Double dissociation of dopamine and subthalamic nucleus stimulation on effortful cost/benefit decision making

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) and dopaminergic therapy (DA) are common interventions for Parkinson's disease (PD). Both treatments typically improve patient outcomes, and both can have adverse side effects on decision making (e.g., impulsivity).1,2 Nevertheless, they are thought to act via different mechanisms within basal ganglia circuits.3 Here, we developed and formally evaluated their dissociable predictions within a single cost/benefit effort-based decision-making task. In the same patients, we manipulated DA medication status and subthalamic nucleus (STN) DBS status within and across sessions. Using a series of descriptive and computational modeling analyses of participant choices and their dynamics, we confirm a double dissociation: DA medication asymmetrically altered participants' sensitivities to benefits vs. effort costs of alternative choices (boosting the sensitivity to benefits while simultaneously lowering sensitivity to costs); whereas STN DBS lowered the decision threshold of such choices. To our knowledge, this is the first study to show, using a common modeling framework, a dissociation of DA and DBS within the same participants. As such, this work offers a comprehensive account for how different mechanisms impact decision making, and how impulsive behavior (present in DA-treated patients with PD and DBS patients) may emerge from separate physiological mechanisms.