title: Associations between Electrophysiological Evidence of Reward and Punishment-Based Learning and Psychotic Experiences and Social Anhedonia in At-Risk Groups.
abstract: Both positive psychotic symptoms and anhedonia are associated with striatal functioning, but few studies have linked risk for psychotic disorders to a neural measure evoked during a striatal dopamine-related reward and punishment-based learning task, such as a reversal learning task (RLT; Cools et al, 2009). The feedback-related negativity (FRN) is a neural response that in part reflects striatal dopamine functioning. We recorded EEG during the RLT in three groups: (a) people with psychotic experiences (PE; n=20) at increased risk for psychotic disorders; (b) people with extremely elevated social anhedonia (SocAnh; n=22); and (c) controls (n=20). Behaviorally, consistent with increased striatal dopamine, the PE group exhibited better behavioral learning (ie, faster responses) after unexpected reward than after unexpected punishment. Moreover, although the control and SocAnh groups showed a larger FRN to punishment than reward, the PE group showed similar FRNs to punishment and reward, with a numerically larger FRN to reward than punishment (with similar results on these trials also found for a P3a component). These results are among the first to link a neural response evoked by a reward and punishment-based learning task specifically with elevated psychosis risk.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.
authors.forename: Nicole R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Karcher
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.
authors.forename: Bruce D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Bartholow
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.
authors.forename: John G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Kerns
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D059445:Anhedonia / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011678:Punishment; D012193:Reversal Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D012201:Reward; D012919:Social Behavior; D055815:Young Adult