Goal Achievement Failure Drives Corticospinal Modulation in Promotion and Prevention Contexts

作者：Lo Gerfo Emanuele^*; Pisoni Alberto; Ottone Stefania; Ponzano Ferruccio; Zarri Luca; Vergallito Alessandra; Varoli Erica; Fedeli Davide; Lauro Leonor J Romero

来源：Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 2018, 12: 71.

DOI：10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00071

• MEP
• mirror neurons
• neuroeconomics
• regulatory focus theory
• goal achievement failure

When making decisions, people are typically differently sensitive to gains and losses according to the motivational context in which the choice is performed. As hypothesized by Regulatory Focus Theory (RFT), indeed, goals are supposed to change in relation to the set of possible outcomes. In particular, in a promotion context, the goal is achieving the maximal gain, whereas in a prevention context it turns into avoiding the greatest loss. We explored the neurophysiological counterpart of this phenomenon, by applying Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and recording the motor evoked potentials (MEPs) in participants taking part in an economic game, in which they observed actions conveying different goal attainment levels, framed in different motivational contexts. More than the actual value of the economic exchange involved in the game, what affected motor cortex excitability was the goal attainment failure, corresponding to not achieving the maximal payoff in a promotion context and not avoiding the greatest snatch in a prevention context. Therefore, the results provide support for the key predictions of RFT, identifying a neural signature for the goal attainment failure.

• 出版日期2018-4-24