayne State University, University of Michigan, Loughborough University School of Business and Economics (UK) and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard University Chicago, IL, USA ; Mood and Motor Control Laboratory or Laboratory of Neuroimaging and Genetics, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital Boston, MA, USA ; Northwestern University and Massachusetts General Hospital Phenotype Genotype Project in Addiction and Mood Disorders Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Anne J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Blood
authors.affiliation: Applied Neuromarketing Consortium: Northwestern University, Wayne State University, University of Michigan, Loughborough University School of Business and Economics (UK) and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard University Chicago, IL, USA ; Mood and Motor Control Laboratory or Laboratory of Neuroimaging and Genetics, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital Boston, MA, USA ; Warren Wright Adolescent Center, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Chicago, IL, USA ; Northwestern University and Massachusetts General Hospital Phenotype Genotype Project in Addiction and Mood Disorders Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Hans C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Breiter
keywords: aging; fMRI; loss aversion; neurocompensation; nucleus accumbens; reward