Medial orbitofrontal inactivation does not affect economic choice.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Gardner MP
PROVIDER: S-EPMC6170187 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:How do we choose between goods that have different subjective values, like apples and oranges? Neuroeconomics proposes that this is done by reducing complex goods to a single unitary value to allow comparison. This value is computed "on the fly" from the underlying model of the goods space, allowing decisions to meet current needs. This is termed "model-based" behavior to distinguish it from pre-determined, habitual, or "model-free" behavior. The lateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) supports model-based behavior in rats and primates, but whether the OFC is necessary for economic choice is less clear. Here we tested this question by optogenetically inactivating the lateral OFC in rats in a classic model-based task and during economic choice. Contrary to predictions, inactivation disrupted model-based behavior without affecting economic choice.
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Project description:Normalization is a common cortical computation widely observed in sensory perception, but its importance in perception of reward value and decision making remains largely unknown. We examined (1) whether normalized value signals occur in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and (2) whether changes in behavioral task context influence the normalized representation of value. We record medial OFC (mOFC) single neuron activity in awake-behaving monkeys during a reward-guided lottery task. mOFC neurons signal the relative values of options via a divisive normalization function when animals freely choose between alternatives. The normalization model, however, performed poorly in a variant of the task where only one of the two possible choice options yields a reward and the other was certain not to yield a reward (so called: "forced choice"). The existence of such context-specific value normalization may suggest that the mOFC contributes valuation signals critical for economic decision making when meaningful alternative options are available.
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Project description:Neural correlates implicate the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in value-based or economic decision making [1-3]. Yet inactivation of OFC in rats performing a rodent version of the standard economic choice task is without effect [4, 5], a finding more in accord with ideas that the OFC is primarily necessary for behavior when new information must be taken into account [6-9]. Neural activity in the OFC spontaneously updates to reflect new information, particularly about outcomes [10-16], and the OFC is necessary for adjustments to learned behavior only under these conditions [4, 16-26]. Here, we merge these two independent lines of research by inactivating lateral OFC during an economic choice that requires new information about the value of the predicted outcomes to be incorporated into an already established choice. Outcome value was changed by pre-feeding the rats one of two food options before testing. In control rats, this pre-feeding resulted in divergent changes in choice behavior that depended on the rats' prior preference for the pre-fed food. Optogenetic inactivation of the OFC disrupted this bi-directional effect of pre-feeding without affecting other measures that describe the underlying choice behavior. This finding unifies the role of the OFC in economic choice with its role in a host of other behaviors, causally demonstrating that the OFC is not necessary for economic choice per se-unless that choice incorporates new information about the outcomes.
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Project description:Sensitivity to satiety constitutes a basic requirement for neuronal coding of subjective reward value. Satiety from natural ongoing consumption affects reward functions in learning and approach behavior. More specifically, satiety reduces the subjective economic value of individual rewards during choice between options that typically contain multiple reward components. The unconfounded assessment of economic reward value requires tests at choice indifference between two options, which is difficult to achieve with sated rewards. By conceptualizing choices between options with multiple reward components ("bundles"), Revealed Preference Theory may offer a solution. Despite satiety, choices against an unaltered reference bundle may remain indifferent when the reduced value of a sated bundle reward is compensated by larger amounts of an unsated reward of the same bundle, and then the value loss of the sated reward is indicated by the amount of the added unsated reward. Here, we show psychophysically titrated choice indifference in monkeys between bundles of differently sated rewards. Neuronal chosen value signals in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) followed closely the subjective value change within recording periods of individual neurons. A neuronal classifier distinguishing the bundles and predicting choice substantiated the subjective value change. The choice between conventional single rewards confirmed the neuronal changes seen with two-reward bundles. Thus, reward-specific satiety reduces subjective reward value signals in OFC. With satiety being an important factor of subjective reward value, these results extend the notion of subjective economic reward value coding in OFC neurons.
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Project description:Previous work indicates that economic decisions can be made independently of the visuomotor contingencies of the choice task (space of goods). However, the neuronal mechanisms through which the choice outcome (the chosen good) is transformed into a suitable action plan remain poorly understood. Here we show that neurons in lateral prefrontal cortex reflect the early stages of this good-to-action transformation. Monkeys chose between different juices. The experimental design dissociated in space and time the presentation of the offers and the saccade targets associated with them. We recorded from the orbital, ventrolateral, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices (OFC, LPFCv, and LPFCd, respectively). Prior to target presentation, neurons in both LPFCv and LPFCd encoded the choice outcome in goods space. After target presentation, they gradually came to encode the location of the targets and the upcoming action plan. Consistent with the anatomical connectivity, all spatial and action-related signals emerged in LPFCv before LPFCd.
