Age-related similarities and differences in brain activity underlying reversal learning

Unlocking the neural mechanisms of consumer loan evaluations: an fNIRS and ML-based consumer neuroscience study

Introduction

This study conducts a comprehensive exploration of the neurocognitive processes underlying consumer credit decision-making using cutting-edge techniques from neuroscience and machine learning (ML). Employing functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS), the research examines the hemodynamic responses of participants while evaluating diverse credit offers.

Methods

The experimental phase of this study investigates the hemodynamic responses collected from 39 healthy participants with respect to different loan offers. This study integrates fNIRS data with advanced ML algorithms, specifically Extreme Gradient Boosting, CatBoost, Extra Tree Classifier, and Light Gradient Boosted Machine, to predict participants' credit decisions based on prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation patterns.

Results

Findings reveal distinctive PFC regions correlating with credit behaviors, including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) associated with strategic decision-making, the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) linked to emotional valuations, and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) reflecting brand integration and reward processing. Notably, the right dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and the right vmPFC contribute to positive credit preferences.

Discussion

This interdisciplinary approach bridges neuroscience, machine learning and finance, offering unprecedented insights into the neural mechanisms guiding financial choices regarding different loan offers. The study's predictive model holds promise for refining financial services and illuminating human financial behavior within the burgeoning field of neurofinance. The work exemplifies the potential of interdisciplinary research to enhance our understanding of human financial decision-making.

Cortical functionality during reversal learning on a decision-making task in young men

The evaluation of external and internal stimuli permits the ongoing actualization of choice-related information and, thus, the association between stimuli and outcomes. This process is essential to decision-making as it allows constant adaptation to environmental changes in order to maximize gains and minimize losses. Reversal learning paradigms are used to study this process, which has been associated with prefrontal cortex activity (frontopolar, dorsolateral) in conjunction with posterior areas (parietal, temporal), due to their participation in integrating and processing the stimuli-reward relation. The aim of this study was to assess the cortical functionality associated with reversal learning during the decision-making process. The EEG activity of 22 young men was recorded while performing a decision-making task in a reversal learning condition compared to an initial learning condition. EEG data were analyzed during evaluation of the stimuli, before motor execution (formation of preferences), and during task feedback (outcome evaluation). The formation of preferences stage was characterized by a higher correlation of the alpha2 band between the parietal cortices. In the feedback stage of the reversal learning condition, a higher absolute power of the theta band in the left dorsolateral (F3), and a lower correlation of the alpha1 band between the right frontopolar and dorsolateral (Fp2-F4), as well as between the right frontopolar and temporal (Fp2-T4), were observed. The data obtained show that the EEG activity of the areas recorded changed in the evaluation of the stimuli information in the reversal learning condition during a decision-making task.

Hippocampal Wdr1 Deficit Impairs Learning and Memory by Perturbing F-actin Depolymerization in Mice

WD repeat protein 1 (Wdr1), known as a cofactor of actin-depolymerizing factor (ADF)/cofilin, is conserved among eukaryotes, and it plays a critical role in the dynamic reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton. However, the function of Wdr1 in the central nervous system remains elusive. Using Wdr1 conditional knockout mice, we demonstrated that Wdr1 plays a significant role in regulating synaptic plasticity and memory. The knockout mice exhibited altered reversal spatial learning and fear responses. Moreover, the Wdr1 CKO mice showed significant abnormalities in spine morphology and synaptic function, including enhanced hippocampal long-term potentiation and impaired long-term depression. Furthermore, we observed that Wdr1 deficiency perturbed actin rearrangement through regulation of the ADF/cofilin activity. Taken together, these results indicate that Wdr1 in the hippocampal CA1 area plays a critical role in actin dynamics in associative learning and postsynaptic receptor availability.

