Taking a gamble or playing by the rules: dissociable prefrontal systems implicated in probabilistic versus deterministic rule-based decisions

Brain-imaging evidence for compression of binary sound sequences in human memory

According to the language-of-thought hypothesis, regular sequences are compressed in human memory using recursive loops akin to a mental program that predicts future items. We tested this theory by probing memory for 16-item sequences made of two sounds. We recorded brain activity with functional MRI and magneto-encephalography (MEG) while participants listened to a hierarchy of sequences of variable complexity, whose minimal description required transition probabilities, chunking, or nested structures. Occasional deviant sounds probed the participants' knowledge of the sequence. We predicted that task difficulty and brain activity would be proportional to the complexity derived from the minimal description length in our formal language. Furthermore, activity should increase with complexity for learned sequences, and decrease with complexity for deviants. These predictions were upheld in both fMRI and MEG, indicating that sequence predictions are highly dependent on sequence structure and become weaker and delayed as complexity increases. The proposed language recruited bilateral superior temporal, precentral, anterior intraparietal, and cerebellar cortices. These regions overlapped extensively with a localizer for mathematical calculation, and much less with spoken or written language processing. We propose that these areas collectively encode regular sequences as repetitions with variations and their recursive composition into nested structures.

Event-related Potentials Corresponding to Decision-making Under Uncertain Conditions

BACKGROUND

Decision-making is essential to human functioning, and resolving uncertainty is an essential part of decision-making. Impaired decision-making is present in many pathological conditions, and identifying markers of decision-making under uncertainty will provide a measure of clinical impact in future studies of therapeutic intervention for impaired decision-making.

OBJECTIVE

To describe EEG event-related potentials (ERPs) correlating with decision-making under uncertain conditions when compared with certain conditions.

METHOD

We used a novel card-matching task based on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test to describe the neural correlates of uncertainty, as measured by EEG, in a group of 27 neurotypical individuals. We evaluated 500-ms intervals in the 2 seconds after card presentation to identify ERPs that are associated with maximal uncertainty compared with maximal certainty.

RESULTS

After correcting for multiple comparisons, we identified an ERP in the 500-1000-ms time frame (certain > uncertain, max amplitude 12.73 µV, latency 914 ms) in the left posterior inferior region of the scalp. We also found a P300-like ERP in the left frontal and parietal regions in the 0-500-ms time frame when the individuals received correct versus incorrect feedback (incorrect feedback > correct feedback, max amplitude 1.625 µV, latency 339 ms).

CONCLUSION

We identified an ERP in the 500-1000-ms time frame (certain > uncertain) that may reflect the resolution of uncertainty, as well as a P300-like ERP when feedback is presented (incorrect feedback > correct feedback). These findings can be used in future studies to improve decision-making and resolve uncertainty on the described markers.

A Role for Uncertainty in the Neural Distinction Between Social and Nonsocial Thought

Neuroimaging research has identified a network of brain regions that is consistently more engaged when people think about the minds of other people than when they engage in nonsocial tasks. Activations in this "mentalizing network" are sometimes interpreted as evidence for the domain-specificity of cognitive processes supporting social thought. Here, we examine the alternative possibility that at least some activations in the mentalizing network may be explained by uncertainty. A reconsideration of findings from existing functional MRI studies in light of new data from independent raters suggests that (a) social tasks used in past studies have higher levels of uncertainty than their nonsocial comparison tasks and (b) activation in a key brain region associated with social cognition, the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC), may track with the degree of uncertainty surrounding both social and nonsocial inferences. These observations suggest that the preferential DMPFC response observed consistently in social scenarios may reflect the engagement of domain-general processes of uncertainty reduction, which points to avenues for future research into the core cognitive mechanisms supporting typical and atypical social thought.

