Short-Term Plasticity in Auditory Cortical Circuit Evoked by Monetary Incentive Delay Task

19 Pages Posted: 22 Dec 2015

See all articles by Elena Krugliakova

Elena Krugliakova

National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow)

Alexey Gorin

National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow)

Anna Shestakova

National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow) - Centre for Cognition and Decision Making

Vasily Klucharev

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Rotterdam School of Management (RSM); Radboud University Nijmegen; National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow)

Date Written: December 22, 2015

Abstract

To choose optimally, people must consider both the potential value and the probability of a desired outcome. This idea is reflected in the expected value theory, which considers both the potential value of different courses of action and the probability that each action will lead to a desired outcome. Accordingly, during decision-making people choose an alternative with the highest expected value. The dominant neurobiological models of decision-making assume that the sensory inputs to the decision-making neural networks are stationary. However, many cognitive studies have demonstrated experience-induced plasticity in the primary sensory cortex, suggesting that repeated decisions could modulate the sensory processing. We investigated experience-induced plastic changes in the neural representation of the acoustic cues coding different expected values using a repeated monetary incentive delay task (MID-task; Knutson et al., 2005). Subjects participated in two extensive sessions of an audio-version of the MID-task. Next, we investigated electrophysiological correlates of the experience-induced plasticity of the primary auditory cortex by comparing the mismatch negativity (MMN) component before and after the MID-task sessions. We found that after extensive MID-task training, the stimuli with largest expected value evoked larger MMN responses (as compared to the baseline oddball session) that probably reflects a more fine-grained stimulus discrimination of highly valued stimuli. After extensive MID-task training acoustic cues coding intermediate expected values evoked larger P3a component (as compared to the baseline oddball session), that can indicate a stronger involuntary attention switching toward moderately valued stimuli. Overall, our results show that continuing valuation during the MID-task evokes a short-term plastic changes in the auditory cortices associated with the improved stimulus discrimination and the involuntary attention towards auditory cues with the high expected value.

Keywords: expected value, auditory cortex, neuroplasticity, EEG, mismatch negativity, MMN, P300

JEL Classification: Z

Suggested Citation

Krugliakova, Elena and Gorin, Alexey and Shestakova, Anna and Klucharev, Vasily, Short-Term Plasticity in Auditory Cortical Circuit Evoked by Monetary Incentive Delay Task (December 22, 2015). Higher School of Economics Research Paper No. WP BRP 55/PSY/2015, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2707057 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2707057

Elena Krugliakova (Contact Author)

National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow) ( email )

Myasnitskaya street, 20
Moscow, Moscow 119017
Russia

Alexey Gorin

National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow) ( email )

Myasnitskaya street, 20
Moscow, Moscow 119017
Russia

Anna Shestakova

National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow) - Centre for Cognition and Decision Making ( email )

Moscow
Russia

Vasily Klucharev

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) ( email )

Rotterdam
Netherlands

Radboud University Nijmegen ( email )

Postbus 9108
Nijmegen, 6500 HK
Netherlands

National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow) ( email )

Myasnitskaya street, 20
Moscow, Moscow 119017
Russia

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