RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Dopaminergic Mechanisms of Individual Differences in Human Effort-Based Decision-Making JF The Journal of Neuroscience JO J. Neurosci. FD Society for Neuroscience SP 6170 OP 6176 DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.6459-11.2012 VO 32 IS 18 A1 Michael T. Treadway A1 Joshua W. Buckholtz A1 Ronald L. Cowan A1 Neil D. Woodward A1 Rui Li A1 M. Sib Ansari A1 Ronald M. Baldwin A1 Ashley N. Schwartzman A1 Robert M. Kessler A1 David H. Zald YR 2012 UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/32/18/6170.abstract AB Preferences for different combinations of costs and benefits are a key source of variability in economic decision-making. However, the neurochemical basis of individual differences in these preferences is poorly understood. Studies in both animals and humans have demonstrated that direct manipulation of the neurotransmitter dopamine (DA) significantly impacts cost/benefit decision-making, but less is known about how naturally occurring variation in DA systems may relate to individual differences in economic behavior. In the present study, 25 healthy volunteers completed a dual-scan PET imaging protocol with [18F]fallypride and d-amphetamine to measure DA responsivity and separately completed the effort expenditure for rewards task, a behavioral measure of cost/benefit decision-making in humans. We found that individual differences in DA function in the left striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex were correlated with a willingness to expend greater effort for larger rewards, particularly when probability of reward receipt was low. Additionally, variability in DA responses in the bilateral insula was negatively correlated with willingness to expend effort for rewards, consistent with evidence implicating this region in the processing of response costs. These findings highlight the role of DA signaling in striatal, prefrontal, and insular regions as key neurochemical mechanisms underlying individual differences in cost/benefit decision-making.