About

Antoine Bechara is a Professor of Psychology at USC Dornsife. His office is located in HNB B26, and he can be reached via email at bechara@usc.edu or by phone at (213) 821-2487. The biography provided does not include specific details about his research focus, background, or key contributions.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Cognitive psychology
• Developmental psychology
• Medicine

Selected publications

• How impulsivity and sensation seeking drive IGD tendency in healthy young adults: A resting-state MRI study

  Journal of Behavioral Addictions · 2025-08-16 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  Background and Aims: Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) is a psychological condition that impairs various aspects of life, with adolescents being particularly vulnerable due to developmental factors and heightened digital exposure. This study aims to explore the interplay between behavioral and neural bases of the development of IGD, offering insights for possible prevention strategies. Methods: A large sample of young adults (n = 1,205, age (SD) = 18.80 (1.26)) was assessed for impulsivity, sensation seeking, and IGD tendency. Two year later, impulsivity and IGD tendency were evaluated again, to expose possible long-term effects. Resting-state MRI data were collected to measure the topological properties of functional networks through graph theory analysis, encompassing global efficiency, local efficiency, and degree centrality. Results: Sensation seeking was positively associated with impulsivity, which, in turn, was positively linked to IGD tendency. A cross-lagged effect between impulsivity and IGD tendency was evident over a two-year timeframe. Furthermore, whole-brain local efficiency was a positive predictor of impulsivity, with centrality and efficiency of the right thalamus, along with local efficiency of the right lingual gyrus, demonstrating positive correlations with IGD tendency. Conclusion: This study revealed that sensation seeking indirectly affects IGD tendency through impulsivity, which also directly impacts IGD. Neural correlates of impulsivity included local efficiency, and of IGD tendency, included the right thalamus and lingual gyrus. These findings offer insights into IGD mechanisms and possible prevention approaches.

  PublisherDOI

• Increased ventral anterior insular connectivity to sports betting availability indexes problem gambling

  Addiction Biology · 2024-03-01 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  With the advent of digital technologies, online sports betting is spurring a fast-growing expansion. In this study, we examined how sports betting availability modulates the brain connectivity of frequent sports bettors with [problem bettors (PB)] or without [non-problem bettors (NPB)] problematic sports betting. We conducted functional connectivity analyses centred on the ventral anterior insular cortex (vAI), a brain region playing a key role in the dynamic interplay between reward-based processes. We re-analysed a dataset on sports betting availability undertaken in PB (n = 30) and NPB (n = 35). Across all participants, we observed that sports betting availability elicited positive vAI coupling with extended clusters of brain activation (encompassing the putamen, cerebellum, occipital, temporal, precentral and central operculum regions) and negative vAI coupling with the orbitofrontal cortex. Between-group analyses showed increased positive vAI coupling in the PB group, as compared with the NPB group, in the left lateral occipital cortex, extending to the left inferior frontal gyrus, the anterior cingulate gyrus and the right frontal pole. Taken together, these results are in line with the central assumptions of triadic models of addictions, which posit that the insular cortex plays a pivotal role in promoting the drive and motivation to get a reward by 'hijacking' goal-oriented processes toward addiction-related cues. Taken together, these findings showed that vAI functional connectivity is sensitive not only to gambling availability but also to the status of problematic sport betting.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Time to Talk About It: Neurodiversity of Information Systems Users in Leisure Settings

  Journal of the Association for Information Systems · 2024-01-01 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author

