Secondary rewards acquire enhanced incentive motivation via increasing anticipatory activity of the lateral orbitofrontal cortex

Abstract

The motivation to strive for and consume primary rewards such as palatable food is bound by internal satiation and devaluation mechanisms, yet secondary rewards such as money may not be bound by these regulatory mechanisms. The present study therefore aimed at determining diverging devaluation trajectories for primary (chocolate milk) and secondary (money) reinforcers on the behavioral and neural level. Satiation procedures combined with a choice (Experiment 1) and an incentive delay (Experiment 2) paradigm consistently revealed decreased hedonic value for the primary reward as reflected by decreasing hedonic evaluation and choice preference, while hedonic value and preferences for the secondary reward increased. Concomitantly acquired functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) data during the incentive delay paradigm revealed that increasing value of the secondary reward was accompanied by increasing anticipatory activation in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex, while during the consummatory phase the secondary reinforcer associated with higher medial orbitofrontal activity irrespective of devaluation stage. Overall, the findings suggest that – in contrast to primary reinforcers - secondary reinforcers can acquire progressively enhanced incentive motivation with repeated receipt, suggesting a mechanism which could promote escalating striving to obtain secondary rewards.

Distinct neurofunctional alterations during motivational and hedonic processing of natural and monetary rewards in depression – a neuroimaging meta-analysis

“…On the neural level, reward processing has been closely linked to activation in mesocorticolimbic systems, including the striatum and amygdala as well as medial prefrontal and anterior cingulate regions (13, 18). While some evidence suggests that the specific neural systems vary as a function of the reinforcers and the stage of the reward process (16,19,20), the ventral striatum has been consistently engaged during the anticipation and receipt of monetary rewards (21, 22), as well as the receipt of different intrinsic (natural) rewards such as food or music (23, 24). In accordance with overarching frameworks (25, 26), these meta-analytic findings may support the notion of a “common neural currency” for reward (27).…”