title: Striatal structure and function predict individual biases in learning to avoid pain.
abstract: Pain is an elemental inducer of avoidance. Here, we demonstrate that people differ in how they learn to avoid pain, with some individuals refraining from actions that resulted in painful outcomes, whereas others favor actions that helped prevent pain. These individual biases were best explained by differences in learning from outcome prediction errors and were associated with distinct forms of striatal responses to painful outcomes. Specifically, striatal responses to pain were modulated in a manner consistent with an aversive prediction error in individuals who learned predominantly from pain, whereas in individuals who learned predominantly from success in preventing pain, modulation was consistent with an appetitive prediction error. In contrast, striatal responses to success in preventing pain were consistent with an appetitive prediction error in both groups. Furthermore, variation in striatal structure, encompassing the region where pain prediction errors were expressed, predicted participants' predominant mode of learning, suggesting the observed learning biases may reflect stable individual traits. These results reveal functional and structural neural components underlying individual differences in avoidance learning, which may be important contributors to psychiatric disorders involving pathological harm avoidance behavior.
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom; Max Planck University College London Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London WC1B 5EH, United Kingdom; e.eldar@ucl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Eran
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Eldar
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom; Max Planck University College London Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London WC1B 5EH, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Tobias U
authors.initials: TU
authors.lastname: Hauser
authors.affiliation: Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, University College London, London W1T 4JG, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dayan
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom; Max Planck University College London Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London WC1B 5EH, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Raymond J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Dolan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000502:physiology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology; D004597:Electroshock; D005260:Female; D005715:Gambling; D005717:Games, Experimental; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010146:Pain / Q000517:prevention & control*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen
keywords: avoidance learning; individual differences; pain; prediction errors; striatum