1
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Tan H, Zeng X, Ni J, Liang K, Xu C, Zhang Y, Wang J, Li Z, Yang J, Han C, Gao Y, Yu X, Han S, Meng F, Ma Y. Intracranial EEG signals disentangle multi-areal neural dynamics of vicarious pain perception. Nat Commun 2024; 15:5203. [PMID: 38890380 PMCID: PMC11189531 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49541-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2023] [Accepted: 06/07/2024] [Indexed: 06/20/2024] Open
Abstract
Empathy enables understanding and sharing of others' feelings. Human neuroimaging studies have identified critical brain regions supporting empathy for pain, including the anterior insula (AI), anterior cingulate (ACC), amygdala, and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). However, to date, the precise spatio-temporal profiles of empathic neural responses and inter-regional communications remain elusive. Here, using intracranial electroencephalography, we investigated electrophysiological signatures of vicarious pain perception. Others' pain perception induced early increases in high-gamma activity in IFG, beta power increases in ACC, but decreased beta power in AI and amygdala. Vicarious pain perception also altered the beta-band-coordinated coupling between ACC, AI, and amygdala, as well as increased modulation of IFG high-gamma amplitudes by beta phases of amygdala/AI/ACC. We identified a necessary combination of neural features for decoding vicarious pain perception. These spatio-temporally specific regional activities and inter-regional interactions within the empathy network suggest a neurodynamic model of human pain empathy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huixin Tan
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Xiaoyu Zeng
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Jun Ni
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Kun Liang
- Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Cuiping Xu
- Department of Functional Neurosurgery, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Yanyang Zhang
- Department of Neurosurgery, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Jiaxin Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Zizhou Li
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Jiaxin Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Chunlei Han
- Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Yuan Gao
- Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Xinguang Yu
- Department of Neurosurgery, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Shihui Han
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Fangang Meng
- Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, China.
| | - Yina Ma
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
- IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, China.
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2
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Liu C, Wang K, Yu R. The neural representation of metacognition in preferential decision-making. Hum Brain Mapp 2024; 45:e26651. [PMID: 38646963 PMCID: PMC11033923 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26651] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2023] [Revised: 02/06/2024] [Accepted: 02/26/2024] [Indexed: 04/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Humans regularly assess the quality of their judgements, which helps them adjust their behaviours. Metacognition is the ability to accurately evaluate one's own judgements, and it is assessed by comparing objective task performance with subjective confidence report in perceptual decisions. However, for preferential decisions, assessing metacognition in preference-based decisions is difficult because it depends on subjective goals rather than the objective criterion. Here, we develop a new index that integrates choice, reaction time, and confidence report to quantify trial-by-trial metacognitive sensitivity in preference judgements. We found that the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and the right anterior insular were more activated when participants made bad metacognitive evaluations. Our study suggests a crucial role of the dmPFC-insula network in representing online metacognitive sensitivity in preferential decisions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cuizhen Liu
- School of PsychologyShaanxi Normal UniversityXi'anChina
| | - Keqing Wang
- School of PsychologyShaanxi Normal UniversityXi'anChina
| | - Rongjun Yu
- Department of Management, Marketing, and Information SystemsHong Kong Baptist UniversityHong KongChina
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3
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Cowan RL, Davis T, Kundu B, Rahimpour S, Rolston JD, Smith EH. More widespread and rigid neuronal representation of reward expectation underlies impulsive choices. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.04.11.588637. [PMID: 38645037 PMCID: PMC11030340 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.11.588637] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/23/2024]
Abstract
Impulsive choices prioritize smaller, more immediate rewards over larger, delayed, or potentially uncertain rewards. Impulsive choices are a critical aspect of substance use disorders and maladaptive decision-making across the lifespan. Here, we sought to understand the neuronal underpinnings of expected reward and risk estimation on a trial-by-trial basis during impulsive choices. To do so, we acquired electrical recordings from the human brain while participants carried out a risky decision-making task designed to measure choice impulsivity. Behaviorally, we found a reward-accuracy tradeoff, whereby more impulsive choosers were more accurate at the task, opting for a more immediate reward while compromising overall task performance. We then examined how neuronal populations across frontal, temporal, and limbic brain regions parametrically encoded reinforcement learning model variables, namely reward and risk expectation and surprise, across trials. We found more widespread representations of reward value expectation and prediction error in more impulsive choosers, whereas less impulsive choosers preferentially represented risk expectation. A regional analysis of reward and risk encoding highlighted the anterior cingulate cortex for value expectation, the anterior insula for risk expectation and surprise, and distinct regional encoding between impulsivity groups. Beyond describing trial-by-trial population neuronal representations of reward and risk variables, these results suggest impaired inhibitory control and model-free learning underpinnings of impulsive choice. These findings shed light on neural processes underlying reinforced learning and decision-making in uncertain environments and how these processes may function in psychiatric disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rhiannon L Cowan
