scholarly journals Contributions of anterior cingulate cortex and basolateral amygdala to decision confidence and learning under uncertainty

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Stolyarova ◽  
M. Rakhshan ◽  
E. E. Hart ◽  
T. J. O’Dell ◽  
M. A. K. Peters ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Basolateral Amygdala ◽  
Waiting Times ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Discrimination Accuracy ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
Decision Confidence ◽  
Spatial Stimulus ◽  
Response Rule

Abstract The subjective sense of certainty, or confidence, in ambiguous sensory cues can alter the interpretation of reward feedback and facilitate learning. We trained rats to report the orientation of ambiguous visual stimuli according to a spatial stimulus-response rule that must be learned. Following choice, rats could wait a self-timed delay for reward or initiate a new trial. Waiting times increase with discrimination accuracy, demonstrating that this measure can be used as a proxy for confidence. Chemogenetic silencing of BLA shortens waiting times overall whereas ACC inhibition renders waiting times insensitive to confidence-modulating attributes of visual stimuli, suggesting contribution of ACC but not BLA to confidence computations. Subsequent reversal learning is enhanced by confidence. Both ACC and BLA inhibition block this enhancement but via differential adjustments in learning strategies and consistent use of learned rules. Altogether, we demonstrate dissociable roles for ACC and BLA in transmitting confidence and learning under uncertainty.

scholarly journals Dissociable roles for Anterior Cingulate Cortex and Basolateral Amygdala in Decision Confidence and Learning under Uncertainty

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Stolyarova ◽  
M Rakhshan ◽  
Evan E. Hart ◽  
Thomas J. O’Dell ◽  
MAK Peters ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Basolateral Amygdala ◽  
Waiting Times ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Differential Modulation ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
Decision Confidence ◽  
Spatial Stimulus ◽  
Response Rule

AbstractIt has been suggested the subjective sense of certainty, or confidence, in ambiguous sensory cues can alter the interpretation of reward feedback and facilitate learning. We trained rats to report the orientation of ambiguous visual stimuli according to a spatial stimulus-response rule. Following choice, rats could wait a self-timed delay for reward or initiate a new trial. Waiting times increased with discrimination accuracy, demonstrating that this measure could be used as a proxy for confidence. Chemogenetic silencing of BLA shortened waiting times overall whereas ACC inhibition rendered waiting times insensitive to confidence-modulating attributes of visual stimuli, suggesting contribution of ACC but not BLA to confidence computations. Subsequent reversal learning was enhanced by confidence. Both ACC and BLA inhibition blocked this enhancement but via differential modulation of learning strategies and consistency in using learned rules. Altogether, we demonstrate dissociable roles for ACC and BLA in transmitting confidence and learning under uncertainty.

Orbitofrontal cortex output pathways: cingulate cortex, basal ganglia, and dopamine

2019 ◽  
pp. 145-164
Author(s):  
Edmund T. Rolls
Keyword(s):  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Instrumental Learning ◽  
Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Reward Processing ◽  
Dopamine Neurons ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
Related Information ◽  
Outcome Information ◽  
Reward Information

The medial orbitofrontal cortex projects reward-related information to the pregenual cingulate cortex, and the lateral orbitofrontal cortex projects punishment and non-reward information to the supracallosal anterior cingulate cortex. These projections provide the reward outcome information needed for action-outcome goal value dependent instrumental learning by the cingulate cortex. The orbitofrontal cortex also projects reward-related information to the striatum for stimulus-response habit learning. Via the striatal route, and further in part via the habenula, the orbitofrontal cortex provides information about rewards and non-rewards that reached the brainstem dopamine neurons, some of which respond to positive reward prediction error, and the serotonin (5HT) neurons. The orbitofrontal cortex is therefore perhaps the key brain region involved in reward processing in the brain. The orbitofrontal cortex also has projections that can influence autonomic function, in part via the insula.

scholarly journals Anterior cingulate cortex and its input to the basolateral amygdala control innate fear response

IBRO Reports ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. S185
Author(s):  
Min Soo Kang ◽  
Jinho Jhang ◽  
Hyoeun Lee ◽  
Han-Sol Lee ◽  
Hyungju Park ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Basolateral Amygdala ◽  
Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Fear Response ◽  
Innate Fear

Altered Brain Activation in Military Personnel with One or More Traumatic Brain Injuries Following Blast

2011 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randall S. Scheibel ◽  
Mary R. Newsome ◽  
Maya Troyanskaya ◽  
Xiaodi Lin ◽  
Joel L. Steinberg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Injuries ◽  
Group Analysis ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Emotional Symptoms ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
Visual Spatial