The neuroelectric dynamics of the emotional anticipation of other people's pain

When we observe a dynamic emotional facial expression, we usually automatically anticipate how that expression will develop. Our objective was to study a neurocognitive biomarker of this anticipatory process for facial pain expressions, operationalized as a mismatch effect. For this purpose, we studied the behavioral and neuroelectric (Event-Related Potential, ERP) correlates, of a match or mismatch, between the intensity of an expression of pain anticipated by the participant, and the intensity of a static test expression of pain displayed with the use of a representational momentum paradigm. Here, the paradigm consisted in displaying a dynamic facial pain expression which suddenly disappeared, and participants had to memorize the final intensity of the dynamic expression. We compared ERPs in response to congruent (intensity the same as the one memorized) and incongruent (intensity different from the one memorized) static expression intensities displayed after the dynamic expression. This paradigm allowed us to determine the amplitude and direction of this intensity anticipation by measuring the observer's memory bias. Results behaviorally showed that the anticipation was backward (negative memory bias) for high intensity expressions of pain (participants expected a return to a neutral state) and more forward (memory bias less negative, or even positive) for less intense expressions (participants expected increased intensity). Detecting mismatch (incongruent intensity) led to faster responses than detecting match (congruent intensity). The neuroelectric correlates of this mismatch effect in response to the testing of expression intensity ranged from P100 to LPP (Late Positive Potential). Path analysis and source localization suggested that the medial frontal gyrus was instrumental in mediating the mismatch effect through top-down influence on both the occipital and temporal regions. Moreover, having the facility to detect incongruent expressions, by anticipating emotional state, could be useful for prosocial behavior and the detection of trustworthiness.

Resting-state networks associated with cognitive processing show more age-related decline than those associated with emotional processing

Correlations in activity across disparate brain regions during rest reveal functional networks in the brain. Although previous studies largely agree that there is an age-related decline in the "default mode network," how age affects other resting-state networks, such as emotion-related networks, is still controversial. Here we used a dual-regression approach to investigate age-related alterations in resting-state networks. The results revealed age-related disruptions in functional connectivity in all 5 identified cognitive networks, namely the default mode network, cognitive-auditory, cognitive-speech (or speech-related somatosensory), and right and left frontoparietal networks, whereas such age effects were not observed in the 3 identified emotion networks. In addition, we observed age-related decline in functional connectivity in 3 visual and 3 motor/visuospatial networks. Older adults showed greater functional connectivity in regions outside 4 out of the 5 identified cognitive networks, consistent with the dedifferentiation effect previously observed in task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging studies. Both reduced within-network connectivity and increased out-of-network connectivity were correlated with poor cognitive performance, providing potential biomarkers for cognitive aging.

Chasing probabilities - Signaling negative and positive prediction errors across domains

Adaptive actions build on internal probabilistic models of possible outcomes that are tuned according to the errors of their predictions when experiencing an actual outcome. Prediction errors (PEs) inform choice behavior across a diversity of outcome domains and dimensions, yet neuroimaging studies have so far only investigated such signals in singular experimental contexts. It is thus unclear whether the neuroanatomical distribution of PE encoding reported previously pertains to computational features that are invariant with respect to outcome valence, sensory domain, or some combination of the two. We acquired functional MRI data while volunteers performed four probabilistic reversal learning tasks which differed in terms of outcome valence (reward-seeking versus punishment-avoidance) and domain (abstract symbols versus facial expressions) of outcomes. We found that ventral striatum and frontopolar cortex coded increasingly positive PEs, whereas dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) traced increasingly negative PEs, irrespectively of the outcome dimension. Individual reversal behavior was unaffected by context manipulations and was predicted by activity in dACC and right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). The stronger the response to negative PEs in these areas, the lower was the tendency to reverse choice behavior in response to negative events, suggesting that these regions enforce a rule-based strategy across outcome dimensions. Outcome valence influenced PE-related activity in left amygdala, IFG, and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, where activity selectively scaled with increasingly positive PEs in the reward-seeking but not punishment-avoidance context, irrespective of sensory domain. Left amygdala displayed an additional influence of sensory domain. In the context of avoiding punishment, amygdala activity increased with increasingly negative PEs, but only for facial stimuli, indicating an integration of outcome valence and sensory domain during probabilistic choices.

The Affective Neuroscience of Aging

Although aging is associated with clear declines in physical and cognitive processes, emotional functioning fares relatively well. Consistent with this behavioral profile, two core emotional brain regions, the amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, show little structural and functional decline in aging, compared with other regions. However, emotional processes depend on interacting systems of neurotransmitters and brain regions that go beyond these structures. This review examines how age-related brain changes influence processes such as attending to and remembering emotional stimuli, regulating emotion, and recognizing emotional expressions, as well as empathy, risk taking, impulsivity, behavior change, and attentional focus.