LanguageTerm (authority = ISO 639-3:2007); (type = text)
English
Abstract (type = abstract)
The ability to perceive and exercise control over an outcome is both desirable and beneficial to our wellbeing. Organisms are biased to seek control in situations where rewards are available and such bias has been shown to recruit the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and striatum. Moreover, when given control over potentially aversive outcomes, organisms increase behaviors to avoid those outcomes. These findings suggest that perceived control exerts behavioral influences in both appetitive and aversive environments. Yet, several questions remain unanswered. First, if an organism shows behavioral preference towards control in appetitive contexts, can we measure this bias and study the subjective value of control neurally? To find out, we employed the Value of Control (VoC) task where human participants were asked to make a series of binary choices between having control and no-control over a reward-seeking game. The mere presence of the control-option evoked activity in the striatum. Importantly, we extracted the positive subjective value of control and demonstrated that it was tracked in the vmPFC. Second, because control confers protective effects against behavioral passivity in aversive contexts, it remains uncertain whether it is potent enough to reverse behavioral passivity following prolonged exposure to uncontrollability. To investigate this, we employed the Control in Aversive Domain (CAD) task to examine whether the introduction of controllability can rescue participants' behavior after persistent uncontrollability. We observed that even after developing behavioral passivity, instatement of control was able to restore avoidance behavior, and this behavioral reversal correlated with participants' vmPFC activity. Third, it is unknown whether exposure to acute stress can negatively impact participants' perception of control. To study this, we subjected participants to an acute stressor prior to implementing the VoC and CAD tasks. We found that exposure to acute stress did not significantly alter participants' subjective value of control but it did induce participants to exhibit greater behavioral responses towards uncontrollable aversive stimuli. Collectively, these studies show that perceived control can bias behavior via its rewarding values and protective effects. They also highlight the role of corticostriatal circuitry in encoding control, which has important implications in our understanding of psychopathologies associated with the loss of control.
Subject (authority = RUETD)
Topic
Neuroscience
Subject (authority = local)
Topic
Perceived control
Subject (authority = LCSH)
Topic
Control (Psychology)
Subject (authority = LCSH)
Topic
Decision making
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = RULIB)
ETD
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Graduate School - Newark Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = local)
rucore10002600001
Identifier
ETD_10092
Identifier (type = doi)
doi:10.7282/t3-g0nc-wt13
PhysicalDescription
Form (authority = gmd)
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
1 online resource (x, 180 pages) : illustrations
Note (type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note (type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Location
PhysicalLocation (authority = marcorg); (displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.