Deterministic and probabilistic regularities underlying risky choices are acquired in a changing decision context

Predictions supporting risky decisions could become unreliable when outcome probabilities temporarily change, making adaptation more challenging. Therefore, this study investigated whether sensitivity to the temporal structure in outcome probabilities can develop and remain persistent in a changing decision environment. In a variant of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task with 90 balloons, outcomes (rewards or balloon bursts) were predictable in the task's first and final 30 balloons and unpredictable in the middle 30 balloons. The temporal regularity underlying the predictable outcomes differed across three experimental conditions. In the deterministic condition, a repeating three-element sequence dictated the maximum number of pumps before a balloon burst. In the probabilistic condition, a single probabilistic regularity ensured that burst probability increased as a function of pumps. In the hybrid condition, a repeating sequence of three different probabilistic regularities increased burst probabilities. In every condition, the regularity was absent in the middle 30 balloons. Participants were not informed about the presence or absence of the regularity. Sensitivity to both the deterministic and hybrid regularities emerged and influenced risk taking. Unpredictable outcomes of the middle phase did not deteriorate this sensitivity. In conclusion, humans can adapt their risky choices in a changing decision environment by exploiting the statistical structure that controls how the environment changes.

Common and Distinct Neural Correlates of Intertemporal and Risky Decision-Making: Meta-Analytical Evidence for the Dual-System Theory

The relationship between intertemporal and risky decision-making has received considerable attention in decision research. Single-process theories suggest that choices involving delay and risk are simply two manifestations of the same psychological mechanism, which implies similar patterns of neural activation. Conversely, the dual-system theory suggests that delayed and risky choices are two contrasting types of processes, which implies distinct brain networks. How these two types of choices relate to each other remains unclear. The current study addressed this issue by performing a meta-analysis of 28 intertemporal decision-making studies (862 subjects) and 51 risky decision-making studies (1539 subjects). We found no common area activated in the conjunction analysis of the delayed and risky rewards. Based on the contrast analysis, delayed rewards were associated with stronger activation in the left dorsal insula, while risky rewards were associated with activation in the bilateral ventral striatum and the right anterior insula. The results align with the dual-system theory with separate neural networks for delayed and risky rewards.

Rational arbitration between statistics and rules in human sequence processing

Detecting and learning temporal regularities is essential to accurately predict the future. A long-standing debate in cognitive science concerns the existence in humans of a dissociation between two systems, one for handling statistical regularities governing the probabilities of individual items and their transitions, and another for handling deterministic rules. Here, to address this issue, we used finger tracking to continuously monitor the online build-up of evidence, confidence, false alarms and changes-of-mind during sequence processing. All these aspects of behaviour conformed tightly to a hierarchical Bayesian inference model with distinct hypothesis spaces for statistics and rules, yet linked by a single probabilistic currency. Alternative models based either on a single statistical mechanism or on two non-commensurable systems were rejected. Our results indicate that a hierarchical Bayesian inference mechanism, capable of operating over distinct hypothesis spaces for statistics and rules, underlies the human capability for sequence processing.

Neural Correlates of Garment Fit and Purchase Intention in the Consumer Decision-Making Process and the Influence of Product Presentation

In today’s competitive e-commerce markets, it is crucial to promote product satisfaction and to quickly identify purchase intention in decision-making consumers. The present investigation examined the relationship between perceived garment fit and purchase intention, together with how product presentation methods (mannequin versus self-model) contribute to decision-making processes of clothing. Thirty-nine female volunteers were scanned using fMRI while performing an online shopping task. In Part 1, univariate analysis was conducted between garment fit and product presentation factors to assess their effects on purchase deliberation. In Part 2, univariate, multivariate pattern, and psychophysiological interaction analyses were carried out to examine the predictive ability of fit evaluation and product presentation on purchase intention. First, garment fit × product presentation interaction effects on purchase deliberation were observed in the frontopolar cortex, superior frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate cortex, and posterior cingulate cortex. Part 2 demonstrated neural signals of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, premotor cortex, supplementary motor area, superior parietal lobule, supramarginal gyrus, superior temporal sulcus, fusiform gyrus, and insula to distinguish subsequent purchase intentions. Overall, the findings denote directed exploration, visual and action processing as key neural processes in decision-making that uniquely reflect garment fit and product presentation type during purchase deliberation. Additionally, with respect to the effects of purchase intention on product evaluation, the evidence conveys that mental interactions with products and social cognition are fundamental processes that capture subsequent purchase intention at the product evaluation stage.

