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Timing along the cardiac cycle modulates neural signals of reward-based learning
Previous work has shown that natural cardiac rhythms modulate the perception and reaction to sensory cues through changes in associated neural signals. Here, the authors show that sensitivity to prediction errors during reward learning is related to the phase of the cardiac cycle.
- Elsa F. Fouragnan
- , Billy Hosking
- & Alejandra Sel
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Article
| Open Access
Temporally organized representations of reward and risk in the human brain
It is unclear how reward and risk are temporally organized in the human brain. Here, the authors demonstrate both sequential and parallel encoding of decision variables, and the role of anterior insula in reward- and risk-prediction error.
- Vincent Man
- , Jeffrey Cockburn
- & John P. O’Doherty
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Article
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Neural timescales reflect behavioral demands in freely moving rhesus macaques
The functional relevance of neural timescales is not fully understood. Here the authors demonstrate that neural timescales change with behavioral demands in freely moving macaques.
- Ana M. G. Manea
- , David J.-N. Maisson
- & Jan Zimmermann
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Article
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Grid-like entorhinal representation of an abstract value space during prospective decision making
Values of choice options often change over time. Here, the authors show that during prospective decision making the entorhinal cortex encodes changing values using a grid-like representation, suggesting the formation of a cognitive value map.
- Alexander Nitsch
- , Mona M. Garvert
- & Christian F. Doeller
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Article
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Trial-history biases in evidence accumulation can give rise to apparent lapses in decision-making
Trial-history biases and lapses are two commonly observed suboptimalities in decision-making that have been traditionally considered distinct. In this study, the authors show that they can both arise from a single underlying mechanism.
- Diksha Gupta
- , Brian DePasquale
- & Carlos D. Brody
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Article
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Human brain representations of internally generated outcomes of approximate calculation revealed by ultra-high-field brain imaging
How the brain represents quantities remains unclear. Here the authors identify dorsal stream sensory-motor integration areas as a candidate region for the internal generation of numerical contents during mental calculations.
- Sébastien Czajko
- , Alexandre Vignaud
- & Evelyn Eger
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Article
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Mapping expectancy-based appetitive placebo effects onto the brain in women
The neurocognitive mechanisms underlying placebo effects of hunger suggestion are not well understood. Here, the authors show that activation and interaction of different areas of the prefrontal cortex are related to the effects of hunger suggestions on food choice and evaluation.
- Iraj Khalid
- , Belina Rodrigues
- & Liane Schmidt
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Article
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Mapping causal links between prefrontal cortical regions and
intra-individual behavioral variability
The neural substrates of intra-individual variability are not well understood. Here, the authors show in macaque monkeys that response time variability is decreased by lesions to the anterior cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, while it is increased by lesions to the posterior cingulate cortex and orbitofrontal cortex.
- Farshad Alizadeh Mansouri
- , Mark J. Buckley
- & Keiji Tanaka
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Article
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Electrophysiological population dynamics reveal context dependencies during decision making in human frontal cortex
How neurons represent competing values during decision making remains poorly understood. Here, the authors find evidence that context modulates value representation in the human cortex.
- Wan-Yu Shih
- , Hsiang-Yu Yu
- & Shih-Wei Wu
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Article
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Superior colliculus bidirectionally modulates choice activity in frontal cortex
Multiple cortical and subcortical brain regions are implicated in decision-making, yet their causal interactions remain unclear. Here, the authors identified cellular and circuit interactions that bias cortical decision-making dynamics and behavior.
- Alyse Thomas
- , Weiguo Yang
- & Nuo Li
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Article
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Self-reported childhood family adversity is linked to an attenuated gain of trust during adolescence
The authors examined how family experiences are linked to the development of trust in adolescence and young adulthood. They show that trust increases over time but self-reported family adversity can hinder this, and trust may act as a resilience factor in maintaining positive peer relations.
- Andrea M. F. Reiter
- , Andreas Hula
- & Raymond J. Dolan
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Article
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Neural and computational underpinnings of biased confidence in human reinforcement learning
The mechanism of confidence formation in learning remains poorly understood. Here, the authors show that both dorsal and ventral prefrontal networks encode confidence, but only the ventral network incorporates the valence-induced bias.
- Chih-Chung Ting
- , Nahuel Salem-Garcia
- & Maël Lebreton
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Article
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Emergence of cortical network motifs for short-term memory during learning
How learning refines the coordinated activitity of neurons across multiple regions of the mouse cortex remains unclear. Here, the authors identified the emergence of cortical subnetworks during learning of a sensorimotor task.
