scholarly journals Decision letter: Sequential selection of economic good and action in medial frontal cortex of macaques during value-based decisions

2015 ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Siniscalchi ◽  
Hongli Wang ◽  
Alex C. Kwan

AbstractInstrumental behavior is characterized by the selection of actions based on the degree to which they lead to a desired outcome. However, we lack a detailed understanding of how rewarded actions are reinforced and preferentially implemented. In rodents, the medial frontal cortex is hypothesized to play an important role in this process, based in part on its capacity to encode chosen actions and their outcomes. We therefore asked how neural representations of choice and outcome might interact to facilitate instrumental behavior. To investigate this question, we imaged neural ensemble activity in layer 2/3 of the secondary motor region (M2) while mice engaged in a two-choice auditory discrimination task with probabilistic outcomes. Correct choices could result in one of three reward amounts (single-, double-, or omitted-reward), which allowed us to measure neural and behavioral effects of reward magnitude, as well as its categorical presence or absence. Single-unit and population decoding analyses revealed a consistent influence of outcome on choice signals in M2. Specifically, rewarded choices were more robustly encoded relative to unrewarded choices, with little dependence on the exact magnitude of reinforcement. Our results provide insight into the integration of past choices and outcomes in the rodent brain during instrumental behavior.


eLife ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaomo Chen ◽  
Veit Stuphorn

Value-based decisions could rely either on the selection of desired economic goods or on the selection of the actions that will obtain the goods. We investigated this question by recording from the supplementary eye field (SEF) of monkeys during a gambling task that allowed us to distinguish chosen good from chosen action signals. Analysis of the individual neuron activity, as well as of the population state-space dynamic, showed that SEF encodes first the chosen gamble option (the desired economic good) and only ~100 ms later the saccade that will obtain it (the chosen action). The action selection is likely driven by inhibitory interactions between different SEF neurons. Our results suggest that during value-based decisions, the selection of economic goods precedes and guides the selection of actions. The two selection steps serve different functions and can therefore not compensate for each other, even when information guiding both processes is given simultaneously.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (10) ◽  
pp. 4090-4106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J Siniscalchi ◽  
Hongli Wang ◽  
Alex C Kwan

Abstract Instrumental behavior is characterized by the selection of actions based on the degree to which they lead to a desired outcome. However, we lack a detailed understanding of how rewarded actions are reinforced and preferentially implemented. In rodents, the medial frontal cortex is hypothesized to play an important role in this process, based in part on its capacity to encode chosen actions and their outcomes. We therefore asked how neural representations of choice and outcome might interact to facilitate instrumental behavior. To investigate this question, we imaged neural ensemble activity in layer 2/3 of the secondary motor region (M2) while mice engaged in a two-choice auditory discrimination task with probabilistic outcomes. Correct choices could result in one of three reward amounts (single, double or omitted reward), which allowed us to measure neural and behavioral effects of reward magnitude, as well as its categorical presence or absence. Single-unit and population decoding analyses revealed a consistent influence of outcome on choice signals in M2. Specifically, rewarded choices were more robustly encoded relative to unrewarded choices, with little dependence on the exact magnitude of reinforcement. Our results provide insight into the integration of past choices and outcomes in the rodent brain during instrumental behavior.


Cell Calcium ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 102388
Author(s):  
Alex L. Keyes ◽  
Young-cho Kim ◽  
Peter J. Bosch ◽  
Yuriy M. Usachev ◽  
Georgina M. Aldridge

Neuron ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 548-562 ◽  
Author(s):  
Itzhak Fried ◽  
Roy Mukamel ◽  
Gabriel Kreiman

NeuroImage ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 137 ◽  
pp. 178-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baltazar Zavala ◽  
Huiling Tan ◽  
Keyoumars Ashkan ◽  
Thomas Foltynie ◽  
Patricia Limousin ◽  
...  

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