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84132, USA
| | - Tyler Davis
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84132, USA
| | - Bornali Kundu
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65212, USA
| | - Shervin Rahimpour
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84132, USA
| | - John D Rolston
- Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Elliot H Smith
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84132, USA
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4
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Sharma D, Lupkin SM, McGinty VB. Orbitofrontal high-gamma reflects spike-dissociable value and decision mechanisms. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.04.02.587758. [PMID: 38617349 PMCID: PMC11014579 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.02.587758] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/16/2024]
Abstract
The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) plays a crucial role in value-based decision-making. While previous research has focused on spiking activity in OFC neurons, the role of OFC local field potentials (LFPs) in decision-making remains unclear. LFPs are important because they can reflect synaptic and subthreshold activity not directly coupled to spiking, and because they are potential targets for less invasive forms of brain-machine interface (BMI). We recorded LFPs and spiking activity using multi-channel vertical probes while monkeys performed a two-option value-based decision-making task. We compared the value- and decision-coding properties of high-gamma range LFPs (HG, 50-150 Hz) to the coding properties of spiking multi-unit activity (MUA) recorded concurrently on the same electrodes. Results show that HG and MUA both represent the values of decision targets, and that their representations have similar temporal profiles in a trial. However, we also identified value-coding properties of HG that were dissociable from the concurrently-measured MUA. On average across channels, HG amplitude increased monotonically with value, whereas the average value encoding in MUA was net neutral. HG also encoded a signal consistent with a comparison between the values of the two targets, a signal which was much weaker in MUA. In individual channels, HG was better able to predict choice outcomes than MUA; however, when simultaneously recorded channels were combined in population-based decoder, MUA provided more accurate predictions than HG. Interestingly, HG value representations were accentuated in channels in or near shallow cortical layers, suggesting a dissociation between neuronal sources of HG and MUA. In summary, we find that HG signals are dissociable from MUA with respect to cognitive variables encoded in prefrontal cortex, evident in the monotonic encoding of value, stronger encoding of value comparisons, and more accurate predictions about behavior. High-frequency LFPs may therefore be a viable - or even preferable - target for BMIs to assist cognitive function, opening the possibility for less invasive access to mental contents that would otherwise be observable only with spike-based measures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dixit Sharma
- Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University – Newark
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Rutgers University – Newark
| | - Shira M. Lupkin
- Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University – Newark
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Rutgers University – Newark
| | - Vincent B. McGinty
- Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University – Newark
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5
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Man V, Cockburn J, Flouty O, Gander PE, Sawada M, Kovach CK, Kawasaki H, Oya H, Howard Iii MA, O'Doherty JP. Temporally organized representations of reward and risk in the human brain. Nat Commun 2024; 15:2162. [PMID: 38461343 PMCID: PMC10924934 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-46094-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2023] [Accepted: 02/13/2024] [Indexed: 03/11/2024] Open
Abstract
The value and uncertainty associated with choice alternatives constitute critical features relevant for decisions. However, the manner in which reward and risk representations are temporally organized in the brain remains elusive. Here we leverage the spatiotemporal precision of intracranial electroencephalography, along with a simple card game designed to elicit the unfolding computation of a set of reward and risk variables, to uncover this temporal organization. Reward outcome representations across wide-spread regions follow a sequential order along the anteroposterior axis of the brain. In contrast, expected value can be decoded from multiple regions at the same time, and error signals in both reward and risk domains reflect a mixture of sequential and parallel encoding. We further highlight the role of the anterior insula in generalizing between reward prediction error and risk prediction error codes. Together our results emphasize the importance of neural dynamics for understanding value-based decisions under uncertainty.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vincent Man
- Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA.