- Xin Wei Chia
- , Jian Kwang Tan
- & Hiroshi Makino
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Article
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Human thalamic low-frequency oscillations correlate with expected value and outcomes during reinforcement learning
The functional role of the human thalamus in reinforcement learning is debated. Here, using intra-thalamic recordings in humans, the authors report that thalamic low-frequency oscillations correlate with variables for learning from both reward and punishment.
- Antoine Collomb-Clerc
- , Maëlle C. M. Gueguen
- & Julien Bastin
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Article
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Initial conditions combine with sensory evidence to induce decision-related dynamics in premotor cortex
It remains unclear why some decisions take longer than others even when the sensory inputs are similar. Here, the authors show that both initial neural state and sensory input combine in the premotor cortex to influence the speed and geometry of neural population activity during decisions.
- Pierre O. Boucher
- , Tian Wang
- & Chandramouli Chandrasekaran
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Article
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PET-measured human dopamine synthesis capacity and receptor availability predict trading rewards and time-costs during foraging
The role of dopamine in foraging behaviour in humans is not well understood. Here, the authors show using PET imaging, that striatal dopamine receptor availability, and dopamine function in the anterior cingulate cortex and mesolimbic areas are related to the decision to explore new environments.
- Angela M. Ianni
- , Daniel P. Eisenberg
- & Karen F. Berman
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Article
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Action initiation and punishment learning differ from childhood to adolescence while reward learning remains stable
Adolescence is often associated with heightened reward learning and impulsivity. Here the authors show in 742 people aged 9-18 that reward learning in fact remains stable with age, whilst punishment learning increases and action initiation decreases.
- Ruth Pauli
- , Inti A. Brazil
- & Patricia L. Lockwood
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Article
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Prior information differentially affects discrimination decisions and subjective confidence reports
Both decisions and the confidence accompanying them are influenced not only by incoming information, but also prior expectations. Here, the authors show that confidence in decisions is affected by prior information more than the decisions themselves.
- Marika Constant
- , Michael Pereira
- & Elisa Filevich
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Article
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Dopamine regulates decision thresholds in human reinforcement learning in males
The neurotransmitter dopamine is known to regulate learning and decision-making. Here, the authors show that pharmacologically enhancing dopamine levels influences the regulation of speed and accuracy during reward learning.
- Karima Chakroun
- , Antonius Wiehler
- & Jan Peters
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Article
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Bilateral human laryngeal motor cortex in perceptual decision of lexical tone and voicing of consonant
The role of the laryngeal motor cortex (LMC) in speech perception is poorly understood. Here, using transcranial magnetic stimulation, the authors found a causal contribution of bilateral LMC to consonant and lexical tone perception.
- Baishen Liang
- , Yanchang Li
- & Yi Du
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Article
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Reinforcement learning establishes a minimal metacognitive process to monitor and control motor learning performance
Metacognition is fundamental for regulating learning speeds and memory retention. Here, the authors demonstrate that reinforcement learning mediates this process in implicit motor learning, maximizing rewards and minimizing punishments.
- Taisei Sugiyama
- , Nicolas Schweighofer
- & Jun Izawa
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Article
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Natural statistics support a rational account of confidence biases
Human decision confidence displays a number of biases and has been shown to dissociate from decision accuracy. Here, by using neural network and Bayesian models, the authors show that these effects can be explained by the statistics of sensory inputs.
- Taylor W. Webb
- , Kiyofumi Miyoshi
- & Hakwan Lau
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Article
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Cortical glutamate and GABA are related to compulsive behaviour in individuals with obsessive compulsive disorder and healthy controls
The neurochemical basis of compulsive behaviour is not well understood. Here, the authors show that levels of glutamate and GABA in the supplementary motor area and anterior cingulate cortex relate to compulsive behaviour in healthy controls and individuals with OCD.
- Marjan Biria
- , Paula Banca
- & Trevor W. Robbins
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Article
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Human orbitofrontal cortex signals decision outcomes to sensory cortex during behavioral adaptations
How the prefrontal cortex interacts with sensory cortex for behavioral adaptation in humans is unclear. Here, Wang et al. show that prediction-error related activity in lateral orbitofrontal cortex is conveyed as a teaching signal to update the outcome representation in sensory cortex.
- Bin A. Wang
- , Maike Veismann
- & Burkhard Pleger
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Article
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Microstructural and functional plasticity following repeated brain stimulation during cognitive training in older adults
The neural mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of behavioural training in combination with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) are not well understood. Here, the authors combine cognitive training with tDCS, showing a modulation of prefrontal white and grey matter microstructure, and increased prefrontal functional connectivity.
