Resting-State Functional Connectivity Predicts Impulsivity in Economic Decision-Making

Abstract

Increasing neuroimaging evidence suggests an association between impulsive decision-making behavior and task-related brain activity. However, the relationship between impulsivity in decision-making and resting-state brain activity remains unknown. To address this issue, we used functional MRI to record brain activity from human adults during a resting state and during a delay discounting task (DDT) that requires choosing between an immediate smaller reward and a larger delayed reward. In experiment I, we identified four DDTrelated brain networks. The money network (the striatum, posterior cingulate cortex, etc.) and the time network (the medial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices, etc.) were associated with the valuation process; the frontoparietal network and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex-anterior insular cortex network were related to the choice process. Moreover, we found that the resting-state functional connectivity of the brain regions in these networks was significantly correlated with participants' discounting rate, a behavioral index of impulsivity during the DDT. In experiment II, we tested an independent group of subjects and demonstrated that this resting-state functional connectivity was able to predict individuals' discounting rates. Together, these findings suggest that resting-state functional organization of the human brain may be a biomarker of impulsivity and can predict economic decision-making behavior.

Nature of functional links in valuation networks differentiates impulsive behaviors between abstinent heroin-dependent subjects and nondrug-using subjects

“…In the functional connectivity literature, the β-network is generally referred to as the short-term reward network mediated by the mesocorticolimbic systems, while the δ-network is generally termed the “executive” or “control” network for long-term valuation properties mediated by the lateral prefrontal cortex and parietal cortex (McClure et al, 2007; Reuben et al, 2010; Sharp et al, 2012). It has been reported that, in normal subjects, resting-state functional connectivity may predict impulsivity in economic decision-making tests (Li et al, 2013). In addicted subjects, the FC patterns have been well characterized, and altered FC patterns were demonstrated in heroin- (Ma et al, 2010; Xie et al, 2011; Zhai et al, 2014) and cocaine-dependent subjects (Gu et al, 2010).…”

Right frontal stroke: extra-frontal lesions, executive functioning and impulsive behaviour

“…Some subcomponents of EF are measured as part of this overlap, such as planning, cognitive flexibility, problem solving and inhibitory control. This was confirmed by analysis of the brain's functional connections in resting state, which showed that the frontal parietal and the anterior-dorsal anterior cingulateinsular circuits were involved in performance of tasks that involved impulsivity and EF (Li et al 2013;Seeley et al 2007). Therefore, it can occur coincidence in the brain regions activation in the moment of the evaluation of executive functions and impulsivity.…”

Novelty seeking is related to individual risk preference and brain activation associated with risk prediction during decision making

“…Initial processing included linear and quadratic detrending, correction for temporal shifts between slices and head motion, spatially smoothing with a Gaussian kernel (full width at half maximum = 8 mm), and temporal normalisation. We further performed a regression of all voxels’ time serials with regard to 6 motion parameters, and data scrubbing was performed following the method of Power and colleagues51, excluding any volume with a framewise-dependent value exceeding 0.5. During the scrubbing step, the number of removed volumes ranged from 0 to 21 (less than 10% of all the 240 volumes) among all participants.…”