Statistical learning occurs during practice while high-order rule learning during rest period

Knowing when the brain learns is crucial for both the comprehension of memory formation and consolidation and for developing new training and neurorehabilitation strategies in healthy and patient populations. Recently, a rapid form of offline learning developing during short rest periods has been shown to account for most of procedural learning, leading to the hypothesis that the brain mainly learns during rest between practice periods. Nonetheless, procedural learning has several subcomponents not disentangled in previous studies investigating learning dynamics, such as acquiring the statistical regularities of the task, or else the high-order rules that regulate its organization. Here we analyzed 506 behavioral sessions of implicit visuomotor deterministic and probabilistic sequence learning tasks, allowing the distinction between general skill learning, statistical learning, and high-order rule learning. Our results show that the temporal dynamics of apparently simultaneous learning processes differ. While high-order rule learning is acquired offline, statistical learning is evidenced online. These findings open new avenues on the short-scale temporal dynamics of learning and memory consolidation and reveal a fundamental distinction between statistical and high-order rule learning, the former benefiting from online evidence accumulation and the latter requiring short rest periods for rapid consolidation.

Moral decision making under modafinil: a randomized placebo-controlled double-blind crossover fMRI study

RATIONALE

Modafinil is increasingly used by healthy humans as a neuroenhancer in order to improve cognitive functioning. Research on the effects of modafinil on cognition yielded most consistent findings for complex tasks relying on the prefrontal cortex (PFC).

OBJECTIVES

The present randomized placebo-controlled double-blind crossover study aimed to investigate the effect of a single dose of modafinil (200 mg) on everyday moral decision making and its neural correlates, which have been linked to the ventro- and dorsomedial PFC.

METHODS

Healthy male study participants were presented with short stories describing everyday moral or neutral dilemmas. Each moral dilemma required a decision between a personal desire and a moral standard, while the neutral dilemmas required decisions between two personal desires. The participants underwent this task twice, once under the influence of modafinil and once under placebo. Brain activity associated with the processing of the dilemmas was assessed by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging.

RESULTS

For the processing of moral vs. neutral dilemmas, activations were found in a network of brain regions linked to social cognitive processes including, among others, the bilateral medial PFC, the insula, and the precuneus. Modafinil was found to increase the number of moral decisions and had no effect on brain activity associated with dilemma processing. Exploratory analyses revealed reduced response-locked activity in the dorsomedial PFC for moral compared to neutral dilemmas under modafinil, but not under placebo.

CONCLUSIONS

The results are discussed in terms of altered predictions of others' emotional states under modafinil, possibly due to higher processing efficiency.

The uncertain brain: A co-ordinate based meta-analysis of the neural signatures supporting uncertainty during different contexts

Uncertainty is often inevitable in everyday life and can be both stressful and exciting. Given its relevance to psychopathology and wellbeing, recent research has begun to address the brain basis of uncertainty. In the current review we examined whether there are discrete and shared neural signatures for different uncertain contexts. From the literature we identified three broad categories of uncertainty currently empirically studied using functional MRI (fMRI): basic threat and reward uncertainty, decision-making under uncertainty, and associative learning under uncertainty. We examined the neural basis of each category by using a coordinate based meta-analysis, where brain activation foci from previously published fMRI experiments were drawn together (1998-2017; 87 studies). The analyses revealed shared and discrete patterns of neural activation for uncertainty, such as the insula and amygdala, depending on the category. Such findings will have relevance for researchers attempting to conceptualise uncertainty, as well as clinical researchers examining the neural basis of uncertainty in relation to psychopathology.

Functional dissociation of the inferior frontal junction from the dorsal attention network in top-down attentional control

The posterior lateral prefrontal cortex-specifically, the inferior frontal junction (IFJ)-is thought to exert a key role in the control of attention. However, the precise nature of that role remains elusive. During the voluntary deployment and maintenance of visuospatial attention, the IFJ is typically coactivated with a core dorsal network consisting of the frontal eye field and superior parietal cortex. During stimulus-driven attention, IFJ instead couples with a ventrolateral network, suggesting that IFJ plays a role in attention distinct from the dorsal network. Because IFJ rapidly switches activation patterns to accommodate conditions of goal-directed and stimulus-driven attention (Asplund CL, Todd JJ, Snyder AP, Marois R. Nat Neurosci 13: 507-512, 2010), we hypothesized that IFJ's primary role is to dynamically reconfigure attention rather than to maintain attention under steady-state conditions. This hypothesis predicts that in a goal-directed visuospatial cuing paradigm IFJ would transiently deploy attention toward the cued location, whereas the dorsal attention network would maintain attentional weights during the delay between cue and target presentation. Here we tested this hypothesis with functional magnetic resonance imaging while subjects were engaged in a Posner cuing task with variable cue-target delays. Both IFJ and dorsal network regions were involved in transient processes, but sustained activity was far more evident in the dorsal network than in IFJ. These results support the account that IFJ primarily acts to shift attention whereas the dorsal network is the main locus for the maintenance of stable attentional states. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Goal-directed visuospatial attention is controlled by a dorsal fronto-parietal network and lateral prefrontal cortex. However, the relative roles of these regions in goal-directed attention are unknown. Here we present evidence for their dissociable roles in the transient reconfiguration and sustained maintenance of attentional settings: while maintenance of attentional settings is confined to the dorsal network, the configuration of these settings at the beginning of an attentional episode is a function of lateral prefrontal cortex.

