Impaired neural response to negative prediction errors in cocaine addiction

• Published in: The Journal of neuroscience Vol. 35; no. 5; pp. 1872 - 1879
• Main Authors: Parvaz, Muhammad A, Konova, Anna B, Proudfit, Greg H, Dunning, Jonathan P, Malaker, Pias, Moeller, Scott J, Maloney, Tom, Alia-Klein, Nelly, Goldstein, Rita Z
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Society for Neuroscience 04.02.2015
• Subjects: Adult; Case-Control Studies; Cocaine-Related Disorders - physiopathology; Evoked Potentials; Feedback, Psychological; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Reward; self-medication; event-related potentials; reward-prediction error; cocaine; feedback negativity; addiction
• ISSN: 0270-6474; 1529-2401
• DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2777-14.2015

Learning can be guided by unexpected success or failure, signaled via dopaminergic positive reward prediction error (+RPE) and negative reward-prediction error (-RPE) signals, respectively. Despite conflicting empirical evidence, RPE signaling is thought to be impaired in drug addiction. To resolve this outstanding question, we studied as a measure of RPE the feedback negativity (FN) that is sensitive to both reward and the violation of expectation. We examined FN in 25 healthy controls; 25 individuals with cocaine-use disorder (CUD) who tested positive for cocaine on the study day (CUD+), indicating cocaine use within the past 72 h; and in 25 individuals with CUD who tested negative for cocaine (CUD-). EEG was acquired while the participants performed a gambling task predicting whether they would win or lose money on each trial given three known win probabilities (25, 50, or 75%). FN was scored for the period in each trial when the actual outcome (win or loss) was revealed. A significant interaction between prediction, outcome, and group revealed that controls showed increased FN to unpredicted compared with predicted wins (i.e., intact +RPE) and decreased FN to unpredicted compared with predicted losses (i.e., intact -RPE). However, neither CUD subgroup showed FN modulation to loss (i.e., impaired -RPE), and unlike CUD+ individuals, CUD- individuals also did not show FN modulation to win (i.e., impaired +RPE). Thus, using FN, the current study directly documents -RPE deficits in CUD individuals. The mechanisms underlying -RPE signaling impairments in addiction may contribute to the disadvantageous nature of excessive drug use, which can persist despite repeated unfavorable life experiences (e.g., frequent incarcerations).