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Victory is its own reward: oxytocin increases costly competitive behavior in schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 April 2019

Ellen R. Bradley Open the ORCID record for Ellen R. Bradley [Opens in a new window] ,
Johanna Brustkern ,
Lize De Coster ,
Wouter van den Bos ,
Samuel M. McClure ,
Alison Seitz  and
Joshua D. Woolley
Ellen R. Bradley*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, CA94110, USA Mental Health Service, San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA
Johanna Brustkern
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
Lize De Coster
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, CA94110, USA Mental Health Service, San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA
Wouter van den Bos
Affiliation:
Center for Adaptive Rationality, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
Samuel M. McClure
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, TempeAZ, USA
Alison Seitz
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, CA94110, USA Mental Health Service, San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA
Joshua D. Woolley
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, CA94110, USA Mental Health Service, San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Ellen Bradley, E-mail: ellen.bradley@ucsf.edu
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Abstract

Background

Aberrant sensitivity to social reward may be an important contributor to abnormal social behavior that is a core feature of schizophrenia. The neuropeptide oxytocin impacts the salience of social information across species, but its effect on social reward in schizophrenia is unknown.

Methods

We used a competitive economic game and computational modeling to examine behavioral dynamics and oxytocin effects on sensitivity to social reward among 39 men with schizophrenia and 54 matched healthy controls. In a randomized, double-blind study, participants received one dose of oxytocin (40 IU) or placebo and completed a 35-trial Auction Game that quantifies preferences for monetary v. social reward. We analyzed bidding behavior using multilevel linear mixed models and reinforcement learning models.

Results

Bidding was motivated by preferences for both monetary and social reward in both groups, but bidding dynamics differed: patients initially overbid less compared to controls, and across trials, controls decreased their bids while patients did not. Oxytocin administration was associated with sustained overbidding across trials, particularly in patients. This drug effect was driven by a stronger preference for winning the auction, regardless of monetary consequences. Learning rate and response variability did not differ between groups or drug condition, suggesting that differences in bidding derive primarily from differences in the subjective value of social rewards.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that schizophrenia is associated with diminished motivation for social reward that may be increased by oxytocin administration.

Keywords

Auctionscomputational modelingdecision-makingoxytocinpsychosisreinforcement learningrewardschizophrenia
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 50 , Issue 4 , March 2020 , pp. 674 - 682
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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