| | - Jeffrey Cockburn
- Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA
| | - Oliver Flouty
- Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, 33606, USA
| | - Phillip E Gander
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA
- Department of Radiology, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA
- Iowa Neuroscience Institute, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA
| | - Masahiro Sawada
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA
| | - Christopher K Kovach
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, 68198, USA
| | - Hiroto Kawasaki
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA
| | - Hiroyuki Oya
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA
- Iowa Neuroscience Institute, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA
| | - Matthew A Howard Iii
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA
- Iowa Neuroscience Institute, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA
| | - John P O'Doherty
- Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA
- Computation and Neural Systems, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA
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6
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Li J, Zhong B, Li M, Sun Y, Fan W, Liu S. Effort expenditure modulates feedback evaluations involving self-other agreement: evidence from brain potentials and neural oscillations. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae095. [PMID: 38517174 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae095] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2023] [Revised: 02/19/2024] [Accepted: 02/20/2024] [Indexed: 03/23/2024] Open
Abstract
The influence of effort expenditure on the subjective value in feedback involving material reward has been the focus of previous research. However, little is known about the impact of effort expenditure on subjective value evaluations when feedback involves reward that is produced in the context of social interaction (e.g. self-other agreement). Moreover, how effort expenditure influences confidence (second-order subjective value) in feedback evaluations remains unclear. Using electroencephalography, this study aimed to address these questions. Event-related potentials showed that, after exerting high effort, participants exhibited increased reward positivity difference in response to self-other (dis)agreement feedback. After exerting low effort, participants reported high confidence, and the self-other disagreement feedback evoked a larger P3a. Time-frequency analysis showed that the high-effort task evoked increased frontal midline theta power. In the low (vs. high)-effort task, the frontal midline delta power for self-other disagreement feedback was enhanced. These findings suggest that, at the early feedback evaluation stage, after exerting high effort, individuals exhibit an increased sensitivity of subjective value evaluation in response to self-other agreement feedback. At the later feedback evaluation stage, after completing the low-effort task, the self-other disagreement feedback violates the individuals'high confidence and leads to a metacognitive mismatch.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jin Li
- Department of Psychology, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, China
- Cognition and Human Behavior Key Laboratory of Hunan Province, Changsha 410081, China
- Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, China
| | - Bowei Zhong
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Mei Li
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
| | - Yu Sun
- School of Psychology, Guizhou Normal University, Guizhou 550025, China
| | - Wei Fan
- Department of Psychology, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, China
- Cognition and Human Behavior Key Laboratory of Hunan Province, Changsha 410081, China
- Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, China
| | - Shuangxi Liu
- College of Aerospace Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410003, China
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7
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Bignardi G, Smit DJA, Vessel EA, Trupp MD, Ticini LF, Fisher SE, Polderman TJC. Genetic effects on variability in visual aesthetic evaluations are partially shared across visual domains. Commun Biol 2024; 7:55. [PMID: 38184755 PMCID: PMC10771521 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-05710-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2023] [Accepted: 12/14/2023] [Indexed: 01/08/2024] Open
Abstract
The aesthetic values that individuals place on visual images are formed and shaped over a lifetime. However, whether the formation of visual aesthetic value is solely influenced by environmental exposure is still a matter of debate. Here, we considered differences in aesthetic value emerging across three visual domains: abstract images, scenes, and faces. We examined variability in two major dimensions of ordinary aesthetic experiences: taste-typicality and evaluation-bias. We build on two samples from the Australian Twin Registry where 1547 and 1231 monozygotic and dizygotic twins originally rated visual images belonging to the three domains. Genetic influences explained 26% to 41% of the variance in taste-typicality and evaluation-bias. Multivariate analyses showed that genetic effects were partially shared across visual domains. Results indicate that the heritability of major dimensions of aesthetic evaluations is comparable to that of other complex social traits, albeit lower than for other complex cognitive traits. The exception was taste-typicality for abstract images, for which we found only shared and unique environmental influences. Our study reveals that diverse sources of genetic and environmental variation influence the formation of aesthetic value across distinct visual domains and provides improved metrics to assess inter-individual differences in aesthetic value.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giacomo Bignardi
- Language and Genetics Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
- Max Planck School of Cognition, Stephanstrasse 1a, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Dirk J A Smit
- Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Edward A Vessel
- Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt, Germany
- Department of Psychology, City College, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA
| | - MacKenzie D Trupp
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Luca F Ticini
- Department of Psychology, Webster Vienna Private University, Vienna, Austria
| | - Simon E Fisher