Functional brain networks involved in decision-making under certain and uncertain conditions

PURPOSE

The aim of this study was to describe imaging markers of decision-making under uncertain conditions in normal individuals, in order to provide baseline activity to compare to impaired decision-making in pathological states.

METHODS

In this cross-sectional study, 19 healthy subjects ages 18-35 completed a novel decision-making card-matching task using a Phillips T3 Scanner and a 32-channel head coil. Functional data were collected in six functional runs. In one condition of the task, the participant was certain of the rule to apply to match the cards; in the other condition, the participant was uncertain. We performed cluster-based comparison of the two conditions using FSL fMRI Expert Analysis Tool and network-based analysis using MATLAB.

RESULTS

The uncertain > certain comparison yielded three clusters-a midline cluster that extended through the midbrain, the thalamus, bilateral prefrontal cortex, the striatum, and bilateral parietal/occipital clusters. The certain > uncertain comparison yielded bilateral clusters in the insula, parietal and temporal lobe, as well as a medial frontal cluster. A larger, more connected functional network was found in the uncertain condition.

CONCLUSION

The involvement of the insula, parietal cortex, temporal cortex, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and orbitofrontal cortex of the certain condition reinforces the notion that certainty is inherently rewarding. For the uncertain condition, the involvement of the prefrontal cortex, parietal cortex, striatum, thalamus, amygdala, and hippocampal involvement was expected, as these are areas involved in resolving uncertainty and rule updating. The involvement of occipital cortical involvement and midbrain involvement may be attributed to increased visual attention and increased motor control.

An fMRI Study of Risky Decision Making: The Role of Mental Preparation and Conflict

INTRODUCTION

The current study aimed to elucidate the role of preparatory cognitive control in decision making and its neural correlates using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). To this effect, by employing a series of new cognitive tasks, we assessed the role of preparatory cognitive control in monetary (risky) decision making.

METHODS

The participants had to decide between a risky and a safe gamble based on their chance of winning (high or low). In the 2-phase gambling task (similar to Cambridge gambling task), the chance and the gamble were presented at the same time (i.e. in a single phase), but in a new 3-phase gambling task, the chance is presented before the gamble. The tasks ended with a feedback phase.

RESULTS

In the 3-phase task, holding the chance in memory to guide their decision enabled the participants to have more control on their risk taking behaviors as shown by activation in a network of brain areas involved in the control and conflict, including dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex (dACC), indexed by faster reaction times and better performance in the gambling task, and the temporal lobe, which has a role in holding contextual information.

DISCUSSION

Holding information in memory to guide decision presumably enables the participants to have more control on their risk taking behaviors. The conflict and uncertainty resulting from this risky decision was indexed by the activation of dACC, known to be activated in conflict and cognitive control.

Mapping brain activity during loss of situation awareness: an EEG investigation of a basis for top-down influence on perception

OBJECTIVE

The objective was to map brain activity during early intervals in loss of situation awareness (SA) to examine any co-activity in visual and high-order regions, reflecting grounds for top-down influences on Level I SA.

BACKGROUND

Behavioral and neuroscience evidence indicates that high-order brain areas can engage before perception is complete. Inappropriate top-down messages may distort perception during loss of SA. Evidence of co-activity of perceptual and high-order regions would not confirm such influence but may reflect a basis for it.

