Behaviorally inhibited (shy) people have heightened behavioral and neural responses to threatening stimuli. This week, Guyer et al. tested the responses of a cohort of shy and non-shy adolescents (10 - 15 years of age) to a rewarding stimulus: a monetary incentive delay task. The subjects pressed a button in response to a target image to either win (20 cents to $5), or avoid losing, money. Of no surprise, subjects in both groups preferred $5 rewards to 20 cent rewards. Overall, there were no group performance differences according to valence (gain vs loss) or incentive magnitude. However, functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed different neural responses in the striatum. In the behaviorally inhibited group, striatal activation was greater than in the noninhibited group and increased with higher incentives. The caudate and nucleus accumbens were more strongly activated than the putamen. In contrast, activation of the amygdala was based on incentive value rather than behavioral inhibition status.

###

Amanda E. Guyer, Eric E. Nelson, Koraly Perez-Edgar, Michael G. Hardin, Roxann Roberson-Nay, Christopher S. Monk, James M. Bjork, Heather A. Henderson, Daniel S. Pine, Nathan A. Fox, and Monique Ernst

News tip from The Journal of Neuroscience

Contact: Sara Harris
Society for Neuroscience