Reward Learning Sample Clauses

Reward Learning. The differential response of the BLA as a result of positive or negative learning (or valence encoding) can be seen in human fMRI studies as well as electrophysiology studies of non-human primates discriminating between cues; when those cues are reversed, some ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ neurons stopped responding, or were inhibited, demonstrating that it was not the sensory features of the cue that were triggering them, but the values they represented (Gottfried et al., 2003; Xxxxx et al., 2006; Xxxxxx and Xxxxx, 2009). In rodents, BLA neurons can be distinguished not only based on where they connect to, e.g. the NAc, part of the reward network, but also by what genes they express, allowing more fine grained dissections of how positive and negative signals are encoded in the brain (Xxxxxxxx et al., 2013; Xxxxxxx et al., 2015). OTR expression is an important modulator of the reward network. During reward anticipation, healthy individuals carrying the OTR rs2268493 autism risk allele showed decreased activation of the right amygdala and other parts of the reward network compared to non-carriers and heterozygotes (Xxxxxxx et al., 2014). Importantly, lesioning the amygdala does not impair all reward based behaviors, only those specifically related to changing reward value (Xxxxxxx and Bachevalier, 2007). There is evidence of increased BOLD activity in the amygdala during monetary reward-learning and decision-making tasks. For example, the framing effect from economics where a participant’s decisions about which option to select is manipulated by presenting the choice in terms of either potential loss or gain; this effect is correlated with activation of the amygdala (Xx Xxxxxxx et al., 2006).