  There is a growing trend to accept, understand and cater to people with heterogenous mental health levels, as captured by the term “neurodiversity.” Population studies demonstrate growth in neurodiversity facets such as depression, anxiety, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Thus, samples of information systems (IS) users are likely neurodiverse. While studies started examining neurodiversity effects mostly in professional contexts, possible effects of IS users’ neurodiversity in leisure settings have been largely overlooked. Here, we suggest that we need to consider such possible effects more systematically. This is important because neurodiversity facets can manifest in changes in cognitive-emotional processing, social reactions, and decision-making which can alter user responses to IS. Thus, ignoring the neurodiversity of users can affect the accuracy and generalizability of user behavior models; it can disadvantage large segments of users. To support these ideas, we first developed a theoretical model that explains how neurodiversity can affect the decision-making of IS users. Next, we conducted three studies (n1 = 400, n2 = 381, and n3 = 280) that first replicated common IS models in leisure settings and then theoretically and empirically integrated neurodiversity facets into these models. Results show that (1) typical IS user samples are neurodiverse, and (2) integrating neurodiversity facets into user behavior models can be informative, lead to greater inclusivity, and afford more nuanced theoretical and practical insights. Thus, we call for a more systematic inclusion of neurodiversity facets in behavioral IS research.

  PublisherDOI

• Editorial: Rising stars in psychopathology research

  Frontiers in Psychology · 2023-08-25

  editorialOpen access

  SCOPUS: ed.j

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Sex modulates the effect of HD-tDCS over the prefrontal cortex on the Iowa Gambling Task