METHOD

SA and bias were measured using Quantitative Analysis of Situation Awareness and brain activity recorded with 128-channel EEG (electroencephalography) during loss of SA. One task (15 participants) required identification of a target pattern, and another task (10 participants) identification of "threat" in urban scenes. In both, the target was changed without warning, enforcing loss of SA. Key regions of brain activity were identified using source localization with standardized low-resolution electrical tomography (sLORETA) 150 to 160 ms post-stimulus onset in both tasks and also 100 to 110 ms in the second task.

RESULTS

In both tasks, there was significant loss of SA and bias shift (p < .02), associated at both 150- and 100-ms intervals with co-activity of visual regions and prefrontal, anterior cingulate and parietal regions linked to cognition under uncertainty.

CONCLUSION

There was early co-activity in high- order and visual perception regions that may provide a basis for top-down influence on perception.

APPLICATION

Co-activity in high- and low-order brain regions may explain either beneficial or disruptive top-down influence on perception affecting Level I SA in real-world operations.

The conforming brain and deontological resolve

Our personal values are subject to forces of social influence. Deontological resolve captures how strongly one relies on absolute rules of right and wrong in the representation of one's personal values and may predict willingness to modify one's values in the presence of social influence. Using fMRI, we found that a neurobiological metric for deontological resolve based on relative activity in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) during the passive processing of sacred values predicted individual differences in conformity. Individuals with stronger deontological resolve, as measured by greater VLPFC activity, displayed lower levels of conformity. We also tested whether responsiveness to social reward, as measured by ventral striatal activity during social feedback, predicted variability in conformist behavior across individuals but found no significant relationship. From these results we conclude that unwillingness to conform to others' values is associated with a strong neurobiological representation of social rules.

Three ways in which midline regions contribute to self-evaluation

An integration of existing research and newly conducted psychophysiological interaction (PPI) connectivity analyses suggest a new framework for understanding the contribution of midline regions to social cognition. Recent meta-analyses suggest that there are no midline regions that are exclusively associated with self-processing. Whereas medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) is broadly modulated by self-processing, subdivisions within MPFC are differentially modulated by the evaluation of close others (ventral MPFC: BA 10/32) and the evaluation of other social targets (dorsal MPFC: BA 9/32). The role of DMPFC in social cognition may also be less uniquely social than previously thought; it may be better characterized as a region that indexes certainty about evaluation rather than previously considered social mechanisms (i.e., correction of self-projection). VMPFC, a region often described as an important mediator of socioemotional significance, may instead perform a more cognitive role by reflecting the type of information brought to bear on evaluations of people we know well. Furthermore, the new framework moves beyond MPFC and hypothesizes that two other midline regions, ventral anterior cingulate cortex (VACC: BA 25) and medial orbitofrontal cortex (MOFC: BA 11), aid motivational influences on social cognition. Despite the central role of motivation in psychological models of self-perception, neural models have largely ignored the topic. Positive connectivity between VACC and MOFC may mediate bottom-up sensitivity to information based on its potential for helping us evaluate ourselves or others the way we want. As connectivity becomes more positive with striatum and less positive with middle frontal gyrus (BA 9/44), MOFC mediates top-down motivational influences by adjusting the standards we bring to bear on evaluations of ourselves and other people.

Dissociable neural modulation underlying lasting first impressions, changing your mind for the better, and changing it for the worse

Unattractive job candidates face a disadvantage when interviewing for a job. Employers' evaluations are colored by the candidate's physical attractiveness even when they take job interview performance into account. This example illustrates unexplored questions about the neural basis of social evaluation in humans. What neural regions support the lasting effects of initial impressions (even after getting to know someone)? How does the brain process information that changes our minds about someone? Job candidates' competence was evaluated from photographs and again after seeing snippets of job interviews. Left lateral orbitofrontal cortex modulation serves as a warning signal for initial reactions that ultimately undermine evaluations even when additional information is taken into account. The neural basis of changing one's mind about a candidate is not a simple matter of computing the amount of competence-affirming information in their job interview. Instead, seeing a candidate for the better is somewhat distinguishable at the neural level from seeing a candidate for the worse. Whereas amygdala modulation marks the extremity of evaluation change, favorable impression change additionally draws on parametric modulation of lateral prefrontal cortex and unfavorable impression change additionally draws on parametric modulation of medial prefrontal cortex, temporal cortex, and striatum. Investigating social evaluation as a dynamic process (rather than a one-time impression) paints a new picture of its neural basis and highlights the partially dissociable processes that contribute to changing your mind about someone for the better or the worse.

