Electrophysiological investigation of reward anticipation and outcome evaluation during slot machine play.

Slot machines are a popular form of gambling, offering a tractable way to experimentally model reward processes. This study used a 3-reel slot paradigm to assess psychologically distinct phases of reward processing, reflecting anticipation, and early- and late-stage outcome processing. EEG measures of winning, nearly missing (a losing outcome revealed at the final, third reel), and "totally" missing (a losing outcome revealed earlier, at the second reel) were collected from healthy adults (n=54). Condition effects were evaluated in: i) event-related potential (ERP) components reflecting anticipatory attention (stimulus preceding negativity, SPN) and outcome processing (reward positivity, RewP and late-positive potential, LPP) and ii) total power and phase synchrony of theta and delta band oscillations. Behaviorally, trial initiation was fastest after a near miss outcome and slowest after a winning outcome. As expected, a significant SPN was observed for possible wins (AA) vs. total misses (AB), consistent with reward anticipation. Larger win (AAA) vs. near miss (AAB) amplitudes were observed for the RewP; LPP amplitudes were largest for wins (AAA), intermediate for near misses (AAB), and smallest for total misses (ABC), reflecting significant early (RewP) and late-stage (LPP) outcome processing effects. There was an effect of reel position on the RewP, with larger amplitude in the final reel (AAA-AAB) relative to the 2nd-reel locked difference waves (AA-AB). Across all outcomes, near misses elicited the largest and most phase-synchronized theta responses, while wins elicited larger and more phase-synchronized delta responses than total misses, with delta band measures not distinguishing between near misses and wins. . Phase locking measures contrasting win vs. near miss delta and theta synchronization, within time windows corresponding to ERP measurements, covaried with RewP, but not SPN or LPP, amplitude. Lastly, EEG measures showed differential relationships with age and self-reported consummatory pleasure. In the context of slot machine play, where reward anticipation and attainment place minimal demands on effort and skill, ERP and time-frequency methods capture distinct neurophysiological signatures of reward anticipation and outcome processing.

Resting-state thalamic dysconnectivity in schizophrenia and relationships with symptoms.

BACKGROUND: Schizophrenia (SZ) is a severe neuropsychiatric disorder associated with disrupted connectivity within the thalamic-cortico-cerebellar network. Resting-state functional connectivity studies have reported thalamic hypoconnectivity with the cerebellum and prefrontal cortex as well as thalamic hyperconnectivity with sensory cortical regions in SZ patients compared with healthy comparison participants (HCs). However, fundamental questions remain regarding the clinical significance of these connectivity abnormalities. METHOD: Resting state seed-based functional connectivity was used to investigate thalamus to whole brain connectivity using multi-site data including 183 SZ patients and 178 matched HCs. Statistical significance was based on a voxel-level FWE-corrected height threshold of p < 0.001. The relationships between positive and negative symptoms of SZ and regions of the brain demonstrating group differences in thalamic connectivity were examined. RESULTS: HC and SZ participants both demonstrated widespread positive connectivity between the thalamus and cortical regions. Compared with HCs, SZ patients had reduced thalamic connectivity with bilateral cerebellum and anterior cingulate cortex. In contrast, SZ patients had greater thalamic connectivity with multiple sensory-motor regions, including bilateral pre- and post-central gyrus, middle/inferior occipital gyrus, and middle/superior temporal gyrus. Thalamus to middle temporal gyrus connectivity was positively correlated with hallucinations and delusions, while thalamus to cerebellar connectivity was negatively correlated with delusions and bizarre behavior. CONCLUSIONS: Thalamic hyperconnectivity with sensory regions and hypoconnectivity with cerebellar regions in combination with their relationship to clinical features of SZ suggest that thalamic dysconnectivity may be a core neurobiological feature of SZ that underpins positive symptoms.

Error-related brain activity dissociates hoarding disorder from obsessive-compulsive disorder.

