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Parr AC, Calancie OG, Coe BC, Khalid-Khan S, Munoz DP. Impulsivity and Emotional Dysregulation Predict Choice Behavior During a Mixed-Strategy Game in Adolescents With Borderline Personality Disorder. Front Neurosci 2022; 15:667399. [PMID: 35237117 PMCID: PMC8882924 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2021.667399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2021] [Accepted: 12/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Impulsivity and emotional dysregulation are two core features of borderline personality disorder (BPD), and the neural mechanisms recruited during mixed-strategy interactions overlap with frontolimbic networks that have been implicated in BPD. We investigated strategic choice patterns during the classic two-player game, Matching Pennies, where the most efficient strategy is to choose each option randomly from trial-to-trial to avoid exploitation by one’s opponent. Twenty-seven female adolescents with BPD (mean age: 16 years) and twenty-seven age-matched female controls (mean age: 16 years) participated in an experiment that explored the relationship between strategic choice behavior and impulsivity in both groups and emotional dysregulation in BPD. Relative to controls, BPD participants showed marginally fewer reinforcement learning biases, particularly decreased lose-shift biases, increased variability in reaction times (coefficient of variation; CV), and a greater percentage of anticipatory decisions. A subset of BPD participants with high levels of impulsivity showed higher overall reward rates, and greater modulation of reaction times by outcome, particularly following loss trials, relative to control and BPD participants with lower levels of impulsivity. Additionally, BPD participants with higher levels of emotional dysregulation showed marginally increased reward rate and increased entropy in choice patterns. Together, our preliminary results suggest that impulsivity and emotional dysregulation may contribute to variability in mixed-strategy decision-making in female adolescents with BPD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashley C. Parr
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
- Division of Child and Youth Mental Health, Kingston Health Sciences Centre, Kingston, ON, Canada
- *Correspondence: Ashley C. Parr,
| | - Olivia G. Calancie
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada
- Division of Child and Youth Mental Health, Kingston Health Sciences Centre, Kingston, ON, Canada
| | - Brian C. Coe
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada
| | - Sarosh Khalid-Khan
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada
- Division of Child and Youth Mental Health, Kingston Health Sciences Centre, Kingston, ON, Canada
| | - Douglas P. Munoz
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada
- Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada
- Douglas P. Munoz,
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Parr AC, Coe BC, Munoz DP, Dorris MC. A novel fMRI paradigm to dissociate the behavioral and neural components of mixed-strategy decision making from non-strategic decisions in humans. Eur J Neurosci 2019; 51:1914-1927. [PMID: 31596980 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.14586] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2019] [Revised: 08/22/2019] [Accepted: 09/18/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
During competitive interactions, such as predator-prey or team sports, the outcome of one's actions is dependent on both their own choices and those of their opponents. Success in these rivalries requires that individuals choose dynamically and unpredictably, often adopting a mixed strategy. Understanding the neural basis of strategic decision making is complicated by the fact that it recruits various cognitive processes that are often shared with non-strategic forms of decision making, such as value estimation, working memory, response inhibition, response selection, and reward processes. Although researchers have explored neural activity within key brain regions during mixed-strategy games, how brain activity differs in the context of strategic interactions versus non-strategic choices is not well understood. We developed a novel behavioral paradigm to dissociate choice behavior during mixed-strategy interactions from non-strategic choices, and we used task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to contrast brain activation. In a block design, participants competed in the classic mixed-strategy game, "matching pennies," against a dynamic computer opponent designed to exploit predictability in players' response patterns. Results were contrasted with a non-strategic task that had comparable sensory input, motor output, and reward rate; thus, differences in behavior and brain activation reflect strategic processes. The mixed-strategy game was associated with activation of a distributed cortico-striatal network compared to the non-strategic task. We propose that choosing in mixed-strategy contexts requires additional cognitive demands present to a lesser degree during the control task, illustrating the strength of this design in probing function of cognitive systems beyond core sensory, motor, and reward processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashley C Parr
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.,Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Brian C Coe
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada
| | - Douglas P Munoz
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.,Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada
| | - Michael C Dorris
- Institute of Neuroscience, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
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Yu G, Xu B, Zhao Y, Zhang B, Yang M, Kan JYY, Milstein DM, Thevarajah D, Dorris MC. Microsaccade direction reflects the economic value of potential saccade goals and predicts saccade choice. J Neurophysiol 2016; 115:741-51. [PMID: 26609118 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00987.2015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2015] [Accepted: 11/20/2015] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Microsaccades are small-amplitude (typically <1°), ballistic eye movements that occur when attempting to fixate gaze. Initially thought to be generated randomly, it has recently been established that microsaccades are influenced by sensory stimuli, attentional processes, and certain cognitive states. Whether decision processes influence microsaccades, however, is unknown. Here, we adapted two classic economic tasks to examine whether microsaccades reflect evolving saccade decisions. Volitional saccade choices of monkey and human subjects provided a measure of the subjective value of targets. Importantly, analyses occurred during a period of complete darkness to minimize the known influence of sensory and attentional processes on microsaccades. As the time of saccadic choice approached, microsaccade direction became the following: 1) biased toward targets as a function of their subjective value and 2) predictive of upcoming, voluntary choice. Our results indicate that microsaccade direction is influenced by and is a reliable tell of evolving saccade decisions. Our results are consistent with dynamic decision processes within the midbrain superior colliculus; that is, microsaccade direction is influenced by the transition of activity toward caudal saccade regions associated with high saccade value and/or future saccade choice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gongchen Yu
- Institute of Neuroscience and Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China; and
| | - Baijie Xu
- Institute of Neuroscience and Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China; and
| | - Yuchen Zhao
- Institute of Neuroscience and Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China; and
| | - Beizhen Zhang
- Institute of Neuroscience and Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China; and
| | - Mingpo Yang
- Institute of Neuroscience and Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China; and
| | - Janis Ying Ying Kan
- Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
| | - David Martin Milstein
- Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
| | - Dhushan Thevarajah
- Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
| | - Michael Christopher Dorris
- Institute of Neuroscience and Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China; and
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Abstract
Game theory outlines optimal response strategies during mixed-strategy competitions. The neural processes involved in choosing individual strategic actions, however, remain poorly understood. Here, we tested whether the superior colliculus (SC), a brain region critical for generating sensory-guided saccades, is also involved in choosing saccades under strategic conditions. Monkeys were free to choose either of two saccade targets as they competed against a computer opponent during the mixed-strategy game "matching pennies." The accuracy with which presaccadic SC activity predicted upcoming choice gradually increased in the time leading up to the saccade. Probing the SC with suprathreshold stimulation demonstrated that these evolving signals were functionally involved in preparing strategic saccades. Finally, subthreshold stimulation of the SC increased the likelihood that contralateral saccades were selected. Together, our results suggest that motor regions of the brain play an active role in choosing strategic actions rather than passively executing those prespecified by upstream executive regions.
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