- Daria Antonenko
- , Anna Elisabeth Fromm
- & Agnes Flöel
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Article
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Inefficient prioritization of task-relevant attributes during instrumental information demand
People actively seek information but can be inefficient in identifying informative observations. The authors show that these inefficiencies covary with personality traits and persist under instrumental incentives and despite minimal memory load.
- Isabella Rischall
- , Laura Hunter
- & Jacqueline Gottlieb
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Article
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Task state representations in vmPFC mediate relevant and irrelevant value signals and their behavioral influence
The ventromedial prefrontal-cortex (vmPFC) encodes expected value signals that contribute to choices. Here the authors show that during decision-making the human ventromedial prefrontal cortex contains a task-context representation that arbitrates between simultaneously active representations of expected values in the current versus other task contexts.
- Nir Moneta
- , Mona M. Garvert
- & Nicolas W. Schuck
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Article
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Error-related signaling in nucleus accumbens D2 receptor-expressing neurons guides inhibition-based choice behavior in mice
The mechanisms that inhibit behaviors that lead to undesirable outcomes are not fully understood. Here, authors show error signaling via dopamine D2 receptor-expressing neurons in the NAc optimizes future choice by inhibiting incorrect behavior.
- Tadaaki Nishioka
- , Suthinee Attachaipanich
- & Takatoshi Hikida
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Article
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A distributed and efficient population code of mixed selectivity neurons for flexible navigation decisions
Animals flexibly and rapidly adapt navigation routes to the environment and context. Here, the authors find that the flexibility in navigation decisions arises from cells distributed in posterior cortex, each of which mixes sensory and memory information.
- Shinichiro Kira
- , Houman Safaai
- & Christopher D. Harvey
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Article
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Dynamical latent state computation in the male macaque posterior parietal cortex
Natural behaviors induce changes to hidden states of the world that may be vital to track. Here, in monkeys navigating virtually to hidden goals, the authors show that neural interactions in the posterior parietal cortex play a role in tracking displacement from an unobservable goal.
- Kaushik J. Lakshminarasimhan
- , Eric Avila
- & Dora E. Angelaki
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Article
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Choice selective inhibition drives stability and competition in decision circuits
In decision circuits, inhibitory neurons signal animal choices. Here, the authors show that choice-selective inhibition can stabilize the circuit dynamics or promote competition depending on inhibitory output connections, affecting choice behavior.
- James P. Roach
- , Anne K. Churchland
- & Tatiana A. Engel
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Article
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Dynamic control of decision and movement speed in the human basal ganglia
The neural mechanisms determining the speed of decisions and movements in the human brain remain poorly understood. Here, the authors reveal that the subthalamic nucleus causally controls decision and movement speed independently for each hemisphere.
- Damian M. Herz
- , Manuel Bange
- & Peter Brown
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Article
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Number selective sensorimotor neurons in the crow translate perceived numerosity into number of actions
Translating a perceived number into a matching number of self-generated actions is key in numerical reasoning. Here, the authors report sensorimotor neurons in the crow telencephalon that signaled the impending number of self-generated actions.
- Maximilian E. Kirschhock
- & Andreas Nieder
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Article
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Neural implementation of computational mechanisms underlying the continuous trade-off between cooperation and competition
Social interactions change continuously from cooperation to competition. Here, using an economic game, the authors show how the social context and inferences about others’ intentions modulate cooperativeness, and examine the neural network underlying the continuous cooperation competition trade-off.
- M. A. Pisauro
- , E. F. Fouragnan
- & M. G. Philiastides
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Article
| Open Access
Functional architecture of executive control and associated event-related potentials in macaques
The authors examine the cortical microcircuitry relating to executive control in macaques. They describe three classes of neurons that signal response conflict, event timing, and maintenance of task goals, as well as their relations with event-related potentials that are associated with response inhibition.
- Amirsaman Sajad
- , Steven P. Errington
- & Jeffrey D. Schall
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Article
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Persistent activity in human parietal cortex mediates perceptual choice repetition bias
There is a well-known behavioral tendency to repeat past decisions, but the neural basis of this tendency remains unclear. Here the authors show that persistent activity in parietal cortex seems to play a key role in these idiosyncratic choice repetition biases.