BACKGROUND: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is associated with an abnormally large error-related negativity (ERN), an electrophysiological measure of error monitoring in response to performance errors, but it is unclear if hoarding disorder (HD) also shows this abnormality. This study aimed to determine whether the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying error monitoring are similarly compromised in HD and OCD. METHOD: We used a visual flanker task to assess ERN in response to performance errors in 14 individuals with HD, 27 with OCD, 10 with HD+OCD, and 45 healthy controls (HC). Age-corrected performance and ERN amplitudes were examined using analyses of variance and planned pairwise group comparisons. RESULTS: A main effect of hoarding on ERN (p = 0.031) was observed, indicating ERN amplitudes were attenuated in HD relative to non-HD subjects. A group × age interaction effect on ERN was also evident. In HD-positive subjects, ERN amplitude deficits were significantly greater in younger individuals (r = -0.479, p = 0.018), whereas there were no significant ERN changes with increasing age in OCD and HC participants. CONCLUSIONS: The reduced ERN in HD relative to OCD and HC provides evidence that HD is neurobiologically distinct from OCD, and suggests that deficient error monitoring may be a core pathophysiological feature of HD. This effect was particularly prominent in younger HD participants, further suggesting that deficient error monitoring manifests most strongly early in the illness course and/or in individuals with a relatively early illness onset.

Converging evidence for gamma synchrony deficits in schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: In electroencephalogram (EEG) studies of auditory steady-state responses (ASSRs), patients with schizophrenia show a deficit in power and/or phase-locking, particularly at the 40 Hz frequency where these responses resonate. In addition, studies of the transient gamma-band response (GBR) elicited by single tones have revealed deficits in gamma power and phase-locking in schizophrenia. We examined the degree to which the 40 Hz ASSR and the transient GBR to single tones are correlated and whether they assess overlapping or distinct gamma-band abnormalities in schizophrenia. METHODS: EEG was recorded during 40 Hz ASSR and auditory oddball paradigms from 28 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (SZ) and 25 age- and gender-matched healthy controls (HC). The ASSR was elicited by 500 ms click trains, and the transient GBR was elicited by the standard tones from the oddball paradigm. Gamma phase and magnitude values, calculated using Morlet wavelet transformations, were used to derive total power and phase-locking measures. RESULTS: Relative to HC, SZ patients had significant deficits in total gamma power and phase-locking for both ASSR- and GBR-based measures. Within both groups, the 40 Hz ASSR and GBR phase-locking measures were significantly correlated, with a similar trend evident for the total power measures. Moreover, co-varying for GBR substantially reduced 40 Hz ASSR power and phase-locking differences between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: 40 Hz ASSR and transient GBR measures provide very similar information about auditory gamma abnormalities in schizophrenia, despite the overall enhancement of 40 Hz ASSR total power and phase-locking values relative to the corresponding GBR values.

Anatomical and fMRI-network comparison of multiple DLPFC targeting strategies for repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment of depression.

BACKGROUND: The efficacy of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for depression may vary depending on the subregion stimulated within the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Clinical TMS typically uses scalp-based landmarks for DLPFC targeting, rather than individualized MRI guidance. OBJECTIVE: In rTMS patients, determine the brain systems targeted by multiple DLPFC stimulation rules by computing several surrogate measures: underlying brain targets labeled with connectivity-based atlases, subgenual cingulate anticorrelation strength, and functionally connected networks. METHODS: Forty-nine patients in a randomized controlled trial of rTMS therapy for treatment resistant major depression underwent structural and functional MRI. DLPFC rules were applied virtually using MR-image guidance. Underlying cortical regions were labeled, and connectivity with the subgenual cingulate and whole-brain computed. RESULTS: Scalp-targeting rules applied post hoc to these MRIs that adjusted for head size, including Beam F3, were comparably precise, successful in directly targeting classical DLPFC and frontal networks, and anticorrelated with the subgenual cingulate. In contrast, all rules involving fixed distances introduced variability in regions and networks targeted. The 5 cm rule targeted a transitional DLPFC region with a different connectivity profile from the adjusted rules. Seed-based connectivity analyses identified multiple regions, such as posterior cingulate and inferior parietal lobe, that warrant further study in order to understand their potential contribution to clinical response. CONCLUSION: EEG-based rules consistently targeted DLPFC brain regions with resting-state fMRI features known to be associated with depression response. These results provide a bridge from lab to clinic by enabling clinicians to relate scalp-targeting rules to functionally connected brain systems.

