scholarly journals Values Encoded in Orbitofrontal Cortex Are Causally Related to Economic Choices

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sébastien Ballesta ◽  
Weikang Shi ◽  
Katherine E. Conen ◽  
Camillo Padoa-Schioppa
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Stimulation ◽  
Neuronal Activity ◽  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Rhesus Monkeys ◽  
Fundamental Issue ◽  
High Current ◽  
Neural Processes ◽  
Economic Choices ◽  
The Brain

AbstractIt has long been hypothesized that economic choices rely on the assignment and comparison of subjective values. Indeed, when agents make decisions, neurons in orbitofrontal cortex encode the values of offered and chosen goods. Moreover, neuronal activity in this area suggests the formation of a decision. However, it is unclear whether these neural processes are causally related to choices. More generally, the evidence linking economic choices to value signals in the brain remains correlational. We address this fundamental issue using electrical stimulation in rhesus monkeys. We show that suitable currents bias choices by increasing the value of individual offers. Furthermore, high-current stimulation disrupts both the computation and the comparison of subjective values. These results demonstrate that values encoded in orbitofrontal cortex are causal to economic choices.

scholarly journals Orbitofrontal cortex contributes to the comparison of values underlying economic choices

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastien Ballesta ◽  
Weikang Shi ◽  
Camillo Padoa-Schioppa
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Stimulation ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Neuronal Activity ◽  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Decision Process ◽  
Neuronal Populations ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Economic Choices ◽  
Stimulation Of

Economic choices between goods entail the computation and comparison of subjective values. Previous studies examined neuronal activity in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) of monkeys choosing between different types of juices. Three groups of neurons were identified: offer value cells encoding the value of individual offers, chosen juice cells encoding the identity of the chosen juice, and chosen value cells encoding the value of the chosen offer. The encoded variables capture both the input (offer value) and the output (chosen juice, chosen value) of the decision process, suggesting that values are compared within OFC. Recent work demonstrates that choices are causally linked to the activity of offer value cells. Conversely, the hypothesis that OFC contributes to value comparison has not been confirmed. Here we show that weak electrical stimulation of OFC specifically disrupts value comparison without altering offer values. This result implies that neuronal populations in OFC participate in the decision process.

scholarly journals Shared neuronal bases of inhibition and economic choice in orbitofrontal cortex

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pragathi Priyadharsini Balasubramani ◽  
Benjamin Y. Hayden
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Neuronal Activity ◽  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Choice Task ◽  
Stop Signal Task ◽  
Economic Choice ◽  
Brain Circuits ◽  
Neural Processes ◽  
Theoretical Unification

ABSTRACTEconomic choice and inhibition are two important elements of our cognitive repertoires that may be closely related. We and others have noted that during economic choice, options are typically considered serially; this fact provides important constraints on our understanding of choice. Notably, asynchronous contemplation means that each individual option is subject to an accept-reject decision. We have proposed that these component accept-reject decisions may have some kinship with stopping decisions. One prediction of this idea is that stopping and choice may reflect similar neural processes occurring in overlapping brain circuits. To test the idea, we recorded neuronal activity in orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) Area 13 while macaques performed a stop signal task interleaved with a structurally matched choice task. Using neural network decoders, we find that OFC ensembles have overlapping codes for stopping and choice: the decoder that was only trained to identify accept vs. reject trials performed with higher efficiency even when tested on the stop trials. These results provide tentative support for the idea that mechanisms underlying inhibitory control and choice selection may be subject to theoretical unification.

scholarly journals Neuronal origins of biases in economic choices under sequential offers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weikang Shi ◽  
Sebastien Ballesta ◽  
Camillo Padoa-Schioppa
Keyword(s):  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Rhesus Monkeys ◽  
Choice Behavior ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Choice Accuracy ◽  
Bias Analysis ◽  
Economic Decisions ◽  
Economic Choices ◽  
Shed Light

Economic choices are characterized by a variety of biases. Understanding their origins is a long-term goal for neuroeconomics, but progress on this front has been limited. Here we examined choice biases observed when two goods are offered sequentially. In the experiments, rhesus monkeys chose between different juices offered simultaneously or in sequence. Choices under sequential offers were less accurate (higher variability). They were also biased in favor of the second offer (order bias) and in favor of the preferred juice (preference bias). Analysis of neuronal activity recorded in orbitofrontal cortex revealed that these phenomena emerged at different computational stages. The lower choice accuracy reflected weaker offer value signals (valuation stage), the order bias emerged during value comparison (decision stage), and the preference bias emerged late in the trial (post-comparison). Our approach, leveraging recent notions on the neural mechanisms of economic decisions, may shed light on other aspects of choice behavior.

PATHWAYS IN THE FOREBRAIN OF THE RABBIT CONCERNED WITH THE RELEASE OF PROLACTIN

1972 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. S. TINDAL ◽  
G. S. KNAGGS
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Stimulation ◽  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Preoptic Area ◽  
Third Ventricle ◽  
Posterior Hypothalamus ◽  
Bipolar Electrode ◽  
Prolactin Release ◽  
Implanted Electrodes ◽  
Neuronal Systems ◽  
The Brain

