Dissociation of reward anticipation and outcome with event-related fMRI

TLDR

Reward processing involves both appetitive and consummatory phases. The study examined whether reward anticipation versus outcomes would recruit different regions of ventral forebrain circuitry using event‑related fMRI. Nine healthy volunteers performed a monetary incentive delay task with rewarded, non‑rewarded, and no‑response trials during scanning. Multiple regression analyses showed that reward anticipation versus non‑reward activated the ventral striatum, while reward versus non‑reward outcomes activated the ventromedial frontal cortex, indicating that anticipation and outcomes differentially recruit distinct regions along ascending dopamine projections.

Abstract

Reward processing involves both appetitive and consummatory phases. We sought to examine whether reward anticipation vs outcomes would recruit different regions of ventral forebrain circuitry using event-related fMRI. Nine healthy volunteers participated in a monetary incentive delays task in which they either responded to a cued target for monetary reward, responded to a cued target for no reward, or did not respond to a cued target during scanning. Multiple regression analyses indicated that while anticipation of reward vs non-reward activated foci in the ventral striatum, reward vs non-reward outcomes activated foci in the ventromedial frontal cortex. These findings suggest that reward anticipation and outcomes may differentially recruit distinct regions that lie along the trajectory of ascending dopamine projections.