Browse
Submit Data
Databases
API
Help

Dataset Information

22 Views

0 Connections

0 Citations

0 Reanalyses

0 Downloads

Omics score: 0

Dissociable roles of cortical excitation-inhibition balance during patch-leaving versus value-guided decisions.

ABSTRACT: In a dynamic world, it is essential to decide when to leave an exploited resource. Such patch-leaving decisions involve balancing the cost of moving against the gain expected from the alternative patch. This contrasts with value-guided decisions that typically involve maximizing reward by selecting the current best option. Patterns of neuronal activity pertaining to patch-leaving decisions have been reported in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), whereas competition via mutual inhibition in ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is thought to underlie value-guided choice. Here, we show that the balance between cortical excitation and inhibition (E/I balance), measured by the ratio of GABA and glutamate concentrations, plays a dissociable role for the two kinds of decisions. Patch-leaving decision behaviour relates to E/I balance in dACC. In contrast, value-guided decision-making relates to E/I balance in vmPFC. These results support mechanistic accounts of value-guided choice and provide evidence for a role of dACC E/I balance in patch-leaving decisions.

SUBMITTER: Kaiser LF

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7875994 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Json Xml

Similar Datasets

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

Project description: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.

| S-EPMC4050076 | biostudies-literature

Skuas at penguin carcass: patch use and state-dependent leaving decisions in a top-predator.

Project description:Foraging decisions depend not only on simple maximization of energy intake but also on parallel fitness-relevant activities that change the forager's 'state'. We characterized patch use and patch leaving rules of a top-predatory seabird, the Brown Skua (Catharacta antarctica lonnbergi), which during its reproductive period in the Antarctic establishes feeding territories in penguin colonies. In feeding trials, we observed how skuas foraged at penguin carcass patches and analysed patch leaving decisions by incorporating the estimated state of foraging birds and patch availability. Patches were exploited in a characteristic temporal pattern with exponentially decreasing remaining patch sizes (RPSs) and intake rates. Patch size decreased particularly fast in small compared to large patches and exploitation ended at a mean RPS of 47.6% irrespective of initial size. We failed to identify a measure which those birds equalized upon patch departure from raw data. However, when accounting for the birds' state, we ascertained remaining patch size and intake rates to have the lowest variance at departure whereas food amount and feeding time remained variable. Statistical correction for territory size only and combined with state had lower effects, but remaining patch size remained the measure with lowest coefficient of variation. Thus, we could clearly reject a fixed-time or fixed-amount strategy for territorial skuas and rather suggest a state-dependent strategy that equalizes remaining patch size. Thus our results provide evidence that under natural conditions, territorial skuas adjust their foraging decision on actual energy requirements, i.e. offspring number and age.

| S-EPMC1559825 | biostudies-other

Circadian dynamics in measures of cortical excitation and inhibition balance.

Project description:Several neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders have recently been characterized as dysfunctions arising from a 'final common pathway' of imbalanced excitation to inhibition within cortical networks. How the regulation of a cortical E/I ratio is affected by sleep and the circadian rhythm however, remains to be established. Here we addressed this issue through the analyses of TMS-evoked responses recorded over a 29?h sleep deprivation protocol conducted in young and healthy volunteers. Spectral analyses of TMS-evoked responses in frontal cortex revealed non-linear changes in gamma band evoked oscillations, compatible with an influence of circadian timing on inhibitory interneuron activity. In silico inferences of cell-to-cell excitatory and inhibitory connectivity and GABA/Glutamate receptor time constant based on neural mass modeling within the Dynamic causal modeling framework, further suggested excitation/inhibition balance was under a strong circadian influence. These results indicate that circadian changes in EEG spectral properties, in measure of excitatory/inhibitory connectivity and in GABA/glutamate receptor function could support the maintenance of cognitive performance during a normal waking day, but also during overnight wakefulness. More generally, these findings demonstrate a slow daily regulation of cortical excitation/inhibition balance, which depends on circadian-timing and prior sleep-wake history.

| S-EPMC5030482 | biostudies-literature

Dissociable contributions of ventromedial prefrontal and posterior parietal cortex to value-guided choice.

Project description:Two long-standing traditions have highlighted cortical decision mechanisms in the parietal and prefrontal cortices of primates, but it has not been clear how these processes differ, or when each cortical region may influence behaviour. Recent data from ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and posterior parietal cortex (PPC) have suggested one possible axis on which the two decision processes might be delineated. Fast decisions may be resolved primarily by parietal mechanisms, whereas decisions made without time pressure may rely on prefrontal mechanisms. Here, we report direct evidence for such dissociation. During decisions under time pressure, a value comparison process was evident in PPC, but not in vmPFC. Value-related activity was still found in vmPFC under time pressure. However, vmPFC represented overall input value rather than compared output value. In contrast, when decisions were made without time pressure, vmPFC transitioned to encode a value comparison while value-related parameters were entirely absent from PPC. Furthermore, under time pressure, decision performance was primarily governed by PPC, while it was dominated by vmPFC at longer decision times. These data demonstrate that parallel cortical mechanisms may resolve the same choices in differing circumstances, and offer an explanation of the diverse neural signals reported in vmPFC and PPC during value-guided choice.

| S-EPMC4148525 | biostudies-literature

The Impact of Structural Heterogeneity on Excitation-Inhibition Balance in Cortical Networks.

