跨期选择的神经机制：从折扣未来获益到折扣未来损失

跨期选择是对不同时间产生的结果进行权衡的决策过程。该过程不仅涉及到获益,往往也涉及到损失。以往对跨期选择神经机制的影像学研究主要集中在获益情境,而损失条件下的神经机制仍属未知。在本研究中,我们采用事件相关fMRI技术,通过获益和损失对称设计的两个决策任务,考察了跨期选择的神经机制。研究发现,对获得和损失进行折扣的神经机制并不对称。一般来说,当被试对未来的获得与损失进行选择时,侧额叶和后顶叶区域都发生了激活;但在折扣损失时,不仅这两个区域的脑激活更强,脑岛、丘脑、背侧纹状体等区域也显著激活。其次,如果被试需要对即刻获得选项进行选择时,后扣带回和内侧前额叶皮质都会发生激活;而在折扣损失时,前扣带回、脑岛和额上回都会发生激活。这些结果说明,人类的大脑对未来损失比对未来的获得更加敏感,而这可能是由诸如恐惧、厌恶之类的负性情绪所驱动的。这一研究结果为揭开跨期选择时间折扣的神经机制提供了新的证据。

From Discounting Future Gains to Future Losses

Intertemporal choice, the tradeoff among outcomes occurring at different points in time, involves not only benefit options but also those associated with cost. Previous neuroimaging studies have primarily focused on discounting future gains; thus the neural mechanism underlying discounting future losses remains unidentified. Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging, we comprehensively investigated the neural mechanism of temporal discounting using two decision-making tasks with a symmetric pattern of gains and losses. Our results revealed that the lateral prefrontal and posterior parietal areas were activated in discounting both future gains and future losses, but their activations were stronger when discounting losses. Moreover, we found that the insula, thalamus and dorsal striatum were more activated during intertemporal choices involving losses, suggesting that the enhanced sensitivity to losses may be driven by negative emotions. In addition, whereas the posterior cingulate cortex and medial prefrontal cortex were activated when the choices included immediate options, extra regions including the anterior cingulate cortex, insula and superior frontal gyrus were preferentially activated when the choices involved immediate losses. Taken together, our findings suggest that a fronto-parietal network supports the common discounting process, and more importantly, discounting future losses and gains occurs asymmetrically in the brain. We speculate that this may provide a neural basis for the phenomenon that future losses are discounted less steeply than future gains.