Neural features of social and non-social reward on executive function in preschoolers

• In Event: 1-109 - Executive functioning in emotional, motivational and social contexts

Integrative Statement

Executive functions (EF) is an umbrella term for several higher order cognitive control processes such as working memory, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility. Several studies have examined how children’s EF can be supported and enhanced. More specifically, previous behavioral studies indicate that both social and non-social rewards affected children’s performances on EF tasks during early and middle childhood (e.g., Kohls, Peltzer, Herpertz-Dahlmann, and Konrad, 2009). However, the neural mechanism of the processes is unclear. Adult fMRI studies have shown that the neural circuit including ventromedial frontal areas and the lateral prefrontal cortex can be related to the processes including rewards and EF (Kouneiher, Charron, & Koechlin, 2009). The present study examined whether preschool children recruit the same neural circuit when they were given social and non-social rewards during EF tasks.　
In this study, 25 Japanese preschoolers performed an incentive Go/Nogo task comparing among social, non-social, and non-reward conditions. In the Go block, children were asked to press a button for two kinds of stimuli as quickly as they can. In the Nogo block, children were asked to press a button for Go stimuli and made no response for Nogo stimuli. Children’s parental happy face, a box containing a sticker, and a green mosaic picture were used for positive feedback in the social, the non-social and the control conditions, respectively. The parental neutral face, an empty box, and a red mosaic picture were used for negative feedback (Figure 1). The feedback was presented only for Nogo stimuli. Activations in the orbitofrontal areas and the lateral prefrontal cortex were assessed using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) (OEG-16, Spectratech, Japan).
We examined the effects of motivation conditions on the hit rates and response times in both Go and Nogo block. Results revealed that there were no significant differences in any task performance variables across the conditions (ps > 0.05). Next, we assessed whether activations in the prefrontal regions differed across conditions. A two-way repeated measures ANOVA showed a significant interaction between condition and block on the oxy-Hb changes in the orbitofrontal area (F(2,48) = 5.815, p = 0.005, ƞ2 = 0.144). Post-hoc tests using the Bonferroni correction revealed that the oxy-Hb changes at the Nogo block was higher than those at the Go block in social condition (p < 0.05), but not in the non-social and the control conditions (ps > 0.05). No other significant effects were found.

Results showed that children’s behavioral performances were not affected by the different kinds of feedback. This may be due to a ceiling effect. On the other hand, children were more likely to recruit the orbitofrontal regions when they were given social rewards than non-social rewards. The results suggest that the social reward is more powerful than the non-social rewards in young children.

Authors

• Yusuke Moriguchi, Kyoto University
  Presenting Author

• Kanda Lertladaluck, Mahidol university
  Non-Presenting Author