title: Youth with substance abuse histories exhibit dysfunctional representation of expected value during a passive avoidance task.
abstract: Individuals with substance abuse (SA) histories show impairment in the computations necessary for decision-making, including expected value (EV) and prediction error (PE). Neuroimaging findings, however, have been inconsistent. Sixteen youth with (SApositive) and 29 youth without (SAnegative) substance abuse histories completed a passive avoidance task while undergoing functional MRI. The groups did not significantly differ on age, gender composition or IQ. Behavioral results indicated that SApositiveyouth showed significantly less learning than SAnegativeyouth over the task. SApositiveyouth show problems representing EV information when attempting to avoid sub-optimal choices in bilateral inferior frontal gyrus and striatum. Furthermore, SApositiveyouth showed a significantly increased differential response to reward versus punishment feedback modulated by PE in posterior cingulate cortex relative to SAnegativeyouth. Disrupted decision-making is likely to exacerbate SA as a failure to represent EV during the avoidance of sub-optimal choices is likely to increase the likelihood of SA. With respect to the representation of PE, future work will be needed to clarify the impact of different substances on the neural systems underpinning PE representation. Moreover, interaction of age/development and substance abuse on PE signaling will need to be explored.
authors.affiliation: Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14100 Crawford Street, Boys Town, NE 68010, USA. Electronic address: stuart.white@boystown.org.
authors.forename: Stuart F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: White
authors.affiliation: Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14100 Crawford Street, Boys Town, NE 68010, USA. Electronic address: patrick.tyler@boystown.org.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tyler
authors.affiliation: Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14100 Crawford Street, Boys Town, NE 68010, USA. Electronic address: lormarm@boystown.org.
authors.forename: Mary L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Botkin
authors.affiliation: Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14100 Crawford Street, Boys Town, NE 68010, USA. Electronic address: anna.erway@boystown.org.
authors.forename: Anna K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Erway
authors.affiliation: Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14100 Crawford Street, Boys Town, NE 68010, USA. Electronic address: laura.thornton@boystown.org.
authors.forename: Laura C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Thornton
authors.affiliation: Creighton University School of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, 3528 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE 68131, USA. Electronic address: venkatakolli@creighton.edu.
authors.forename: Venkata
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kolli
authors.affiliation: Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14100 Crawford Street, Boys Town, NE 68010, USA. Electronic address: kayla.pope@boystown.org.
authors.forename: Kayla
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pope
authors.affiliation: Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14100 Crawford Street, Boys Town, NE 68010, USA. Electronic address: harma.meffert@boystown.org.
authors.forename: Harma
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Meffert
authors.affiliation: Section on Affective Cognitive Neuroscience, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, 15K North Drive, Rm. 206, MSC 2670, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA. Electronic address: jamesblair@mail.nih.gov.
authors.forename: R James
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Blair
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D011678:Punishment; D012201:Reward; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*
keywords: Decision-making; Expected value; Prediction error; Substance abuse