The price of your soul: neural evidence for the non-utilitarian representation of sacred values

Sacred values, such as those associated with religious or ethnic identity, underlie many important individual and group decisions in life, and individuals typically resist attempts to trade off their sacred values in exchange for material benefits. Deontological theory suggests that sacred values are processed based on rights and wrongs irrespective of outcomes, while utilitarian theory suggests that they are processed based on costs and benefits of potential outcomes, but which mode of processing an individual naturally uses is unknown. The study of decisions over sacred values is difficult because outcomes cannot typically be realized in a laboratory, and hence little is known about the neural representation and processing of sacred values. We used an experimental paradigm that used integrity as a proxy for sacredness and which paid real money to induce individuals to sell their personal values. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we found that values that people refused to sell (sacred values) were associated with increased activity in the left temporoparietal junction and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, regions previously associated with semantic rule retrieval. This suggests that sacred values affect behaviour through the retrieval and processing of deontic rules and not through a utilitarian evaluation of costs and benefits.

Distinction between Externally vs. Internally Guided Decision-Making: Operational Differences, Meta-Analytical Comparisons and Their Theoretical Implications

Most experimental studies of decision-making have specifically examined situations in which a single less-predictable correct answer exists (externally guided decision-making under uncertainty). Along with such externally guided decision-making, there are instances of decision-making in which no correct answer based on external circumstances is available for the subject (internally guided decision-making). Such decisions are usually made in the context of moral decision-making as well as in preference judgment, where the answer depends on the subject's own, i.e., internal, preferences rather than on external, i.e., circumstantial, criteria. The neuronal and psychological mechanisms that allow guidance of decisions based on more internally oriented criteria in the absence of external ones remain unclear. This study was undertaken to compare decision-making of these two kinds empirically and theoretically. First, we reviewed studies of decision-making to clarify experimental-operational differences between externally guided and internally guided decision-making. Second, using multi-level kernel density analysis, a whole-brain-based quantitative meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies was performed. Our meta-analysis revealed that the neural network used predominantly for internally guided decision-making differs from that for externally guided decision-making under uncertainty. This result suggests that studying only externally guided decision-making under uncertainty is insufficient to account for decision-making processes in the brain. Finally, based on the review and results of the meta-analysis, we discuss the differences and relations between decision-making of these two types in terms of their operational, neuronal, and theoretical characteristics.

Perseverative errors on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and brain perfusion imaging in mild Alzheimer's disease

BACKGROUND

The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) has long been used to investigate deficits in executive function in humans. The majority of studies investigating deficient WCST performance focused on the number of categories achieved (CA) and the number of perseverative errors of the Nelson type (PEN). However, there is insufficient evidence that these two measures reflect the same neural deficits.

METHODS

Twenty AD patients with high PEN scores, and 20 age- and sex-matched AD patients with low PEN scores were selected. All 40 subjects underwent brain SPECT, and the SPECT images were analyzed by Statistical Parametric Mapping.

RESULTS

No significant differences were found between high and low PEN score groups with respect to years of education, Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination scores, and Mini-Mental State Examination scores. However, higher z scores for hypoperfusion in the bilateral rectal and orbital gyri were observed in the high PEN score group compared with the low PEN score group.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest that functional activity of the bilateral rectal and orbital gyri is closely related to PEN scores on a modified WCST (mWCST). The PEN score on a mWCST might be a promising index of dysfunction of the orbitofrontal area among patients with mild AD.

Uncertainty and cognitive control

A growing trend of neuroimaging, behavioral, and computational research has investigated the topic of outcome uncertainty in decision-making. Although evidence to date indicates that humans are very effective in learning to adapt to uncertain situations, the nature of the specific cognitive processes involved in the adaptation to uncertainty are still a matter of debate. In this article, we reviewed evidence suggesting that cognitive control processes are at the heart of uncertainty in decision-making contexts. Available evidence suggests that: (1) There is a strong conceptual overlap between the constructs of uncertainty and cognitive control; (2) There is a remarkable overlap between the neural networks associated with uncertainty and the brain networks subserving cognitive control; (3) The perception and estimation of uncertainty might play a key role in monitoring processes and the evaluation of the "need for control"; (4) Potential interactions between uncertainty and cognitive control might play a significant role in several affective disorders.