Neuroscience

The Microeconomics of Anticipation

OR: The Kiss and the Shock and Patterns of Inferotemporal Preference.

The Neurocritic is not an economist and is not fond of the field of neuroeconomics. Nonetheless, to understand the narrow definition of "dread" used by Berns et al. (2006) in their article, "Neurobiological Substrates of Dread," one needs to consult some old articles on economic theory:

"...the term 'savouring' referes to positive utility derived from anticipation of future consumption; 'dread' refers to negative utility resulting from contemplation of the future."

As one can discern from my previous two "meta-commentaries" on this article, I was bothered by the pretentiousness of a title claiming to have a neurobiological explanation of the very complex affective state known as "dread." The construct under study here would seemingly be better described as "anticipation," specifically anticipation of a well-defined cutaneous shock to the dorsum of the left foot.

The paper by Berns et al. aims to explain why people will sometimes choose to delay gratification and to speed up the receipt of unpleasant outcomes (most specifically, the latter... although I would imagine a corporation-sponsored study on the former will be forthcoming from some lab or other).¹ Anyway, the act of waiting (or anticipation) can take on positive or negative dimensions.

George Loewenstein
Anticipation and the valuation of delayed consumption.
The Economic Journal 97: 666-684 (1987).
This paper presents a model of intertemporal choice that incorporates "savoring" and "dread" -i.e., utility from anticipation of delayed consumption. The model explains why an individual with positive time preference may delay desirable outcomes or get unpleasant outcomes over with quickly, contrary to the prediction of conventional formulations of intertemporal choice. Implications of savoring and dread for savings behavior, empirical estimation of discount rates, and public policy efforts to combat myopic behavior are explored. The model provides an explanation for common violations of the independence axiom as applied to intertemporal choice. Copyright 1987 by Royal Economic Society.

My problem with the Berns et al. study is with the interpretation of their results:

The manifestation of dread in the more posterior elements of the pain matrix informs our understanding of what dread is and how it impacts decision-making. ... Although dread is usually thought of as an emotion based on fear and anxiety (Berridge, 1999), our localization of dread tothe posterior elements of the matrix suggests that dread has a substantial attentive component. (p. 756)

Here, the authors commit the logical fallacy known as "reverse inference" by inferring the participants' emotional state from the observed pattern of brain activity. They discount the role of the amygdala in "dread" because both moderate and extreme dreaders showed elevated hemodynamic responses there during the unpleasant interval of waiting for the shocks.

Taken together, the anatomical locations of dread responses suggest that the subjective experience of dread that ultimately drives an individual's behavior comes from the attention devoted to the expected physical response (SI, SII, the caudal ACC, and the posterior insula) and not simply a fear or anxiety response.

So anticipation of pain is "attention," not fear and anxiety. It's a little early to make that conclusion.

Can cognitive processes be inferred from neuroimaging data?
Russell A. Poldrack
Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Volume 10, Issue 2 , February 2006, Pages 59-63
There is much interest currently in using functional neuroimaging techniques to understand better the nature of cognition. One particular practice that has become common is ‘reverse inference’, by which the engagement of a particular cognitive process is inferred from the activation of a particular brain region. Such inferences are not deductively valid, but can still provide some information. Using a Bayesian analysis of the BrainMap neuroimaging database, I characterize the amount of additional evidence in favor of the engagement of a cognitive process that can be offered by a reverse inference. Its usefulness is particularly limited by the selectivity of activation in the region of interest. I argue that cognitive neuroscientists should be circumspect in the use of reverse inference, particularly when selectivity of the region in question cannot be established or is known to be weak.

see Geoff Aguirre for earlier commentary on reverse inference:

Functional Imaging in Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuropsychology
Geoffrey Karl Aguirre
In: T. E. Feinberg & M. J. Farah (Eds.), Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuropsychology. (2003). New York: McGraw Hill.

¹ it might be difficult, however, to conduct an actual fMRI study using Loewenstein's hypothetical as the positive reinforcer: obtaining a kiss from the movie star of your choice.

- Brain Dread
It makes time slow down when you want it to go fast, and it keeps turning your mind back to the very thing you want to forget – dread is a most unpleasant emotion. Now Gregory Berns (pictured) and colleagues at Emory University School of Medicine think...

- The Dark Night Of The Soul? I'm Going To Disneyland!
Brain research has proven that the word "dread" should no longer mean "fear" or "extreme uneasiness." Time to update those anachronistic dictionary entries! Main Entry: 1 dread Function: verb Etymology: Middle English dreden, from Old English dr[AE]dan...

- The Concept Of Dread
I LIVED on dread; to those who know The stimulus there is In danger, other impetus Is numb and vital-less. As ’t were a spur upon the soul, A fear will urge it where To go without the spectre’s aid Were challenging despair. Emily DickinsonNo, The...

- The Values Of Distractions
From today's New York Times: Study Points to a Solution for Dread: Distraction By SANDRA BLAKESLEE Published: May 5, 2006 The New York Times For those who dread a colonoscopy or a root canal so much that they avoid it altogether, scientists have...

- The Dread Zone
I encountered this research about the neurobiology of dread twice recently — in the New York Times and on Science Friday (mp3). Science Friday interviewed Gregory Berns (professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory), who used fMRI to determine...

Neuroscience