Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-26-2013
Abstract
Rational, value-based decision-making mandates selecting the option with highest subjective expected value after appropriate deliberation. We examined activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and striatum of monkeys deciding between smaller, immediate rewards and larger, delayed ones. We previously found neurons that modulated their activity in this task according to the animal's choice, while it deliberated (choice neurons). Here we found neurons whose spiking activities were predictive of the spatial location of the selected target (spatial-bias neurons) or the size of the chosen reward (reward-bias neurons) before the onset of the cue presenting the decision-alternatives, and thus before rational deliberation could begin. Their predictive power increased as the values the animals associated with the two decision alternatives became more similar. The ventral striatum (VS) preferentially contained spatial-bias neurons; the caudate nucleus (CD) preferentially contained choice neurons. In contrast, the DLPFC contained significant numbers of all three neuron types, but choice neurons were not preferentially also bias neurons of either kind there, nor were spatial-bias neurons preferentially also choice neurons, and vice versa. We suggest a simple winner-take-all (WTA) circuit model to account for the dissociation of choice and bias neurons. The model reproduced our results and made additional predictions that were borne out empirically. Our data are compatible with the hypothesis that the DLPFC and striatum harbor dissociated neural populations that represent choices and predeliberation biases that are combined after cue onset; the bias neurons have a weaker effect on the ultimate decision than the choice neurons, so their influence is progressively apparent for trials where the values associated with the decision alternatives are increasingly similar.
Recommended Citation
Maoz, U., Rutishauser, U., Kim, S., Cai, X., Lee, D. & Koch, C. (2013). Predeliberation activity in prefrontal cortex and striatum and the prediction of subsequent value judgment. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 7: 225. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2013.00225
Copyright
The authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Included in
Animal Experimentation and Research Commons, Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms Commons, Nervous System Commons, Other Psychiatry and Psychology Commons, Psychological Phenomena and Processes Commons
Comments
This article was originally published in Frontiers in Neuroscience, volume 7, in 2013. DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2013.00225
Featured in spotlight: Hunt, L. T. (2014). What are the neural origins of choice variability? Trends in cognitive sciences. 18(5): 222-224.