title: Reward Contingencies Improve Goal-Directed Behavior by Enhancing Posterior Brain Attentional Regions and Increasing Corticostriatal Connectivity in Cocaine Addicts.
abstract: The dopaminergic system provides the basis for the interaction between motivation and cognition. It is triggered by the possibility of obtaining rewards to initiate the neurobehavioral adaptations necessary to achieve them by directing the information from motivational circuits to cognitive and action circuits. In drug addiction, the altered dopamine (DA) modulation of the meso-cortico-limbic reward circuitry, such as the prefrontal cortex (PFC), underlies the disproportionate motivational value of drug use at the expense of other non-drug reinforcers and the user's loss of control over his/her drug intake. We examine how the magnitude of the reward affects goal-directed processes in healthy control (HC) subjects and abstinent cocaine dependent (ACD) patients by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a counting Stroop task with blocked levels of monetary incentives of different magnitudes (€0, €0.01, €0.5, €1 or €1.5). Our results showed that increasing reward magnitude enhances (1) performance facilitation in both groups; (2) left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) activity in HC and left superior occipital cortex activity in ACD; and (3) left DLPFC and left putamen connectivity in ACD compared to HC. Moreover, we observed that (4) dorsal striatal and pallidum activity was associated with craving and addiction severity during the parametric increases in the monetary reward. In conclusion, the brain response to gradients in monetary value was different in HC and ACD, but both groups showed improved task performance due to the possibility of obtaining greater monetary rewards.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicología Básica, Clínica y Psicobiología. Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Castelló de la Plana, Spain.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rosell-Negre
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicologia y Sociología. Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan-Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Bustamante
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicología Básica, Clínica y Psicobiología. Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Castelló de la Plana, Spain.|FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain.
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fuentes-Claramonte
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicología Básica, Clínica y Psicobiología. Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Castelló de la Plana, Spain.
authors.forename: Víctor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Costumero
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Conductas Adictivas, Hospital General Universitario, Consellería de Sanitat, Castellón de la Plana, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan-José
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Llopis-Llacer
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicología Básica, Clínica y Psicobiología. Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Castelló de la Plana, Spain.
authors.forename: Alfonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barrós-Loscertales
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D019970:Cocaine-Related Disorders / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005917:Globus Pallidus / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation / Q000502:physiology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012201:Reward
chemical_list: D004298:Dopamine