- Language and Genetics Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Tinca J C Polderman
- Clinical Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- VKC Psyche, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychosocial Care, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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8
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Valdebenito-Oyarzo G, Martínez-Molina MP, Soto-Icaza P, Zamorano F, Figueroa-Vargas A, Larraín-Valenzuela J, Stecher X, Salinas C, Bastin J, Valero-Cabré A, Polania R, Billeke P. The parietal cortex has a causal role in ambiguity computations in humans. PLoS Biol 2024; 22:e3002452. [PMID: 38198502 PMCID: PMC10824459 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002452] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2023] [Revised: 01/23/2024] [Accepted: 11/28/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Humans often face the challenge of making decisions between ambiguous options. The level of ambiguity in decision-making has been linked to activity in the parietal cortex, but its exact computational role remains elusive. To test the hypothesis that the parietal cortex plays a causal role in computing ambiguous probabilities, we conducted consecutive fMRI and TMS-EEG studies. We found that participants assigned unknown probabilities to objective probabilities, elevating the uncertainty of their decisions. Parietal cortex activity correlated with the objective degree of ambiguity and with a process that underestimates the uncertainty during decision-making. Conversely, the midcingulate cortex (MCC) encodes prediction errors and increases its connectivity with the parietal cortex during outcome processing. Disruption of the parietal activity increased the uncertainty evaluation of the options, decreasing cingulate cortex oscillations during outcome evaluation and lateral frontal oscillations related to value ambiguous probability. These results provide evidence for a causal role of the parietal cortex in computing uncertainty during ambiguous decisions made by humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriela Valdebenito-Oyarzo
- Laboratorio de Neurociencia Social y Neuromodulación, Centro de Investigación en Complejidad Social, (neuroCICS), Facultad de Gobierno, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile
| | - María Paz Martínez-Molina
- Laboratorio de Neurociencia Social y Neuromodulación, Centro de Investigación en Complejidad Social, (neuroCICS), Facultad de Gobierno, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile
| | - Patricia Soto-Icaza
- Laboratorio de Neurociencia Social y Neuromodulación, Centro de Investigación en Complejidad Social, (neuroCICS), Facultad de Gobierno, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile
| | - Francisco Zamorano
- Unidad de Neuroimágenes Cuantitativas avanzadas (UNICA), Departamento de Imágenes, Clínica Alemana de Santiago, Santiago, Chile
- Facultad de Ciencias para el Cuidado de la Salud, Campus Los Leones, Universidad San Sebastián, Santiago, Chile
| | - Alejandra Figueroa-Vargas
- Laboratorio de Neurociencia Social y Neuromodulación, Centro de Investigación en Complejidad Social, (neuroCICS), Facultad de Gobierno, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile
| | - Josefina Larraín-Valenzuela
- Laboratorio de Neurociencia Social y Neuromodulación, Centro de Investigación en Complejidad Social, (neuroCICS), Facultad de Gobierno, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile
| | - Ximena Stecher
- Unidad de Neuroimágenes Cuantitativas avanzadas (UNICA), Departamento de Imágenes, Clínica Alemana de Santiago, Santiago, Chile
| | - César Salinas
- Unidad de Neuroimágenes Cuantitativas avanzadas (UNICA), Departamento de Imágenes, Clínica Alemana de Santiago, Santiago, Chile
| | - Julien Bastin
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Inserm, U1216, Grenoble Institut Neurosciences, Grenoble, France
| | - Antoni Valero-Cabré
- Causal Dynamics, Plasticity and Rehabilitation Group, FRONTLAB team, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière (ICM), CNRS UMR 7225, INSERM U 1127 and Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
- Cognitive Neuroscience and Information Technology Research Program, Open University of Catalonia (UOC), Barcelona, Spain
- Laboratory for Cerebral Dynamics Plasticity and Rehabilitation, Boston University, School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Rafael Polania
- Decision Neuroscience Lab, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Pablo Billeke
- Laboratorio de Neurociencia Social y Neuromodulación, Centro de Investigación en Complejidad Social, (neuroCICS), Facultad de Gobierno, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile
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9
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Andrillon T, Oudiette D. What is sleep exactly? Global and local modulations of sleep oscillations all around the clock. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 155:105465. [PMID: 37972882 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105465] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2023] [Revised: 09/29/2023] [Accepted: 11/10/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023]
Abstract
Wakefulness, non-rapid eye-movement (NREM) and rapid eye-movement (REM) sleep differ from each other along three dimensions: behavioral, phenomenological, physiological. Although these dimensions often fluctuate in step, they can also dissociate. The current paradigm that views sleep as made of global NREM and REM states fail to account for these dissociations. This conundrum can be dissolved by stressing the existence and significance of the local regulation of sleep. We will review the evidence in animals and humans, healthy and pathological brains, showing different forms of local sleep and the consequences on behavior, cognition, and subjective experience. Altogether, we argue that the notion of local sleep provides a unified account for a host of phenomena: dreaming in REM and NREM sleep, NREM and REM parasomnias, intrasleep responsiveness, inattention and mind wandering in wakefulness. Yet, the physiological origins of local sleep or its putative functions remain unclear. Exploring further local sleep could provide a unique and novel perspective on how and why we sleep.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Andrillon
- Paris Brain Institute, Sorbonne Université, Inserm-CNRS, Paris 75013, France; Monash Centre for Consciousness & Contemplative Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia.