  Brain stimulation · 2023-01-30 · 9 citations

  letterOpen access

  Decision-making under uncertainty (risky and ambiguous) is important for everyday life (Knight, 1921). The Iowa Gambling Task [[1]Bechara A. Damasio A.R. Damasio H. Anderson S.W. Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex.Cognition. 1994; 50: 7-15https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(94)90018-3Crossref PubMed Scopus (4220) Google Scholar] is a widely-used tool to measure decision making under uncertainty [[2]He Q.H. Xue G. Chen C.S. Lu Z.L. Dong Q. Lei X.M. Bechara A. Serotonin transporter gene-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) influences decision making under ambiguity and risk in a large Chinese sample.Neuropharmacology. 2010; 59: 518-526https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropharm.2010.07.008Crossref PubMed Scopus (74) Google Scholar,[3]Koritzky G. He Q.H. Xue G. Wong S. Xiao L. Bechara A. Processing of time within the prefrontal cortex: recent time engages posterior areas whereas distant time engages anterior areas.Neuroimage. 2013; 72: 280-286https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.01.056Crossref PubMed Scopus (16) Google Scholar]. Previous research has suggested that the left prefrontal cortex, particularly the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), plays an important role in decision making under uncertainty (Duncan and Owen, 2000). However, the causal relationship between these regions and decision making is yet to be fully understood [[4]Soutschek A. Burke C.J. Raja Beharelle A. Schreiber R. Weber S.C. Karipidis I.I. Kalenscher T. The dopaminergic reward system underpins gender differences in social preferences.Nat Human Behav. 2017; 1: 819-827Crossref PubMed Scopus (56) Google Scholar]. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation HD-tDCS, administered either over the OFC or the DLPFC, on decision making under uncertainty, with a design that was balanced in terms of sex. A total of 187 college students (96 females, with an average age of 20.37 ± 1.78 years) were recruited in this study. We employed a single-blind, between-subject design with two factors: sex (male vs. female) and stimulation (left OFC, left DLPFC, vs. Sham). The anodal electrode for stimulation over the left OFC was placed over Fp1 in accordance with the international 10–20 EEG System [[5]Homan R.W. Herman J. Purdy P. Cerebral location of international 10–20 system electrode placement.Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol. 1987; 66: 376-382https://doi.org/10.1016/0013-4694(87)90206-9Abstract Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (951) Google Scholar], with the four return (cathodal) electrodes positioned at Fpz, AF3, AF7, and above the left eyebrow (Fig. 1A). For stimulation over the left DLPFC, the anodal electrode was placed over F3 and the four return electrodes were set at F5, AF3, FC3, and F1 (Fig. 1B). For Sham stimulations, one of the above protocols was randomly chosen, with stimulation ramped up for 30 seconds and then turned off. The protocol of this experiment was approved by the local Institutional Review Board. The IGT performance was evaluated using two types of indexes: the IGT score and parameters generated by the Prospect Valence Learning (PVL) model. The IGT score was calculated by subtracting the total number of disadvantageous deck selections from the total number of advantageous deck selections (i.e., C + D - A - B) [[1]Bechara A. Damasio A.R. Damasio H. Anderson S.W. Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex.Cognition. 1994; 50: 7-15https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(94)90018-3Crossref PubMed Scopus (4220) Google Scholar]. The IGT scores of the first 40 trials and the last 60 trials were used to evaluate decision making under ambiguity and decision making under risk, respectively [[2]He Q.H. Xue G. Chen C.S. Lu Z.L. Dong Q. Lei X.M. Bechara A. Serotonin transporter gene-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) influences decision making under ambiguity and risk in a large Chinese sample.Neuropharmacology. 2010; 59: 518-526https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropharm.2010.07.008Crossref PubMed Scopus (74) Google Scholar]. The PVL model [[6]Ahn W.-Y. Busemeyer J.R. Wagenmakers E.-J. Stout J.C. Comparison of decision learning models using the generalization criterion method.Cognit Sci. 2008; 32 (Article Pii 906363840): 1376-1402https://doi.org/10.1080/03640210802352992Crossref PubMed Scopus (164) Google Scholar] was employed to analyze the IGT, taking into account the shape parameter α (0 < α < 1, where lower values signify greater subjective utility meaning gains and losses are subjectively equal); the loss aversion parameter λ (0 < λ < 5, where higher values indicate greater loss aversion, meaning losses are weighted more heavily than gains); the recency parameter A (0 < A < 1, where higher values denote greater reliance on recent feedbacks); and the consistency parameter c (0 < c < 1, where higher values denote greater decision consistency). A two-way ANOVA on the total IGT scores revealed a significant main effect of stimulation (F (2, 181) = 3.12, p = 0.047, ηp2 = 0.03), as well as a significant interaction between stimulation and sex (F (2, 181) = 3.15, p = 0.045, ηp2 = 0.03). However, there was no main effect of sex (F (1, 181) = 0.01, p = 0.910). Anodal stimulation over the left DLPFC was found to increase the IGT scores (Fig. 1C) compared to both the stimulation over the OFC (p = 0.039) and the Sham stimulation (p = 0.024). In males (Fig. 1D), there was no significant main effect of stimulation (F (2, 88) = 2.27, p = 0.109), while in female, there was a significant main effect (F (2, 93) = 4.07, p = 0.020, ηp2 = 0.08). Subsequent analysis revealed that the DLPFC group showed significantly higher IGT score than participants in the OFC group (p = 0.005) with Sham group in the middle (Fig. 1E). Analysis of the IGT score in the first 40 trials revealed no significant main effects or interactions (all Fs < 0.84, ps > 0.134). However, when examining the IGT score in the last 60 trials (i.e., decision making under risk), a significant main effect of stimulation (F (2,181) = 3.85, p = 0.023, ηp2 = 0.04) and a significant interaction between stimulation and sex (F (2,181) = 2.55, p = 0.610, ηp2 = 0.001) were observed, though there was no main effect of sex (F (1,181) = 0.26, p = 0.610). Post-hoc multiple comparisons indicated that the DLPFC group performed significantly better than the OFC group (p = 0.028) and the Sham-stimulation group (p = 0.012) when making decisions under risk. Moreover, males in the DLPFC group had higher IGT scores than those in the Sham group (p = 0.034) while females in the DLPFC group had significantly higher IGT scores than those in the OFC group (p = 0.006). These results showed that sex played an important role in the effectiveness of tDCS on the IGT, particularly in the risky decision phase. The Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA and Mann-Whitney U test were employed to conduct nonparametric tests on the parameters yielded by the PVL model, given that they did not follow a normal distribution. Results showed that there were no significant differences on all parameters (ps > 0.244) but the shape parameter α (Fig. 1F) (p = 0.045): the OFC group scored higher than the DLPFC (p = 0.021) and Sham groups (p = 0.050). Similar conclusion was reached when the data was separately analyzed for males (Fig. 1G) and females (Fig. 1H). Results showed that anodal HD-tDCS applied over the left DLPFC resulted in higher IGT scores for all participants, and particularly for females. Anodal HD-tDCS applied over the left OFC appears to increase sensitivity to gain or loss. This implies that the left OFC and DLPFC have distinct functions in decision making, and that sex modulates this process. The questionnaire followed this single-blind design revealed that participants experienced comparable side effects of tDCS regardless of the DLPFC, OFC and sham conditions; however, future experiments should incorporate a double-blind design.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Revisiting the Customer Value Proposition: The Power of Brand Emotion

