Adult age differences in frontostriatal representation of prediction error but not reward outcome
Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: Emerging evidence from decision neuroscience suggests that although younger and older adults show similar frontostriatal representations of reward magnitude, older adults often show deficits in feedback-driven reinforcement learning. In the present study, healthy adults completed reward-based tasks that did or did not depend on probabilistic learning, while undergoing functional neuroimaging. We observed reductions in the frontostriatal representation of prediction errors during probabilistic learning in older adults. In contrast, we found evidence for stability across adulthood in the representation of reward outcome in a task that did not require learning. Together, the results identify changes across adulthood in the dynamic coding of relational representations of feedback, in spite of preserved reward sensitivity in old age. Overall, the results suggest that the neural representation of prediction error, but not reward outcome, is reduced in old age. These findings reveal a potential dissociation between cognition and motivation with age and identify a potential mechanism for explaining changes in learning-dependent decision making in old adulthood.
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,190
Awards: G1527088834, A computational neuroscience approach to frontal compensation in decision-making, Incentive learning and decision making in the aging brain, Imaging the Human Reward System Across the Adult Life Span, G4694802309, Neuromodulation of Motivated Cognition and Decision Making Across Adulthood, G8056464652, Developmental Changes in Neural Processes Underlying Inattention, Impulsivity and Regulation, Anticipation of Reward and Risk Across the Lifespan
OpenAlex ID: W2138832078