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Grace W Fong

Publications and source records attributed to Grace W Fong.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2004

Amphetamine modulates human incentive processing.

Research suggests that psychostimulants can physiologically alter dopamine kinetics in the ventral striatum (VS) and psychologically enhance mood and attention. Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we conducted a within-subject, double-blind, placebo (PLAC)-controlled study of the effects of oral dextroamphetamine (AMPH, 0.25 mg/kg) treatment on brain activity and affect during incentive processing. In two counterbalanced scanning sessions 60-180 min after ingesting AMPH or PLAC, 8 healthy volunteers played a game involving anticipation and receipt of monetary gains and losses. Group and volume of interest analyses suggested that by enhancing tonic over phasic activation, AMPH treatment "equalized" levels of VS activity and positive arousal during anticipation of both gain and loss. These findings suggest that therapeutic effects of amphetamine on incentive processing may involve reducing the difference between anticipation of gains and losses.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Incentive-elicited brain activation in adolescents: similarities and differences from young adults.

Brain motivational circuitry in human adolescence is poorly characterized. One theory holds that risky behavior in adolescence results in part from a relatively overactive ventral striatal (VS) motivational circuit that readily energizes approach toward salient appetitive cues. However, other evidence fosters a theory that this circuit is developmentally underactive, in which adolescents approach more robust incentives (such as risk taking or drug experimentation) to recruit this circuitry. To help resolve this, we compared brain activation in 12 adolescents (12-17 years of age) and 12 young adults (22-28 years of age) while they anticipated the opportunity to respond to obtain monetary gains as well as to avoid monetary losses. In both age groups, anticipation of potential gain activated portions of the VS, right insula, dorsal thalamus, and dorsal midbrain, where the magnitude of VS activation was sensitive to gain amount. Notification of gain outcomes (in contrast with missed gains) activated the mesial frontal cortex (mFC). Across all subjects, signal increase in the right nucleus accumbens during anticipation of responding for large gains independently correlated with both age and self-rated excitement about the high gain cue. In direct comparison, adolescents evidenced less recruitment of the right VS and right-extended amygdala while anticipating responding for gains (in contrast with anticipation of nongains) compared with young adults. However, brain activation after gain outcomes did not appreciably differ between age groups. These results suggest that adolescents selectively show reduced recruitment of motivational but not consummatory components of reward-directed behavior.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

A region of mesial prefrontal cortex tracks monetarily rewarding outcomes: characterization with rapid event-related fMRI.

The function of the mesial prefrontal cortex (MPFC: including Brodman areas 10/12/32) remains an enigma. Current theories suggest a role in representing internal information, including emotional introspection, autonomic control, and a "default state" of semantic processing. Recent evidence also suggests that parts of this region may also play a role in processing reward outcomes. In this study, we investigated the possibility that a region of the MPFC would be preferentially recruited by monetary reward outcomes using a parametric monetary incentive delay (MID) task. Twelve healthy volunteers participated in functional magnetic resonance scans while playing the MID task. Group analyses indicated that while the ventral striatum was recruited by anticipation of monetary reward, a region of the MPFC instead responded to rewarding monetary outcomes. Specifically, volume-of-interest analyses indicated that when volunteers received $5.00 after anticipating a $5.00 win, MPFC activity increased, whereas when volunteers did not receive $5.00 after anticipating a $5.00 win, MPFC activity decreased, relative to outcomes with no incentive value. These findings suggest that in the context of processing monetary rewards, a region of the MPFC preferentially tracks rewarding outcomes.

Adult↗