- Anne E. Urai
- & Tobias H. Donner
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Review Article
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A consensus statement on detection of hippocampal sharp wave ripples and differentiation from other fast oscillations
While the contribution of sharp wave ripples in memory consolidation and decision-making is established in rodent models, our understanding of their role in human memory is incomplete. Here, the authors discuss common methodological challenges in detecting, analyzing, and reporting sharp wave ripples, then they suggest practical solutions to distinguish them from other high-frequency events
- Anli A. Liu
- , Simon Henin
- & György Buzsáki
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Article
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A neuronal prospect theory model in the brain reward circuitry
It is unclear how the activity of individual neurons conform to prospect theory. Here, the authors demonstrate that the activity of single neurons in various reward-related regions in the monkey brain can be described as encoding a multiplicative combination of utility and probability weighting, and that this subjective valuation process is achieved via a distributed coding scheme.
- Yuri Imaizumi
- , Agnieszka Tymula
- & Hiroshi Yamada
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Article
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Crowding results from optimal integration of visual targets with contextual information
Visual crowding is a phenomenon where objects presented in the visual periphery are not resolved efficiently. Here the authors show that crowding may derive from an optimizing strategy that blends information when it is similar and preserves it when it is dissimilar.
- Guido Marco Cicchini
- , Giovanni D’Errico
- & David Charles Burr
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Article
| Open Access
A neuro-computational account of procrastination behavior
Most humans procrastinate to some extent, despite adverse consequences. Here, the authors show that how much an individual procrastinates, both in the lab and at home, relates to brain signals that reflect temporal discounting of effort cost.
- Raphaël Le Bouc
- & Mathias Pessiglione
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Article
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Degenerate boundaries for multiple-alternative decisions
How animals make multiple-choice decisions over three or more alternatives is not well understood. Here the authors use simulations to uncover that there is not one but many optimal parameter value configurations on the reward landscape of the multiple-choice threshold boundaries.
- Sophie-Anne Baker
- , Thom Griffith
- & Nathan F. Lepora
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Article
| Open Access
Individuals with ventromedial frontal damage display unstable but transitive preferences during decision making
The ventromedial frontal lobes (VMF) contribute to encoding of value. Here the authors show that individuals with VMF damage have less stable, but fundamentally transitive preferences, suggesting that valuation does not solely rely on the VMF.
- Linda Q. Yu
- , Jason Dana
- & Joseph W. Kable
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Article
| Open Access
Cingulate-motor circuits update rule representations for sequential choice decisions
The anterior cingulate cortex allows an animal to update its behaviour when the environment changes. In this work, the authors identify a pathway from cingulate to secondary motor cortex, critical for updating motor rules following behavioural errors.
- Daigo Takeuchi
- , Dheeraj Roy
- & Susumu Tonegawa
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Registered Report
| Open Access
Value-free random exploration is linked to impulsivity
Deciding between known rewarding options and exploring novel avenues is central to decision making. Humans show variability in their exploration. Here, the authors show that impulsivity is associated to an increased usage of a cognitively cheap (and sometimes sub-optimal) exploration strategy.
- Magda Dubois
- & Tobias U. Hauser
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Article
| Open Access
A conflict between spatial selection and evidence accumulation in area LIP
In primate area LIP, target selection and the accumulation of sensory evidence are considered a single process. Here, the authors use urgent choice tasks to show that spatial selection in LIP is distinct from, and may even conflict with, evidence accumulation.
- Joshua A. Seideman
- , Terrence R. Stanford
- & Emilio Salinas
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Article
| Open Access
Evidence accumulation occurs locally in the parietal cortex
The source of the evidence accumulation signal widely observed in the brain during decision making is unknown. Here, the authors used a two-stage decision task to show that the accumulation signal in the posterior parietal cortex arises locally.
- Zhewei Zhang
- , Chaoqun Yin
- & Tianming Yang
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Article
| Open Access
A macroscopic link between interhemispheric tract myelination and cortico-cortical interactions during action reprogramming
Myelination is a key regulator of brain function. Here the authors use MR-based myelin measures to examine if cortico-cortical interactions, as assessed by paired pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation, are affected by variations in myelin in the human brain.
- Alberto Lazari
- , Piergiorgio Salvan
- & Heidi Johansen-Berg
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Article
| Open Access
Dynamic influences on static measures of metacognition
The authors show that current measures of metacognition are confounded with response caution, both in simulations and empirical data. They propose an alternative dynamic measure of metacognition.
- Kobe Desender
- , Luc Vermeylen
- & Tom Verguts
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Article
| Open Access
Stable choice coding in rat frontal orienting fields across model-predicted changes of mind
A leaky accumulation model can predict rats’ changes of mind during decision making in a dynamic environment explaining reversals in frontal cortical activity and demonstrating a stable choice code despite environmental uncertainty.
- J. Tyler Boyd-Meredith
- , Alex T. Piet
- & Carlos D. Brody
Neurocomputational mechanisms involved in adaptation to fluctuating intentions of others