Universität zu Köln

Wiehler, A., Chakroun, K. and Peters, J. (2021). Attenuated Directed Exploration during Reinforcement Learning in Gambling Disorder. J. Neurosci., 41 (11). S. 2512 - 2523. WASHINGTON: SOC NEUROSCIENCE. ISSN 1529-2401

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Abstract

Gambling disorder (GD) is a behavioral addiction associated with impairments in value-based decision-making and behavioral flexibility and might be linked to changes in the dopamine system. Maximizing long-term rewards requires a flexible trade -off between the exploitation of known options and the exploration of novel options for information gain. This exploration-exploitation trade-off is thought to depend on dopamine neurotransmission. We hypothesized that human gamblers would show a reduction in directed (uncertainty-based) exploration, accompanied by changes in brain activity in a fronto-parietal exploration-related network. Twenty-three frequent, non-treatment seeking gamblers and twenty-three healthy matched con-trols (all male) performed a four-armed bandit task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Computational modeling using hierarchical Bayesian parameter estimation revealed signatures of directed exploration, random exploration, and perseveration in both groups. Gamblers showed a reduction in directed exploration, whereas random exploration and perseveration were similar between groups. Neuroimaging revealed no evidence for group differences in neural representa-tions of basic task variables (expected value, prediction errors). Our hypothesis of reduced frontal pole (FP) recruitment in gamblers was not supported. Exploratory analyses showed that during directed exploration, gamblers showed reduced parietal cortex and substantia-nigra/ventral-tegmental-area activity. Cross-validated classification analyses revealed that connectivity in an exploration-related network was predictive of group status, suggesting that connectivity patterns might be more predictive of problem gambling than univariate effects. Findings reveal specific reductions of strategic exploration in gamblers that might be linked to altered processing in a fronto-parietal network and/or changes in dopamine neurotransmission implicated in GD.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Wiehler, A. UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Chakroun, K. UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Peters, J. UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-588296
DOI:	10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1607-20.2021
Journal or Publication Title:	J. Neurosci.
Volume:	41
Number:	11
Page Range:	S. 2512 - 2523
Date:	2021
Publisher:	SOC NEUROSCIENCE
Place of Publication:	WASHINGTON
ISSN:	1529-2401
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language INDIVIDUAL-DIFFERENCES; FRONTOPOLAR CORTEX; PREDICTION ERRORS; CROSS-VALIDATION; STRIATAL UPS; DOPAMINE; REWARD; EXPLOITATION; INFORMATION; GAMBLERS Multiple languages Neurosciences Multiple languages
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/58829