Neural Population Dynamics Underlying Expected Value Computation

Brain circuit found for decision making in the face of uncertainty

31 January 2022

A brain circuit that helps monkeys calculate expected rewards when faced with choices and uncertainty has been identified.

Knowing which neurons contribute to value computation could inform scientists’ understanding of psychiatric illnesses linked to impaired decision making.

Now, three researchers at the University of Tsukuba have identified trained macaques to perform a gambling task: presented with visual cues depicting the probability and magnitude of two options, the monkeys learned to choose the option most likely to pay off with a fluid reward.

By recording the activities of single neurons, the researchers found that two populations of brain cells — one in the central part of the orbitofrontal cortex at the front of the brain, and the other in the ventral striatum tucked deep inside in the skull — simultaneously detected and integrated the relevant probability and magnitude information.

The cooperation of these two brain regions may thus be integral to for computing expected value.

Supported content

References

1. Journal of Neuroscience 41, 1684–1698 (2021). doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1987-20.2020