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Touché: the feeling of choice

A new model by Machens et al. proposes a mechanism by which prefrontal cortex neurons can do two jobs that are normally thought to occur independently. In a stimulus comparison task, these model neurons both cast votes for a stimulus and make decisions.

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Figure 1: Hypothetical circuit for comparing stimuli that occur at different times.
Figure 2: The Machens et al. mechanism.

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Latham, P., Dayan, P. Touché: the feeling of choice. Nat Neurosci 8, 408–409 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn0405-408

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