AbstractExplosive blast is a frequent cause of traumatic brain injury (TBI) among personnel deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with an event-related stimulus-response compatibility task was used to compare 15 subjects with mild, chronic blast-related TBI with 15 subjects who had not experienced a TBI or blast exposure during deployment. Six TBI subjects reported multiple injuries. Relative to the control group, TBI subjects had slightly slower responses during fMRI and increased somatic complaints and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. A between-group analysis indicated greater activation during stimulus-response incompatibility in TBI subjects within the anterior cingulate gyrus, medial frontal cortex, and posterior cerebral areas involved in visual and visual-spatial functions. This activation pattern was more extensive after statistically controlling for reaction time and symptoms of PTSD and depression. There was also a negative relationship between symptoms of PTSD and activation within posterior brain regions. These results provide evidence for increased task-related activation following mild, blast-related TBI and additional changes associated with emotional symptoms. Limitations of this study include no matching for combat exposure and different recruitment strategies so that the control group was largely a community-based sample, while many TBI subjects were seeking services. (JINS, 2012, 18, 89–100)

scholarly journals Stress modulates the use of spatial versus stimulus-response learning strategies in humans

2007 ◽  
Vol 14 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 109-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Schwabe ◽  
M. S. Oitzl ◽  
C. Philippsen ◽  
S. Richter ◽  
A. Bohringer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Response Learning ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
Versus Stimulus

scholarly journals Differential Involvement of the Anterior Cingulate and Primary Sensorimotor Cortices in Sensory and Affective Functions of Pain

2009 ◽  
Vol 101 (3) ◽  
pp. 1201-1210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chung-Chih Kuo ◽  
Ruei-Jen Chiou ◽  
Keng-Chen Liang ◽  
Chen-Tung Yen
Keyword(s):  
Electric Shock ◽  
Conditioned Fear ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Neuronal Responses ◽  
Noxious Heat ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
Laser Heat ◽  
Primary Sensorimotor Cortex ◽  
Fear Potentiated Startle ◽  
Dimensions Of Pain

The present study examined the role of neurons in different pain-related functions of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and primary sensorimotor cortex (SmI) by assessing their abilities to code different levels of noxious heat and activity changes evoked by classical fear conditioning involving electric shocks. Multiple single-unit activity was recorded with microwires implanted in the SmI and ACC of each rat. In the first set of experiments, the middle segment of the tail in each rat was irradiated with laser-heat pulses of various intensities. Neuronal responses in both the SmI and ACC increased with the intensity of the laser heat, although there was a significantly higher percentage of intensity-related units in the SmI. Furthermore, the stimulus–response curve of SmI ensemble activity had a steeper slope than that of the ACC. In the second set of experiments, rats were trained and tested on a conditioned fear-potentiated startle task in which a light was paired with an electric shock and, later, the startle response was elicited by a burst of noise in the presence or absence of light. A higher percentage of ACC units changed their neuronal responses to the conditioned stimulus after the light–shock pairing and the average activity change was also significantly stronger. Our results suggest that SmI neurons are better at coding laser-heat intensity than ACC neurons, whereas more ACC neurons are involved in conditioned fear associated with an electric shock than SmI neurons. These data provide evidence for differential contributions of the SmI and ACC to sensory and affective dimensions of pain.

scholarly journals Hierarchical reasoning by neural circuits in the frontal cortex

Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 364 (6441) ◽  
pp. eaav8911 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morteza Sarafyazd ◽  
Mehrdad Jazayeri
Keyword(s):  
Frontal Cortex ◽  
Neural Circuits ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Cortical Circuits ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
Response Contingency ◽  
Dorsomedial Frontal Cortex ◽  
Reasoning Strategy ◽  
Additional Perturbation

Humans process information hierarchically. In the presence of hierarchies, sources of failures are ambiguous. Humans resolve this ambiguity by assessing their confidence after one or more attempts. To understand the neural basis of this reasoning strategy, we recorded from dorsomedial frontal cortex (DMFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) of monkeys in a task in which negative outcomes were caused either by misjudging the stimulus or by a covert switch between two stimulus-response contingency rules. We found that both areas harbored a representation of evidence supporting a rule switch. Additional perturbation experiments revealed that ACC functioned downstream of DMFC and was directly and specifically involved in inferring covert rule switches. These results‏ reveal the computational principles of hierarchical reasoning, as implemented by cortical circuits.

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