Sex Differences and Exogenous Estrogen Influence Learning and Brain Responses to Prediction Errors
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Sex Differences and Exogenous Estrogen Influence Learning and Brain Responses to Prediction Errors. / Joue, Gina; Chakroun, Karima; Bayer, Janine; Gläscher, Jan; Zhang, Lei; Fuss, Johannes; Hennies, Nora; Sommer, Tobias.
in: CEREB CORTEX, Jahrgang 32, Nr. 9, bhab334, 20.04.2022, S. 2022-2036.Publikationen: SCORING: Beitrag in Fachzeitschrift/Zeitung › SCORING: Zeitschriftenaufsatz › Forschung › Begutachtung
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Sex Differences and Exogenous Estrogen Influence Learning and Brain Responses to Prediction Errors
AU - Joue, Gina
AU - Chakroun, Karima
AU - Bayer, Janine
AU - Gläscher, Jan
AU - Zhang, Lei
AU - Fuss, Johannes
AU - Hennies, Nora
AU - Sommer, Tobias
N1 - © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permission@oup.com.
PY - 2022/4/20
Y1 - 2022/4/20
N2 - Animal studies show marked sex differences as well as effects of estrogen (E2) in the mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic (DA) pathways, which play a critical role in reward processing and reinforcement learning and are also implicated in drug addiction. In this computational pharmacological fMRI study, we investigate the effects of both factors, sex and estrogen, on reinforcement learning and the dopaminergic system in humans; 67 male and 64 naturally cycling female volunteers, the latter in their low-hormone phase, were randomly assigned, double-blind, to take E2 or placebo. They completed a reinforcement learning task in the MRI scanner for which we have previously shown reward prediction error (RPE)-related activity to be dopaminergic. We found RPE-related brain activity to be enhanced in women compared with men and to a greater extent when E2 levels were elevated in both sexes. However, both factors, female sex and E2, slowed adaptation to RPEs (smaller learning rate). This discrepancy of larger RPE-related activity yet smaller learning rates can be explained by organizational sex differences and activational effects of circulating E2, which both affect DA release differently to DA receptor binding capacities.
AB - Animal studies show marked sex differences as well as effects of estrogen (E2) in the mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic (DA) pathways, which play a critical role in reward processing and reinforcement learning and are also implicated in drug addiction. In this computational pharmacological fMRI study, we investigate the effects of both factors, sex and estrogen, on reinforcement learning and the dopaminergic system in humans; 67 male and 64 naturally cycling female volunteers, the latter in their low-hormone phase, were randomly assigned, double-blind, to take E2 or placebo. They completed a reinforcement learning task in the MRI scanner for which we have previously shown reward prediction error (RPE)-related activity to be dopaminergic. We found RPE-related brain activity to be enhanced in women compared with men and to a greater extent when E2 levels were elevated in both sexes. However, both factors, female sex and E2, slowed adaptation to RPEs (smaller learning rate). This discrepancy of larger RPE-related activity yet smaller learning rates can be explained by organizational sex differences and activational effects of circulating E2, which both affect DA release differently to DA receptor binding capacities.
U2 - 10.1093/cercor/bhab334
DO - 10.1093/cercor/bhab334
M3 - SCORING: Journal article
C2 - 34649284
VL - 32
SP - 2022
EP - 2036
JO - CEREB CORTEX
JF - CEREB CORTEX
SN - 1047-3211
IS - 9
M1 - bhab334
ER -
