ABSTRACT
Consistent with dopamine accounts of internal and external feedback processing, prior work showed that the dopamine D2 receptor antagonist sulpiride modulates the relationship between the dopaminergic COMT Val158Met polymorphism and the error-related negativity (ERN). Here, we tested in an independent sample whether this Gene × Substance interaction generalizes to the feedback-related negativity (FRN), which presumably shares underlying dopaminergic mechanisms with the ERN. N = 83 female participants genotyped for COMT Val158Met received 200 mg sulpiride versus placebo and performed a virtual ball-catching task. The FRN to positive versus negative feedback was modulated by a significant COMT × Substance interaction. Mirroring prior work on the ERN, the tendency of the FRN to be more pronounced for VAL+ versus MET/MET carriers after placebo was reversed by sulpiride. The findings thus provide new evidence for dopaminergic models of feedback processing.
Subject(s)
Catechol O-Methyltransferase/genetics , Dopamine Antagonists/pharmacology , Feedback, Psychological/drug effects , Feedback, Psychological/physiology , Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide , Sulpiride/pharmacology , Adolescent , Adult , Female , Gene-Environment Interaction , Genotype , Humans , Psychomotor Performance/physiology , Reaction Time , Reward , Young AdultABSTRACT
The emotion 'warmth-liking' (WL) associated with feelings of affection and acceptance is regularly activated in social contexts. WL has been suggested to be more closely related to the consummatory phase of post-goal attainment positive affect than to pre-goal attainment positive affect/approach motivation and to be partly mediated by brain opioids. To validate these assumptions we employed film/imagery to induce either a neutral emotional state or WL in female participants after intake of either placebo or the opioid antagonist naltrexone. Dependent variables were emotion self-report, interpersonal trust (TRUST, i.e. a behavioral indicator of WL) and frontal asymmetry (i.e. an electroencephalogram (EEG) indicator of approach motivation/behavioral activation). We found that participants reported more WL in the placebo/WL group than in the placebo/neutral group and both naltrexone groups. In addition, TRUST increased in the WL group after placebo, but not after naltrexone, and this pattern was reversed in the neutral control groups. Consequently, opioid blockade suppressed or even reversed the effects of the WL induction on the levels of self-report and behavior, respectively. In addition, we observed reduced relative left-frontal asymmetry in the WL (vs neutral) group, consistent with reduced approach motivation. Overall, these results suggest opioidergic influences on WL and TRUST and reduced approach motivation/behavioral activation for the positive emotion WL.
Subject(s)
Emotions/drug effects , Frontal Lobe/drug effects , Functional Laterality/drug effects , Naltrexone/pharmacology , Narcotic Antagonists/pharmacology , Trust , Adolescent , Adult , Analysis of Variance , Double-Blind Method , Electroencephalography , Evoked Potentials/drug effects , Female , Frontal Lobe/physiology , Functional Laterality/physiology , Humans , Male , Motivation/drug effects , Self Report , Young AdultABSTRACT
The agency facet of extraversion (aE) describes individual differences in goal-directed behavior and has been linked to dopamine function in incentive contexts. Because dopamine presumably modulates the processing of negative feedback/failure, aE may relate to failure processing in incentive contexts. To test this hypothesis, N = 86 participants performed a virtual ball-catching task. An incentive context was created by displaying potential rewards and subtle manipulations of task performance, which either was (control group) or was not (incentive context group) made explicit. To probe the involvement of dopamine, participants received either placebo or the selective dopamine D2 receptor antagonist sulpiride (200 mg). Failure processing was assessed through negative-feedback-evoked differences in the frontal midline theta electroencephalogram power (DFMT) and in the feedback-related negativity event-related potential component (FRN). Before incentives were introduced, DFMT (but not the FRN) was related to neuroticism/anxiety. Importantly, once incentives were displayed, aE was associated with DFMT, FRN, task performance, and changes in self-reported positive affect, which further depended on incentive context group and/or substance group: In the incentive context group but not in the control group, agentic extraverts showed relatively blunted DFMT after placebo. Sulpiride significantly enhanced DFMT, whereas it reduced FRN amplitudes and performance in agentic extra- versus introverts. These findings provide strong support for current dopamine models of aE and failure processing, and also highlight the importance of task context. Moreover, the dissociations of FRN and DFMT suggest the existence of two nonredundant electrophysiological indices of feedback processing, both relating to dopamine and aE.
