title: Reduced risk avoidance and altered neural correlates of feedback processing in patients with borderline personality disorder.
abstract: Patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) show deficits in reward-guided decision making and learning. The present study examined risk-taking behavior in combination with feedback processing. Eighteen BPD patients and 18 healthy controls performed a probabilistic two-choice gambling task, while an electroencephalogram was recorded. Options differed in risk, but were identical in expected value and outcome probability. The feedback-related negativity (FRN) and the feedback-related P300 were analyzed. Healthy controls preferred low-risk over high-risk options, whereas BPD patients chose both option with equal probability. FRN amplitudes were reduced in BPD, but effects of feedback valence and risk did not differ between groups. This suggests attenuated outcome processing in the anterior cingulate cortex, but intact reward prediction error signaling. Furthermore, the modulation of the feedback-related P300 with feedback valence and risk was smaller in BPD patients, and decreased P300 amplitudes were associated with increased behavioral risk-taking behavior. These findings could relate to the reduced ability of BPD patients to learn and adequately adjust their behavior based on feedback information, possibly due to reduced significance of negative feedback.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany; Institute of Psychology, Otto-von-Guericke Universität, Magdeburg, Germany. Electronic address: endrass@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Tanja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Endrass
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Beate
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schuermann
authors.affiliation: Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Roepke
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kessler-Scheil
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kathmann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D018913:Event-Related Potentials, P300 / Q000502:physiology*; D030141:Feedback, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule; D012201:Reward; D012309:Risk-Taking; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Borderline personality disorder; Decision making; EEG; FRN; Feedback processing; Feedback-related negativity; P300; Risk