English
 
Help Privacy Policy Disclaimer
  Advanced SearchBrowse

Item

ITEM ACTIONSEXPORT

Released

Journal Article

Stimulation of the vagus nerve reduces learning in a go/no-go reinforcement learning task

MPS-Authors
/persons/resource/persons262197

Kühnel,  Anne
Dept. Translational Research in Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Max Planck Society;

External Resource
No external resources are shared
Fulltext (restricted access)
There are currently no full texts shared for your IP range.
Fulltext (public)
There are no public fulltexts stored in PuRe
Supplementary Material (public)
There is no public supplementary material available
Citation

Kühnel, A., Teckentrup, V., Neuser, M. P., Huys, Q. J. M., Burrasch, C., Walter, M., et al. (2020). Stimulation of the vagus nerve reduces learning in a go/no-go reinforcement learning task. EUROPEAN NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY, 35, 17-29. doi:10.1016/j.euroneuro.2020.03.023.


Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0008-BC54-6
Abstract
When facing decisions to approach rewards or to avoid punishments, we often figuratively go with our gut, and the impact of metabolic states such as hunger on motivation are well documented. However, whether and how vagal feedback signals from the gut influence instrumental actions is unknown. Here, we investigated the effect of non-invasive transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) vs. sham (randomized cross-over design) on approach and avoidance behavior using an established go/no-go reinforcement learning paradigm in 39 healthy human participants (23 female) after an overnight fast. First, mixed-effects logistic regression analysis of choice accuracy showed that taVNS acutely impaired decision-making, p = .041. Computational reinforcement learning models identified the cause of this as a reduction in the learning rate through taVNS (Delta alpha = -0.092, p(boot) = .002), particularly after punishment (Delta alpha(Pun) = -0.081, p(boot) = .012 vs. Delta alpha(Rew) = -0.031, p(boot) = .22). However, taVNS had no effect on go biases, Pavlovian response biases or response time. Hence, taVNS appeared to influence learning rather than action execution. These results highlight a novel role of vagal afferent input in modulating reinforcement learning by tuning the learning rate according to homeostatic needs. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. and ECNP. All rights reserved.