The competition was a game called patent race, commonly used by social scientists to study social interactions. It involves one person betting, via computer, with an anonymous opponent.
"We know from brain imaging studies that when people compete against one another, they actually engage in two distinct types of learning processes," Set said, referring to Hsu’s 2012 study. "One type involves learning purely from the consequences of your own actions, called reinforcement learning. The other is a bit more sophisticated, called belief learning, where people try to make a mental model of the other players, in order to anticipate and respond to their actions."
Using a mathematical model of brain function during competitive social interactions, Hsu and Set correlated performance in reinforcement learning and belief learning with different variants or mutations of the 12 dopamine-related genes, and discovered a distinct difference.
They found that differences in belief learning – the degree to which players were able to anticipate and respond to the actions of others, or to imagine what their competitor is thinking and respond strategically – was associated with variation in three genes which primarily affect dopamine functioning in the medial prefrontal cortex.
In contrast, differences in trial-and-error reinforcement learning – how quickly they forget past experiences and how quickly they change strategy – was associated with variation in two genes that primarily affect striatal dopamine.
Hsu said that the findings correlate well with previous brain studies showing that the prefrontal cortex is involved in belief learning, while the striatum is involved in reinforcement learning.
"We were surprised by the degree of overlap, but it hints at the power of studying the neural and genetic levels under a single mathematical framework, which is only beginning in this area," he said.
Hsu is currently collaborating with other scientists to correlate career achievements in older adults with genes and performance on competitive games, to see which brain regions and types of learning are most important for different kinds of success in life.
The research was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health, Singapore Ministry of Education and AXA Research Fund. Other coauthors are Ignacio Saez of UC Berkeley, Lusha Zhu of the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute in Roanoke, Va., Daniel E. Houser of George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., Noah Myung of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., and Songfa Zhong of the National University of Singapore.
- Neuroeconomics Lab
- Dissociable contribution of prefrontal and striatal dopaminergic genes to learning in economic games (PNAS Early Edition, 6/16/14)
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute
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