Love to Win or Hate to Lose? Asymmetry of Dopamine D2 Receptor Binding Predicts Sensitivity to Reward versus Punishment

Rachel Tomer, Heleen A. Slagter, Bradley T. Christian, Andrew S. Fox, Carlye R. King, Dhanabalan Murali, Mark A. Gluck, Richard J. Davidson
2014 Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience  
■ Humans show consistent differences in the extent to which their behavior reflects a bias toward appetitive approach-related behavior or avoidance of aversive stimuli [Elliot, A. J. Approach and avoidance motivation. In A. J. Elliot (Ed.), Handbook of approach and avoidance motivation (pp. 3-14). New York: Psychology Press, 2008]. We examined the hypothesis that in healthy participants this motivational bias (assessed by selfreport and by a probabilistic learning task that allows direct
more » ... son of the relative sensitivity to reward and punish-ment) reflects lateralization of dopamine signaling. Using [F-18] fallypride to measure D2/D3 binding, we found that self-reported motivational bias was predicted by the asymmetry of frontal D2 binding. Similarly, striatal and frontal asymmetries in D2 dopamine receptor binding, rather than absolute binding levels, predicted individual differences in learning from reward versus punishment. These results suggest that normal variation in asymmetry of dopamine signaling may, in part, underlie human personality and cognition. ■
doi:10.1162/jocn_a_00544 pmid:24345165 pmcid:PMC3972269 fatcat:ibiapb56zjhirllsme5ebcqwo4