|
|
 |
|
Original Article |
|
|
Neuropsychopharmacology (2002) 26 682-691.S0893-133X(01)00414-6
Decision-making in a Risk-taking Task: A PET Study
Monique Ernst1 MD, Ph.D, Karen Bolla2 Ph.D, Maria Mouratidis2 MA, Carlo Contoreggi1 MD, John A Matochik1 Ph.D, V Kurian1 MS, MHS, Jean-Lud Cadet1 MD, Alane S Kimes1 Ph.D and Edythe D London1,3 Ph.D |
|
|
|
1Intramural Research Program of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21224 USA
2Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21224 USA
3Neuropsychiatric Institute, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90024 USA
Correspondence: Dr Monique Ernst, MAP NIMH, Room 118, MSC 2670, 15K North Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892-0135, Tel.: (301) 402-9355, Fax: (301) 402-2010, E-mail: ernstm@intra.nimh.nih.gov
|
|
|
|
ABSTRACT
|
|
As decision-making is central to motivated behavior, understanding its neural substrates can help elucidate the deficits that characterize various maladaptive behaviors. Twenty healthy adults performed a risk-taking task during positron emission tomography with 15O-labeled water. The task, a computerized card game, tests the ability to weigh short-term rewards against long-term losses. A control task matched all components of the risk-taking task except for decision-making and the difference between responses to contingent and non-contingent reward and punishment. Decision-making (2 runs of the active task minus 2 runs of the control task) activated orbital and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate, insula, inferior parietal cortex and thalamus predominantly on the right side, and cerebellum predominantly on the left side. In an exploratory analysis, guessing (run 1 minus run 2 of the active task) accompanied activation of sensory-motor associative areas, and amygdala on the left side, whereas informed decision-making (run 2 minus run 1) activated areas that subserve memory (hippocampus, posterior cingulate) and motor control (striatum, cerebellum). The findings provide a framework for future investigations of decision-making in maladaptive behaviors.
Keywords: Reward; Punishment; Guessing; Informed decision; Orbital frontal cortex; Cognitive task; Neuroimaging |
|
| |
top  |
|
|
|
|
Send to a friend
Download PDF
Full Text
Next Article
Previous Article
Table of Contents