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Striatum-wide dopamine encodes trajectory errors separated from value.

Authors: Brown EH, Zi Y, Vu MA, Bouabid S, Lindsey J, Godfrey-Nwachukwu C, Attarwala A, Litwin-Kumar A, DePasquale B, Howe MW
Journal: Nature
mental health psychology open access

Abstract

Advancements in genetic testing have changed the landscape for people who are pregnant and seeking to understand the likelihood that their fetus has a chromosomal or genetic condition. Although these opportunities have historically been offered to individuals “at risk,” including those with a history of genetic or chromosomal conditions, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) now recommends that all individuals who are pregnant be offered prenatal genetic testing as part of their routine care, regardless of maternal age, disease, health history, or risk status. Traditional invasive prenatal diagnostic tests, such as amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling, yield the most accurate diagnosis but carry a risk of miscarriage and are done later in pregnancy. Providers, therefore, typically offer a less invasive first‐line screening test, such as cell‐free DNA (cfDNA) screening. Although cfDNA (also known as noninvasive prenatal testing [NIPT]) is the most accurate among noninvasive screening tests, it still has a low false‐positive rate and provides results as risk estimates, not diagnostic information. Risk and probability are notoriously difficult for patients to understand, and patients may not comprehend the need for confirmatory testing. As a result, it is important for patients to engage in shared‐decision‐making with their providers to counter any inaccurate information they may have been exposed to. Forty‐two percent of videos conflated sex and gender in chromosomal screening contexts.