Dissociating brain systems that respond to contingency and valence during monetary loss avoidance in adolescence

Negative reinforcement processes allow individuals to avoid negative and/or harmful outcomes. They depend on the brain’s ability differentiate; (i) contingency from non-contingency, separately (ii) judgements about positive and valence. Thirty-three males (8–18 years) performed a cued reaction-time task during fMRI scanning differentiate responses valence loss avoidance. In two conditions, cues indicated no -contingency between participants’ monetary – (1) CERTAIN LOSS (negative valence) of €0.20, €1 or €5 (2) AVOIDANCE (positive valence). third condition, short reaction times avoidance loss. As expected participants had shorter in this latter condition where CONDITIONAL activated salience motor-response-preparation brain networks - independent relative contrast (CERTAIN AVOIDANCE). Effects were seen toward session’s end ventral striatum, medial-orbitofrontal cortex medial-temporal areas more than LOSS. trials with feedback indicating “success” striatum “failure feedback”. The findings support hypothesis that controlling are dissociable.