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Project description:Sequential sampling models such as the drift diffusion model (DDM) have a long tradition in research on perceptual decision-making, but mounting evidence suggests that these models can account for response time (RT) distributions that arise during reinforcement learning and value-based decision-making. Building on this previous work, we implemented the DDM as the choice rule in inter-temporal choice (temporal discounting) and risky choice (probability discounting) using hierarchical Bayesian parameter estimation. We validated our approach in data from nine patients with focal lesions to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex / medial orbitofrontal cortex (vmPFC/mOFC) and nineteen age- and education-matched controls. Model comparison revealed that, for both tasks, the data were best accounted for by a variant of the drift diffusion model including a non-linear mapping from value-differences to trial-wise drift rates. Posterior predictive checks confirmed that this model provided a superior account of the relationship between value and RT. We then applied this modeling framework and 1) reproduced our previous results regarding temporal discounting in vmPFC/mOFC patients and 2) showed in a previously unpublished data set on risky choice that vmPFC/mOFC patients exhibit increased risk-taking relative to controls. Analyses of DDM parameters revealed that patients showed substantially increased non-decision times and reduced response caution during risky choice. In contrast, vmPFC/mOFC damage abolished neither scaling nor asymptote of the drift rate. Relatively intact value processing was also confirmed using DDM mixture models, which revealed that in both groups >98% of trials were better accounted for by a DDM with value modulation than by a null model without value modulation. Our results highlight that novel insights can be gained from applying sequential sampling models in studies of inter-temporal and risky decision-making in cognitive neuroscience.
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Project description:The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is involved in cognitive functions, and is also closely related to autonomic functions. The OFC is densely connected with the hypothalamus, a heterogeneous structure controlling autonomic functions that can be divided into two major parts: the lateral and the medial. Resting-state functional connectivity has allowed us to parcellate the cerebral cortex into putative functional areas based on the changes in the spatial pattern of connectivity in the cerebral cortex when a seed point is moved from one voxel to another. In the present high spatial-resolution fMRI study, we investigate the connectivity-based organization of the OFC with reference to the hypothalamus. The OFC was parcellated using resting-state functional connectivity in an individual subject approach, and then the functional connectivity was examined between the parcellated areas in the OFC and the lateral/medial hypothalamus. We found a functional double dissociation in the OFC: the lateral OFC (the lateral orbital gyrus) was more likely connected with the lateral hypothalamus, whereas the medial OFC (the medial orbital and rectal gyri) was more likely connected with the medial hypothalamus. These results demonstrate the fundamental heterogeneity of the OFC, and suggest a potential neural basis of the OFC-hypothalamic functional interaction.
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Project description:Economic choice is the behaviour observed when individuals select one among many available options. There is no intrinsically 'correct' answer: economic choice depends on subjective preferences. This behaviour is traditionally the object of economic analysis and is also of primary interest in psychology. However, the underlying mental processes and neuronal mechanisms are not well understood. Theories of human and animal choice have a cornerstone in the concept of 'value'. Consider, for example, a monkey offered one raisin versus one piece of apple: behavioural evidence suggests that the animal chooses by assigning values to the two options. But where and how values are represented in the brain is unclear. Here we show that, during economic choice, neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) encode the value of offered and chosen goods. Notably, OFC neurons encode value independently of visuospatial factors and motor responses. If a monkey chooses between A and B, neurons in the OFC encode the value of the two goods independently of whether A is presented on the right and B on the left, or vice versa. This trait distinguishes the OFC from other brain areas in which value modulates activity related to sensory or motor processes. Our results have broad implications for possible psychological models, suggesting that economic choice is essentially choice between goods rather than choice between actions. In this framework, neurons in the OFC seem to be a good candidate network for value assignment underlying economic choice.
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Project description:Operant extinction, which features modification of instrumental responses to stimuli following a change in associated reinforcement, is an important form of learning for organisms in dynamic environments. Animal studies have highlighted orbital and medial prefrontal cortex and amygdala as mediators of operant extinction. Yet little is known about the neural mediators of operant extinction learning in humans. Using a novel fMRI paradigm, we report dissociable functional responses in distinct regions of medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) during successful appetitive and aversive based operant extinction. During successful operant extinction, increased activity was observed in frontopolar OFC, while decreased activity was observed in caudal mOFC and rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) relative to both (i) successful control trials where the reinforcement associated with the stimulus does not change; and (ii) successful acquisition trials during initial learning of the stimulus-reinforcement associations. Functional connectivity analysis demonstrated inverse connectivity between frontopolar OFC and both rACC and the amygdala. These data support animal models suggesting the importance of mOFC-amygdala interaction during operant extinction and expand our knowledge of the neural systems in humans. These findings suggest that in humans, frontopolar OFC modulates activity in caudal mOFC, rACC and amygdala during successful operant extinction learning.
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Project description:The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is essential for top-down control over higher-order executive function. In this study we demonstrate that the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) differentially regulate VTA dopamine neuron activity, and furthermore, the pattern of activity in the PFC drastically alters the dopamine neuron response. Thus, although single-pulse activation of the mPFC either excites or inhibits equivalent numbers of dopamine neurons, activation of the OFC induces a primarily inhibitory response. Moreover, activation of the PFC with a pattern that mimics spontaneous burst firing of pyramidal neurons produces a strikingly different response. Specifically, burst-like activation of the mPFC induces a massive increase in dopamine neuron firing, whereas a similar pattern of OFC activation largely inhibits dopamine activity. Taken together, these data demonstrate that the mPFC and OFC differentially regulate dopamine neuron activity, and that the pattern of cortical activation is critical for determining dopamine system output.
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