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A mechanism for value-guided choice based on the excitation-inhibition balance in prefrontal cortex

Nature Neuroscience volume 15, pages 960–961 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

Although the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) has long been implicated in reward-guided decision making, its exact role in this process has remained an unresolved issue. Here we show that, in accordance with models of decision making, vmPFC concentrations of GABA and glutamate in human volunteers predict both behavioral performance and the dynamics of a neural value comparison signal. These data provide evidence for a neural competition mechanism in vmPFC that supports value-guided choice.

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Figure 1: Experimental task and correlation of spectroscopy data with behavior.
Figure 2: Relationship between GABA and glutamate and value difference slope.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a Wellcome Trust Research Career Development fellowship to T.E.J.B. (WT088312AIA). L.T.H. was supported by a 4-year D.Phil. studentship from the Wellcome Trust (WT080540MA). J.N. is supported by the UK Medical Research Council. We are very grateful to A. Soltani for providing the MATLAB code for the biophysical model. We thank S. Knight for his valuable help in data acquisition.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain (FMRIB Centre), University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK

    Gerhard Jocham, Laurence T Hunt, Jamie Near & Timothy E J Behrens

  2. Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Laurence T Hunt

  3. Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London, UK

    Timothy E J Behrens

Authors
  1. Gerhard Jocham
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  2. Laurence T Hunt
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  4. Timothy E J Behrens
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Contributions

G.J. designed the research, and acquired and analyzed the data. L.T.H. modified the biophysical model and analyzed the biophysical model predictions. J.N. acquired and analyzed MRS data. T.E.J.B. designed the research and analyzed the data. All authors were involved in writing the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Gerhard Jocham.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Supplementary Figures 1–4 and Supplementary Tables 1 and 2 (PDF 989 kb)

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Jocham, G., Hunt, L., Near, J. et al. A mechanism for value-guided choice based on the excitation-inhibition balance in prefrontal cortex. Nat Neurosci 15, 960–961 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3140

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