Human fMRI evidence for the neural correlates of the differential outcomes effect

[Extract] In conditional discrimination choice tasks, one learns to make a choice conditionally based on the presenting discriminative/cue stimulus. Prior research has shown that when each type of correct choice is followed by a cue-unique trial outcome (differential outcomes procedure), learning is faster and more accurate than when a single, common outcome is delivered for all types of correct choice. This learning effect has been termed the differential outcomes effect (DOE). Results are discussed here for brain regions that are active in mediating the DOE, while healthy young adults performed delayed conditional discrimination under event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)