Electrophysiological and diffusion tensor imaging evidence of delayed corollary discharges in patients with schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: Patients with schizophrenia (SZ) characteristically exhibit supranormal levels of cortical activity to self-induced sensory stimuli, ostensibly because of abnormalities in the neural signals (corollary discharges, CDs) normatively involved in suppressing the sensory consequences of self-generated actions. The nature of these abnormalities is unknown. This study investigated whether SZ patients experience CDs that are abnormally delayed in their arrival at the sensory cortex. METHOD: Twenty-one patients with SZ and 25 matched control participants underwent electroencephalography (EEG). Participants' level of cortical suppression was calculated as the amplitude of the N1 component evoked by a button press-elicited auditory stimulus, subtracted from the N1 amplitude evoked by the same stimulus presented passively. In the three experimental conditions, the auditory stimulus was delivered 0, 50 or 100 ms subsequent to the button-press. Fifteen SZ patients and 17 healthy controls (HCs) also underwent diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and the fractional anisotropy (FA) of participants' arcuate fasciculus was used to predict their level of cortical suppression in the three conditions. RESULTS: While the SZ patients exhibited subnormal N1 suppression to undelayed, self-generated auditory stimuli, these deficits were eliminated by imposing a 50-ms, but not a 100-ms, delay between the button-press and the evoked stimulus. Furthermore, the extent to which the 50-ms delay normalized a patient's level of N1 suppression was linearly related to the FA of their arcuate fasciculus. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that SZ patients experience temporally delayed CDs to self-generated auditory stimuli, putatively because of structural damage to the white-matter (WM) fasciculus connecting the sites of discharge initiation and destination.

Targeting location relates to treatment response in active but not sham rTMS stimulation.

BACKGROUND: Precise targeting of brain functional networks is believed critical for treatment efficacy of rTMS (repetitive pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation) in treatment resistant major depression. OBJECTIVE: To use imaging data from a "failed" clinical trial of rTMS in Veterans to test whether treatment response was associated with rTMS coil location in active but not sham stimulation, and compare fMRI functional connectivity between those stimulation locations. METHODS: An imaging substudy of 49 Veterans (mean age, 56 years; range, 27-78 years; 39 male) from a randomized, sham-controlled, double-blinded clinical trial of rTMS treatment, grouping participants by clinical response, followed by group comparisons of treatment locations identified by individualized fiducial markers on structural MRI and resting state fMRI derived networks. RESULTS: The average stimulation location for responders versus nonresponders differed in the active but not in the sham condition (P = .02). The average responder location derived from the active condition showed significant negative functional connectivity with the subgenual cingulate (P < .001) while the nonresponder location did not (P = .17), a finding replicated in independent cohorts of 84 depressed and 35 neurotypical participants. The responder and nonresponder stimulation locations evoked different seed based networks (FDR corrected clusters, all P < .03), revealing additional brain regions related to rTMS treatment outcome. CONCLUSION: These results provide evidence from a randomized controlled trial that clinical response to rTMS is related to accuracy in targeting the region within DLPFC that is negatively correlated with subgenual cingulate. These results support the validity of a neuro-functionally informed rTMS therapy target in Veterans.

fMRI activity correlated with auditory hallucinations during performance of a working memory task: data from the FBIRN consortium study.

INTRODUCTION: Auditory hallucinations are a hallmark symptom of schizophrenia. The neural basis of auditory hallucinations was examined using data from a working memory task. Data were acquired within a multisite consortium and this unique dataset provided the opportunity to analyze data from a large number of subjects who had been tested on the same procedures across sites. We hypothesized that regions involved in verbal working memory and language processing would show activity that was associated with levels of hallucinations during a condition where subjects were rehearsing the stimuli. METHODS: Data from the Sternberg Item Recognition Paradigm, a working memory task, were acquired during functional magnetic resonance imaging procedures. The data were collected and preprocessed by the functional imaging biomedical informatics research network consortium. Schizophrenic subjects were split into nonhallucinating and hallucinating subgroups and activity during the probe condition (in which subjects rehearsed stimuli) was examined. Levels of activation from contrast images for the probe phase (collapsed over levels of memory load) of the working memory task were also correlated with levels of auditory hallucinations from the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms scores. RESULTS: Patients with auditory hallucinations (relative to nonhallucinating subjects) showed decreased activity during the probe condition in verbal working memory/language processing regions, including the superior temporal and inferior parietal regions. These regions also showed associations between activity and levels of hallucinations in a correlation analysis. DISCUSSION: The association between activation and hallucinations scores in the left hemisphere language/working memory regions replicates the findings of previous studies and provides converging evidence for the association between superior temporal abnormalities and auditory hallucinations.