SUMMARY Rabbits were implanted unilaterally with a bipolar electrode in the forebrain, and approximately 10 days later pseudopregnancy was induced by i.v. injection of human chorionic gonadotrophin. One week later the rabbits began receiving electrical stimulation with square-wave pulses through the implanted electrodes for two periods of 15 min daily for 11 days. At autopsy on the 12th day the mammary glands were inspected for the occurrence of lactogenesis and sites of electrode tips in the brain were determined histologically. In a preceding study a prolactin-release path, believed to be that normally activated by the suckling stimulus, had been traced from the mid-brain as far rostral as the posterior hypothalamus, and in the present work, lactogenesis, indicating release of prolactin, occurred after electrical stimulation of this same region in the posterior hypothalamus, between the third ventricle and the mammillo—thalamic tract. Further rostrally, effective stimulation sites were found in the medio-dorsal hypothalamus, in the farlateral hypothalamus within the medial forebrain bundle, and in the lateral and medial preoptic area. Sites extended caudally from the last area to the medial anterior hypothalamus. Passing rostrally from the lateral preoptic area, effective sites occurred in, and ventral to, the external capsule, in the claustrum and in the adjacent orbitofrontal cortex which yielded the two maximum lactogenic responses observed in the stimulated group. The role of these rostral structures, in particular the orbitofrontal cortex, is not yet clear, nor is the final mechanism mediating prolactin release, although the results suggest that the ascending pathway for prolactin release approaches the medial hypothalamus by way of the preoptic area. The presence of control electrodes in the brains of pseudopregnant rabbits was found to cause lactogenesis when their tips were in structures associated with prolactin release, as determined from the stimulated group of animals. It was concluded, therefore, that electrical stimulation may have been unnecessary in this work and that the physical irritation caused by the presence of the electrode tip in appropriate neuronal systems may be a sufficient stimulus per se to be used for tracing prolactin-release pathways in the brain.

scholarly journals Electrical Stimulation of the Ear, Head, Cranial Nerve, or Cortex for the Treatment of Tinnitus: A Scoping Review

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek J. Hoare ◽  
Peyman Adjamian ◽  
Magdalena Sereda
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Stimulation ◽  
Neuronal Activity ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Cranial Nerve ◽  
Auditory Pathway ◽  
External Source ◽  
Acoustic Stimuli ◽  
Permanent Reduction ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Stimulation Of

Tinnitus is defined as the perception of sound in the absence of an external source. It is often associated with hearing loss and is thought to result from abnormal neural activity at some point or points in the auditory pathway, which is incorrectly interpreted by the brain as an actual sound. Neurostimulation therapies therefore, which interfere on some level with that abnormal activity, are a logical approach to treatment. For tinnitus, where the pathological neuronal activity might be associated with auditory and other areas of the brain, interventions using electromagnetic, electrical, or acoustic stimuli separately, or paired electrical and acoustic stimuli, have been proposed as treatments. Neurostimulation therapies should modulate neural activity to deliver a permanent reduction in tinnitus percept by driving the neuroplastic changes necessary to interrupt abnormal levels of oscillatory cortical activity and restore typical levels of activity. This change in activity should alter or interrupt the tinnitus percept (reduction or extinction) making it less bothersome. Here we review developments in therapies involving electrical stimulation of the ear, head, cranial nerve, or cortex in the treatment of tinnitus which demonstrably, or are hypothesised to, interrupt pathological neuronal activity in the cortex associated with tinnitus.

scholarly journals Wireless logging of extracellular neuronal activity in the telencephalon of free-swimming salmonids

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Susumu Takahashi ◽  
Takumi Hombe ◽  
Riku Takahashi ◽  
Kaoru Ide ◽  
Shinichiro Okamoto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neuronal Activity ◽  
Environmental Cues ◽  
Fish Movement ◽  
Water Tank ◽  
Head Direction ◽  
Free Swimming ◽  
Rodent Brain ◽  
River Migration ◽  
Spike Waveforms ◽  
The Brain

Abstract Background Salmonids return to the river where they were born in a phenomenon known as mother-river migration. The underpinning of migration has been extensively examined, particularly regarding the behavioral correlations of external environmental cues such as the scent of the mother-river and geomagnetic compass. However, neuronal underpinning remains elusive, as there have been no biologging techniques suited to monitor neuronal activity in the brain of large free-swimming fish. In this study, we developed a wireless biologging system to record extracellular neuronal activity in the brains of free-swimming salmonids. Results Using this system, we recorded multiple neuronal activities from the telencephalon of trout swimming in a rectangular water tank. As proof of principle, we examined the activity statistics for extracellular spike waveforms and timing. We found cells firing maximally in response to a specific head direction, similar to the head direction cells found in the rodent brain. The results of our study suggest that the recorded signals originate from neurons. Conclusions We anticipate that our biologging system will facilitate a more detailed investigation into the neural underpinning of fish movement using internally generated information, including responses to external cues.

Experimental delayed radiation necrosis of the brain

1979 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. 587-596 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert N. Martins ◽  
Ralph E. Severance ◽  
James M. Henry ◽  
Thomas F. Doyle
Keyword(s):  
Rhesus Monkeys ◽  
Radiation Necrosis ◽  
Clinical Signs ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brain Irradiation ◽  
Primate Brain ◽  
High Doses ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Male Rhesus

✓ The authors have designed an experiment to detect a hitherto unrecognized interaction between high doses of the glucocorticoid, dexamethasone, and brain irradiation. Eighteen juvenile male rhesus monkeys received 1800 rads to the whole brain in 8.5 minutes. For 1½ days before and 10½ days after the irradiation, nine animals received approximately 2.9 mg/kg/day of dexamethasone intramuscularly in addition to irradiation, while the remaining nine animals served as the control group and received saline. All animals eventually developed a progressive neurological syndrome, and died of delayed radiation necrosis of the brain. The two groups were compared with regard to latency to onset of clinical signs, survival time, and number, distribution, and location of lesions of radionecrosis. Large doses of dexamethasone did not alter the susceptibility of the primate brain to delayed radiation necrosis. Detailed morphological study of the radionecrotic lesions supports the hypothesis that most, if not all, of the lesions develop as the consequence of injury to blood vessels.

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