  Psychology Press eBooks · 2023-04-24 · 1 citations

  book-chapterSenior author

  Arguably, at its core, the fundamental goal of marketing is to create, sustain, and monetize a competitive advantage through a superior customer value proposition (CVP). This chapter highlights the evolution of the CVP across the years. It also highlights the emergent “third-wave” viewpoint of the CVP, at the core of which is brand emotion and its power in shaping a sustainable CVP. The traditional view that prevailed until the 1980s and even into the 1990s was that marketers could shape the value proposition by focusing on one or both of two routes. One route is the “branding route,” where the marketer shapes the CVP through a product differentiation strategy by offering a superior value in terms of the benefits, both tangible and intangible. A second route to shaping the value proposition is “pricing route,” where the marketer shapes the CVP by offering superior value in terms of lower prices, either momentarily through discounts, etc., or by adopting a price-leadership strategy.

  PublisherDOI

• HTA63 Qualitative Analysis of Value-Based Contract Experience, Perception, and Future Adoption across Geographies

  Value in Health · 2023-12-01

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Editorial: Insights in: Psychopathology research

  Frontiers in Psychology · 2023-03-24

  editorialOpen access

  syndrome), Victor H Kandinsky (pseudo-hallucinations), Valentin Magnan (delusions) Sergey S Korsakoff and Carl Wernicke (eponimous syndrome), among many others. There were adopted transversal as well as longitudinal approaches to symptom formation and syndrome evolution, traced toward the concept of dissolution in JH Jackson and H Ey.It was not until the end of the XIX th century when psychopathology became concerned with the explanatory mechanisms of mental disorders, which at that point were arguably attributed to degenerative factors from a post-Darwinian evolutionary perspective (Benedicte Morel). In the same period Emil Karepelin attempted to introduce what he understood as medical, or nosological system of mental disorders, thereby triggering controversies around the possibility to produce universal psychiatric classification. His robust approach was confronted almost immediately by the phenomenological psychopathology of Carl Jaspers, which in practical terms denies categories in psychopathology and higher order medical taxonomy. This view is still very influential [1].As a result, XX century psychopathology was torn apart by diverse and incompatible conceptual explanations of mental phenomena in health and disease. In order to escape from this impasse instrumentalist descriptive psychopathology was introduced, where diagnostic procedures and criteria followed clinical ratings structured interviews. This led by the late XX th century to a scientific anarchy, where "everything goes", with diagnostic systems under constant debate and revisions. The sixth article included, by Michelle More et al, consists in a systematic, nationwide survey to assess the relationship between anxiety and depression symptoms and coping skills among Asian American medical students. It was concluded that Asian American students who experience anxiety were more likely to utilize avoidant or negative coping strategies and that the ones who experience depressive symptoms were not more likely to utilize these negative coping strategies [11].The seventh article of this issue by Alice Bodart et al, systematically reviews the physiological reactivity at rest and in response to social or emotional stimuli after a traumatic brain injury. It concludes that electrodermal activity responses were frequently reported in patients with traumatic brain injury , other measures did not consistently indicate an impairment in physiological reactivity [12].The eighth article included, by Stefano Carta and Stefania Cataudella , , consists in a perspective about the historical transformation of adolescence-itself a psychological developmental process embedded in socio-cultural history [13].The ninth article of this issue is an original study that aimed to identify direct and indirect associations among alexithymia, OCD, cardiac interoception, psychological inflexibility, and self-as-context, with the DV ASD and depression. The results are discussed in relation to the limitations of the DSM with its categorical focus of protocols for syndromes [14].The tenth article included ,corresponds to a brief research report by Georgi Panov , that pretends to analyze the perceived gender role in patients with schizophrenia, looking for differences between patients with treatment resistance and those in clinical remission. A higher percentage of schizophrenic patients who showed higher identification with the female gender role was found [15].

