Modulation of motor vigour by expectation of reward probability trial-by-trial is preserved in healthy ageing and Parkinson's disease patients

Abstract

Motor improvements, such as faster movement times or increased velocity, have been consistently associated with reward magnitude in deterministic contexts. Yet whether individual inferences on reward probability influence motor vigour dynamically remains undetermined. Here we investigated how dynamically inferring volatile action-reward contingencies modulated motor performance trial-by-trial in healthy younger (HYA, 37) and older adults (HOA, 37), and in medicated Parkinsons Disease patients (PD, 20). We conducted an online study that coupled a standard one-armed bandit decision-making paradigm with a motor sequence task and used a validated hierarchical Bayesian model to fit trial-by-trial data. Our results showed that stronger predictions about the tendency of the action-reward contingency led to faster performance tempo on a trial-by-trial basis without modulating reaction times (RT). Using Bayesian linear mixed models, we demonstrated in HYA, HOA and PD a similar sensitivity (slope) of execution tempo to inferences about the reward probabilities, despite HOA and PD being generally slower than HYA (intercept). In a second experiment in HYA (39), we additionally showed that subjective inferences about credit assignment - whether lack of reward is associated with an incorrect decision or execution error - led to a similar modulation of motor vigour by reward expectation. Our study is the first to reveal that the dynamic updating of beliefs about volatile action-reward contingencies positively biases motor performance through faster execution tempo, without affecting RT. We also provide novel evidence for a preserved sensitivity of motor vigour to inferences about the action-reward mapping in ageing and medicated PD. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTNavigating a world rich in uncertainty relies on updating beliefs about the probability that our actions lead to reward. Here we investigated how inferring the action-reward contingencies in a volatile environment modulated motor vigour trial-by-trial in healthy younger and older adults, and in Parkinsons Disease patients on medication. We found an association between trial- by-trial predictions about the tendency of the action-reward contingency and performance tempo, with stronger expectations speeding performance. We additionally provided evidence for a similar sensitivity of performance tempo to the strength of these predictions in all groups. Thus, dynamic beliefs about the changing relationship between actions and their outcome invigorated motor performance. This positive bias was not compromised by age or Parkinsons disease.