Study sheds light on brain mechanism activated by uncertainty

Date:
September 2, 2020
Source:
American Friends of Tel Aviv University
Summary:
A new study examined the brain's reactions in conditions of
uncertainty and stressful conflict in an environment of risks and
opportunities. The researchers identified the areas of the brain
responsible for the delicate balance between desiring gain and
avoiding loss along the way.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A new Tel Aviv University study examined the brain's reactions in
conditions of uncertainty and stressful conflict in an environment of
risks and opportunities. The researchers identified the areas of the
brain responsible for the delicate balance between desiring gain and
avoiding loss along the way.


==========================================================================
The study was led by TAU researchers Prof. Talma Hendler, Prof. Itzhak
Fried, Dr. Tomer Gazit, and Dr. Tal Gonen from the Sackler Faculty of
Medicine, the School of Psychological Sciences, and the Sagol School of Neuroscience, along with researchers from the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical
Center (Ichilov) and the University of California, Los Angeles School
of Medicine. The study was published on June 24, 2020, in the journal
Nature Communications.

Prof. Hendler explains that in order to detect reactions in the depths
of the brain, the study was performed among a unique population of
epilepsy patients who had electrodes inserted into their brains for
testing prior to surgery to remove the area of the brain causing epileptic seizures. Patients were asked to play a computer game that included risks
and opportunities, and the electrodes allowed the researchers to record,
with a high level of accuracy, neural activity in different areas of
the brain associated with decision-making, emotion, and memory.

Throughout the game, the researchers recorded the electrical activity in
the subjects' nerve cells immediately after they won or lost money. The subjects were asked to try to collect coins while taking the risk of
losing money from their pool. It was found that the neurons in the area
of the inner prefrontal cortex responded much more to loss (punishment)
than to the gaining (reward) of coins.

Moreover, the researchers found that the avoidance of risk-taking in
the players' next move was affected mainly by post-loss activity in the
area of the hippocampus, which is associated with learning and memory,
but also with anxiety. This finding demonstrates the close relationship
between memory processes and decision-making when risk is present
(stressful situations). That is, the loss is encoded in the hippocampus
(the region of the brain associated with memory), and the participant
operating in a high-risk stressful situation preferred to be cautious
and avoid winning the coins (forfeiting the gain).

The experience of winning, however, was not encoded in the memory in
a way that influenced the choice of future behavior in conditions of uncertainty. An interesting point is that this phenomenon was found only
when the subject was influencing the result of the game, and only in
the presence of a high risk in the next move, which indicates a possible connection to anxiety.

"Throughout life, we learn to balance the fear of risking loss with
the pursuit of profit, and we learn what is a reasonable risk to take
in relation to the gain based on previous experiences," Prof. Hendler
says. "The balance between these two tendencies is a personality trait but
is also affected by stress, like the current pandemic. A disorder in this
trait increases sensitivity to stress and can cause non-adaptive behavior
such as a high propensity for risk- taking or excessive avoidance.

"Our research shows for the first time how the human brain is affected
by the experience of failure or loss when it is our responsibility,
and how this inclination produces avoidance behavior under particularly stressful uncertainty," Prof. Hendler concludes. "An understanding of the neural mechanism involved may guide future neuropsychiatric therapies for disorders featuring excessive avoidance, such as depression, anxiety,
and PTSD, or disorders associated with excessive risk-taking, such as
addiction and mania."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
American_Friends_of_Tel_Aviv_University. Note: Content may be edited
for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Tomer Gazit, Tal Gonen, Guy Gurevitch, Noa Cohen, Ido Strauss, Yoav
Zeevi, Hagar Yamin, Firas Fahoum, Talma Hendler, Itzhak
Fried. The role of mPFC and MTL neurons in human choice
under goal-conflict. Nature Communications, 2020; 11 (1) DOI:
10.1038/s41467-020-16908-z ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200902095140.htm

--- up 1 week, 2 days, 6 hours, 50 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1337:3/111)