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• Brain modular connectivity interactions can predict proactive inhibition in smokers when facing smoking cues

  Addiction Biology · 2023-05-05 · 7 citations

  article

  Proactive inhibition is a critical ability for smokers who seek to moderate or quit smoking. It allows them to pre-emptively refrain from seeking and using nicotine products, especially when facing salient smoking cues in daily life. Nevertheless, there is limited knowledge on the impact of salient cues on behavioural and neural aspects of proactive inhibition, especially in smokers with nicotine withdrawal. Here, we seek to bridge this gap. To this end, we recruited 26 smokers to complete a stop-signal anticipant task (SSAT) in two separate sessions: once in the neutral cue condition and once in the smoking cue condition. We used graph-based modularity analysis to identify the modular structures of proactive inhibition-related network during the SSAT and further investigated how the interactions within and between these modules could be modulated by different proactive inhibition demands and salient smoking cues. Findings pointed to three stable brain modules involved in the dynamical processes of proactive inhibition: the sensorimotor network (SMN), cognitive control network (CCN) and default-mode network (DMN). With the increase in demands, functional connectivity increased within the SMN, CCN and between SMN-CCN and decreased within the DMN and between SMN-DMN and CCN-DMN. Salient smoking cues disturbed the effective dynamic interactions of brain modules. The profiles for those functional interactions successfully predicted the behavioural performance of proactive inhibition in abstinent smokers. These findings advance our understanding of the neural mechanisms of proactive inhibition from a large-scale network perspective. They can shed light on developing specific interventions for abstinent smokers.

  PublisherDOI

• Physical Exercise to Redynamize Interoception in Substance use Disorders

  Current Neuropharmacology · 2023-03-15 · 12 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Physical exercise is considered a promising medication-free and cost-effective adjunct treatment for substance use disorders (SUD). Nevertheless, evidence regarding the effectiveness of these interventions is currently limited, thereby signaling the need to better understand the mechanisms underlying their impact on SUD, in order to reframe and optimize them. Here we advance that physical exercise could be re-conceptualized as an "interoception booster", namely as a way to help people with SUD to better decode and interpret bodily-related signals associated with transient states of homeostatic imbalances that usually trigger consumption. We first discuss how mismatches between current and desired bodily states influence the formation of reward-seeking states in SUD, in light of the insular cortex brain networks. Next, we detail effort perception during physical exercise and discuss how it can be used as a relevant framework for re-dynamizing interoception in SUD. We conclude by providing perspectives and methodological considerations for applying the proposed approach to mixed-design neurocognitive research on SUD.

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Recent grants

• NIH Grant P01NS019632

  NIH · $29.3M · 2012

• NIH Grant R21DA016708

  NIH · $295k · 2006

• NIH Grant R01DA012487

  NIH · $447k · 2004

• NIH Grant P50NS019632

  NIH · $10.2M · 2013

• NIH Grant R01DA017341

  NIH · $753k · 2008

Frequent coauthors

• Qinghua He

  Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China

  74 shared

• Ofir Turel

  University of Melbourne

  65 shared

• Daniel Tranel

  University of Iowa

  64 shared

• Damien Brevers

  University of Luxembourg

  58 shared

• Xavier Noël

  Université Libre de Bruxelles

  48 shared

• Gui Xue

  Beijing Normal University

  40 shared

• Hanna Damásio

  University of Southern California

  40 shared

• Charles Kornreich

  Université Libre de Bruxelles

  38 shared