title: Dysfunctional representation of expected value is associated with reinforcement-based decision-making deficits in adolescents with conduct problems.
abstract: Previous work has shown that patients with conduct problems (CP) show impairments in reinforcement-based decision-making. However, studies with patients have not previously demonstrated any relationships between impairment in any of the neurocomputations underpinning reinforcement-based decision-making and specific symptom sets [e.g. level of CP and/or callous-unemotional (CU) traits].
  
  
  
  Seventy-two youths [20 female, mean age = 13.81 (SD = 2.14), mean IQ = 102.34 (SD = 10.99)] from a residential treatment program and the community completed a passive avoidance task while undergoing functional MRI.
  
  
  
  Greater levels of CP were associated with poorer task performance. Reduced representation of expected values (EV) when making avoidance responses within bilateral anterior insula cortex/inferior frontal gyrus (AIC/iFG) and striatum was associated with greater levels of CP but not CU traits.
  
  
  
  The current data indicate that difficulties in the use of value information to motivate decisions to avoid suboptimal choices are associated with increased levels of CP (though not severity of CU traits). Moreover, they account for the behavioral deficits observed during reinforcement-based decision-making in youth with CP. In short, an individual's relative failure to utilize value information within AIC/iFG to avoid bad choices is associated with elevated levels of CP.
authors.affiliation: Section on Affective Cognitive Neuroscience, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA.|Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA.
authors.forename: Stuart F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: White
authors.affiliation: Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA.
authors.forename: Patrick M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Tyler
authors.affiliation: Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA.
authors.forename: Anna K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Erway
authors.affiliation: Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA.
authors.forename: Mary L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Botkin
authors.affiliation: Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, NE, USA.
authors.forename: Venkata
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kolli
authors.affiliation: Section on Affective Cognitive Neuroscience, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Harma
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Meffert
authors.affiliation: Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA.
authors.forename: Kayla
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pope
authors.affiliation: Section on Affective Cognitive Neuroscience, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: James R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Blair
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D019955:Conduct Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D017072:Neostriatum / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology
keywords: Conduct problems; anterior insula; decision-making; expected value; prediction error