Excitatory stimulation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex reduces cognitive gambling biases via improved feedback learning
Abstract Humans are subject to a variety of cognitive biases, such as the framing-effect or the gambler's fallacy, that lead to decisions unfitting of a purely rational agent. Previous studies have shown that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) plays a key role in making rational decisio...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2023-10-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-43264-x |
| _version_ | 1797452852889649152 |
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| author | Thomas Kroker Miroslaw Wyczesany Maimu Alissa Rehbein Kati Roesmann Ida Wessing Anja Wiegand Jens Bölte Markus Junghöfer |
| author_facet | Thomas Kroker Miroslaw Wyczesany Maimu Alissa Rehbein Kati Roesmann Ida Wessing Anja Wiegand Jens Bölte Markus Junghöfer |
| author_sort | Thomas Kroker |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Humans are subject to a variety of cognitive biases, such as the framing-effect or the gambler's fallacy, that lead to decisions unfitting of a purely rational agent. Previous studies have shown that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) plays a key role in making rational decisions and that stronger vmPFC activity is associated with attenuated cognitive biases. Accordingly, dysfunctions of the vmPFC are associated with impulsive decisions and pathological gambling. By applying a gambling paradigm in a between-subjects design with 33 healthy adults, we demonstrate that vmPFC excitation via transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) reduces the framing-effect and the gambler's fallacy compared to sham stimulation. Corresponding magnetoencephalographic data suggest improved inhibition of maladaptive options after excitatory vmPFC-tDCS. Our analyses suggest that the underlying mechanism might be improved reinforcement learning, as effects only emerge over time. These findings encourage further investigations of whether excitatory vmPFC-tDCS has clinical utility in treating pathological gambling or other behavioral addictions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T15:14:39Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-73831b27af43420b8709a6c584cb63fc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T15:14:39Z |
| publishDate | 2023-10-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-73831b27af43420b8709a6c584cb63fc2023-11-26T13:08:35ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222023-10-0113111710.1038/s41598-023-43264-xExcitatory stimulation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex reduces cognitive gambling biases via improved feedback learningThomas Kroker0Miroslaw Wyczesany1Maimu Alissa Rehbein2Kati Roesmann3Ida Wessing4Anja Wiegand5Jens Bölte6Markus Junghöfer7Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University of MuensterInstitute of Psychology, Jagiellonian UniversityInstitute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University of MuensterInstitute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University of MuensterInstitute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University of MuensterInstitute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University of MuensterOtto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of MuensterInstitute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University of MuensterAbstract Humans are subject to a variety of cognitive biases, such as the framing-effect or the gambler's fallacy, that lead to decisions unfitting of a purely rational agent. Previous studies have shown that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) plays a key role in making rational decisions and that stronger vmPFC activity is associated with attenuated cognitive biases. Accordingly, dysfunctions of the vmPFC are associated with impulsive decisions and pathological gambling. By applying a gambling paradigm in a between-subjects design with 33 healthy adults, we demonstrate that vmPFC excitation via transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) reduces the framing-effect and the gambler's fallacy compared to sham stimulation. Corresponding magnetoencephalographic data suggest improved inhibition of maladaptive options after excitatory vmPFC-tDCS. Our analyses suggest that the underlying mechanism might be improved reinforcement learning, as effects only emerge over time. These findings encourage further investigations of whether excitatory vmPFC-tDCS has clinical utility in treating pathological gambling or other behavioral addictions.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-43264-x |
| spellingShingle | Thomas Kroker Miroslaw Wyczesany Maimu Alissa Rehbein Kati Roesmann Ida Wessing Anja Wiegand Jens Bölte Markus Junghöfer Excitatory stimulation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex reduces cognitive gambling biases via improved feedback learning Scientific Reports |
| title | Excitatory stimulation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex reduces cognitive gambling biases via improved feedback learning |
| title_full | Excitatory stimulation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex reduces cognitive gambling biases via improved feedback learning |
| title_fullStr | Excitatory stimulation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex reduces cognitive gambling biases via improved feedback learning |
| title_full_unstemmed | Excitatory stimulation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex reduces cognitive gambling biases via improved feedback learning |
| title_short | Excitatory stimulation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex reduces cognitive gambling biases via improved feedback learning |
| title_sort | excitatory stimulation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex reduces cognitive gambling biases via improved feedback learning |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-43264-x |
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