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[Preprint]. 2023 Sep 13:2023.09.12.557368.
doi: 10.1101/2023.09.12.557368.

Less cortical complexity in ventromedial prefrontal cortex is associated with a greater preference for risky and immediate rewards

Fredrik Bergström  1   2 , Caryn Lerman  3 , Joseph W Kable  4
Affiliations

Less cortical complexity in ventromedial prefrontal cortex is associated with a greater preference for risky and immediate rewards

Fredrik Bergström et al. bioRxiv. .

Update in

Abstract

In our everyday lives, we are often faced with situations in which we have to make choices that involve risky or delayed rewards. However, the extent to which we are willing to accept larger risky (over smaller certain) or larger delayed (over smaller immediate) rewards vary across individuals. Here we investigated the relationship between cortical surface complexity in medial prefrontal cortex and individual differences in risky and intertemporal preferences. We found that lower cortical complexity in ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) was associated with a greater preference for risky and immediate rewards. In addition to these common structural associations in mPFC, we also found associations between lower cortical complexity and a greater preference for immediate rewards that extended into left dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and right vmPFC. Taken together, the shared association suggests that lower cortical complexity in vmPFC may be a structural marker for individual differences in impulsive behavior.

Keywords: MRI; cortical complexity; intertemporal choice; risky choice; ventromedial prefrontal cortex.

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Figures

Extended Figure 1-1.
Extended Figure 1-1.. Uncorrected whole cortical surface results.
(A) Shows associations between cortical complexity and risky choice preferences (log10α). (B) Shows associations between cortical complexity and intertemporal choice preferences (log10k). All results are threshold-free cluster-enhancement (TFCE) adjusted and uncorrected.
Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Region of interest results within mPFC.
(A) Shows the average TFCE value for vertices in which less cortical complexity was associated with a greater preference for risky and immediate rewards. (B) Shows associations between cortical complexity and risky choice preferences. (C) Shows associations between cortical complexity and intertemporal choice preferences. The black lines outline the mPFC mask used to restrict the analyses to our region of interest. All results are threshold-free cluster-enhancement (TFCE) adjusted and FDR (q < 0.05) corrected.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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