Reward Representation
Neurobiology of motivated behavior
Sub-project A03 im SFB 779
Motivated behavior includes goal-oriented actions that are driven by internal and/or external needs. All living beings are motivated to avoid harm and achieve rewards and should act accordingly and learn from their actions. However, patients with ADHD often notice that they probably have difficulties in carrying out goal-oriented actions despite similar motivations as their peers: Children and adolescents with ADHD are less able to wait, learn less from being rewarded/punished and sometimes tend to adopt riskier behaviour.
Within the framework of the SFB779, we want to get to the bottom of these deviant behavioral patterns by investigating their neurobiological causes. With the help of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG) and behavioral experiments on the computer, we want to answer the following questions:
(1) How do reward and punishment affect memory processes in children with ADHD?
(2) Is the value of a reward represented differently in the orbitofrontal cortex (reward system) in ADHD patients?
(3) Are there differences in reward oriented actions in children with ADHD?
(4) How do new/ unexpected stimuli affect the attention performance of ADHD patients?
(5) Are automatic response tendencies changed in children with ADHD?
Since techniques based on reward and punishment occupy a central place in the education and behavioral therapy of children, improving the understanding of reward processing and reward learning in ADHD also has important implications for the everyday handling, planning and implementation of appropriate therapeutic procedures.
Project Leaders: PD Dr. Kerstin Krauel, Dr. Max-Philipp Stenner
Project Managers: Dr. Jana Tegelbeckers
Collaborations: Dr. Betts, DZNE, Magdeburg; Dr. Guitart-Masip, Aging Research Center, Karolinska Institute Stockholm, Dr. Kahnt, Feinberg School of Medicine Chicago
Sponsor: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Duration: 01.01.2016 - 31.12.2019 (Beginn 01.01.2012)
For questions about this project please contact: Dr. Jana Tegelbeckers
Publications from this project:
Tegelbeckers, Jana; Bunzeck, Nico; Düzel, Emrah; Bonath, Björn; Flechtner, Hans-Henning; Krauel, Kerstin (2015). Altered salience processing in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. In: Human brain mapping. - New York, NY: Wiley-Liss, Bd. 36.
Bonath, Björn; Tegelbeckers, Jana; Wilke, Marko; Flechtner, Hans-Henning; Krauel, Kerstin (2016). Regional gray matter volume differences between adolescents with ADHD and typically developing controls - further evidence for anterior cingulate involvement
In: Journal of attention disorders. - Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage, Bd. 20.
Tegelbeckers, Jana; Schares, Laura; Lederer, Annette; Bonath, Bjoern; Flechtner, Hans-Henning; Krauel, Kerstin (2016). Task-irrelevant novel sounds improve attentional performance in children with and without ADHD In: Frontiers in psychology. - Lausanne: Frontiers Research Foundation; Bd. 6.2016, Art.-Nr. 1970.