Project description:Models of cortical dynamics often assume a homogeneous connectivity structure. However, we show that heterogeneous input connectivity can prevent the dynamic balance between excitation and inhibition, a hallmark of cortical dynamics, and yield unrealistically sparse and temporally regular firing. Anatomically based estimates of the connectivity of layer 4 (L4) rat barrel cortex and numerical simulations of this circuit indicate that the local network possesses substantial heterogeneity in input connectivity, sufficient to disrupt excitation-inhibition balance. We show that homeostatic plasticity in inhibitory synapses can align the functional connectivity to compensate for structural heterogeneity. Alternatively, spike-frequency adaptation can give rise to a novel state in which local firing rates adjust dynamically so that adaptation currents and synaptic inputs are balanced. This theory is supported by simulations of L4 barrel cortex during spontaneous and stimulus-evoked conditions. Our study shows how synaptic and cellular mechanisms yield fluctuation-driven dynamics despite structural heterogeneity in cortical circuits.

| S-EPMC5158120 | biostudies-literature

Mechanisms underlying cortical activity during value-guided choice.

Project description:When choosing between two options, correlates of their value are represented in neural activity throughout the brain. Whether these representations reflect activity that is fundamental to the computational process of value comparison, as opposed to other computations covarying with value, is unknown. We investigated activity in a biophysically plausible network model that transforms inputs relating to value into categorical choices. A set of characteristic time-varying signals emerged that reflect value comparison. We tested these model predictions using magnetoencephalography data recorded from human subjects performing value-guided decisions. Parietal and prefrontal signals matched closely with model predictions. These results provide a mechanistic explanation of neural signals recorded during value-guided choice and a means of distinguishing computational roles of different cortical regions whose activity covaries with value.

| S-EPMC3378494 | biostudies-literature

Dissociable roles for the ventral and dorsal medial prefrontal cortex in cue-guided risk/reward decision making.

Project description:Converging evidence from studies with animals and humans have implicated separate regions of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) corresponding to the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), in mediating different aspects of reward-related decisions involving uncertainty or risk. However, the dissociable contributions of subregions of the ACC remain unclear, as discrepancies exist between human neuroimaging findings and preclinical rodent studies. To clarify how ventral vs. dorsal regions of the mPFC contribute to risk/reward decision making, the present study assessed the effects of inactivation of different subregions on performance of a "Blackjack task" that measured cue-guided decision making and shares similarities with paradigms used with humans. Male, Long-Evans rats were well-trained to choose between a Small/Certain reward vs a Large/Risky reward delivered with variable probabilities (i.e., good vs. poor-odds, 50% vs. 12.5%). The odds of obtaining the larger reward was signaled by auditory cues at the start of each trial. Inactivation of the ventral, infralimbic region of the mPFC increased risky choice selectively when the odds of winning were poor. By contrast, inactivation of the prelimbic and anterior cingulate regions of the dorsal mPFC led to suboptimal reductions in risky choice on good-odds trials. The effects of prelimbic vs anterior cingulate inactivations were associated with context-dependent alterations in reward vs negative feedback, respectively. These results further clarify the distinct yet complementary manners in which separate ACC regions promote optimal risk/reward decision making and complement neuroimaging findings that activity in human ventral vs dorsal ACC promotes risk aversion or risky choices.

| S-EPMC7021677 | biostudies-literature

Breaking the Excitation-Inhibition Balance Makes the Cortical Network's Space-Time Dynamics Distinguish Simple Visual Scenes.

Project description:Brain dynamics are often taken to be temporal dynamics of spiking and membrane potentials in a balanced network. Almost all evidence for a balanced network comes from recordings of cell bodies of few single neurons, neglecting more than 99% of the cortical network. We examined the space-time dynamics of excitation and inhibition simultaneously in dendrites and axons over four visual areas of ferrets exposed to visual scenes with stationary and moving objects. The visual stimuli broke the tight balance between excitation and inhibition such that the network exhibited longer episodes of net excitation subsequently balanced by net inhibition, in contrast to a balanced network. Locally in all four areas the amount of net inhibition matched the amount of net excitation with a delay of 125 ms. The space-time dynamics of excitation-inhibition evolved to reduce the complexity of neuron interactions over the whole network to a flow on a low-(3)-dimensional manifold within 80 ms. In contrast to the pure temporal dynamics, the low dimensional flow evolved to distinguish the simple visual scenes.

| S-EPMC5360108 | biostudies-literature

Control of neuronal excitation-inhibition balance by BMP-SMAD1 signaling

Project description:Throughout life, neuronal networks in the mammalian neocortex maintain a balance of excitation and inhibition which is essential for neuronal computation. Deviations from a balanced state have been linked to neurodevelopmental disorders and severe disruptions result in epilepsy. To maintain balance, neuronal microcircuits composed of excitatory and inhibitory neurons sense alterations in neural activity and adjust neuronal connectivity and function. Here, we identified a signaling pathway in the adult mouse neocortex that is activated in response to elevated neuronal network activity. Over-activation of excitatory neurons is signaled to the network through the elevation of BMP2, a growth factor well-known for its role as morphogen in embryonic development. BMP2 acts on parvalbumin-expressing (PV) interneurons through the transcription factor SMAD1, which controls an array of glutamatergic synapse proteins and components of peri-neuronal nets. PV interneuron-specific disruption of BMP2-SMAD1 signaling is accompanied by a loss of PV cell glutamatergic innervation, underdeveloped peri-neuronal nets, and decreased excitability. Ultimately, this impairment of PV interneuron functional recruitment disrupts cortical excitation – inhibition balance with mice exhibiting spontaneous epileptic seizures. Our findings suggest that developmental morphogen signaling is re-purposed to stabilize cortical networks in the adult mammalian brain.

2024-02-16 | GSE255466 | GEO