| | - Delphine Oudiette
- Paris Brain Institute, Sorbonne Université, Inserm-CNRS, Paris 75013, France
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10
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Shih WY, Yu HY, Lee CC, Chou CC, Chen C, Glimcher PW, Wu SW. Electrophysiological population dynamics reveal context dependencies during decision making in human frontal cortex. Nat Commun 2023; 14:7821. [PMID: 38016973 PMCID: PMC10684521 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42092-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2022] [Accepted: 09/28/2023] [Indexed: 11/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Evidence from monkeys and humans suggests that the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) encodes the subjective value of options under consideration during choice. Data from non-human primates suggests that these value signals are context-dependent, representing subjective value in a way influenced by the decision makers' recent experience. Using electrodes distributed throughout cortical and subcortical structures, human epilepsy patients performed an auction task where they repeatedly reported the subjective values they placed on snack food items. High-gamma activity in many cortical and subcortical sites including the OFC positively correlated with subjective value. Other OFC sites showed signals contextually modulated by the subjective value of previously offered goods-a context dependency predicted by theory but not previously observed in humans. These results suggest that value and value-context signals are simultaneously present but separately represented in human frontal cortical activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wan-Yu Shih
- Institute of Neuroscience, College of Life Sciences, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
| | - Hsiang-Yu Yu
- College of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC
- Department of Epilepsy, Neurological Institute, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC
- Brain Research Center, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC
| | - Cheng-Chia Lee
- Department of Epilepsy, Neurological Institute, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC
- Brain Research Center, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC
- Department of Neurosurgery, Neurological Institute, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC
| | - Chien-Chen Chou
- College of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC
- Department of Epilepsy, Neurological Institute, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC
- Brain Research Center, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC
| | - Chien Chen
- College of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC
- Department of Epilepsy, Neurological Institute, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC
- Brain Research Center, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC
| | - Paul W Glimcher
- Neuroscience Institute, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
- Department of Neuroscience and Physiology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Shih-Wei Wu
- Institute of Neuroscience, College of Life Sciences, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
- Brain Research Center, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
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11
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Ting CC, Salem-Garcia N, Palminteri S, Engelmann JB, Lebreton M. Neural and computational underpinnings of biased confidence in human reinforcement learning. Nat Commun 2023; 14:6896. [PMID: 37898640 PMCID: PMC10613217 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42589-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2023] [Accepted: 10/16/2023] [Indexed: 10/30/2023] Open
Abstract
While navigating a fundamentally uncertain world, humans and animals constantly evaluate the probability of their decisions, actions or statements being correct. When explicitly elicited, these confidence estimates typically correlates positively with neural activity in a ventromedial-prefrontal (VMPFC) network and negatively in a dorsolateral and dorsomedial prefrontal network. Here, combining fMRI with a reinforcement-learning paradigm, we leverage the fact that humans are more confident in their choices when seeking gains than avoiding losses to reveal a functional dissociation: whereas the dorsal prefrontal network correlates negatively with a condition-specific confidence signal, the VMPFC network positively encodes task-wide confidence signal incorporating the valence-induced bias. Challenging dominant neuro-computational models, we found that decision-related VMPFC activity better correlates with confidence than with option-values inferred from reinforcement-learning models. Altogether, these results identify the VMPFC as a key node in the neuro-computational architecture that builds global feeling-of-confidence signals from latent decision variables and contextual biases during reinforcement-learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chih-Chung Ting
- General Psychology, Universität Hamburg, Von-Melle-Park 11, 20146, Hamburg, Germany.
- CREED, Amsterdam School of Economics (ASE), Universiteit van Amsterdam, Roetersstraat 11, 1018 WB, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
| | - Nahuel Salem-Garcia
- Swiss Center for Affective Science, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Chem. des Mines 9, 1202, Genève, Switzerland
| | - Stefano Palminteri
- Département d'Études Cognitives, École Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, 29 rue d'Ulm, 75230, Paris cedex 05, France
- Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Computationnelles, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, 29 rue d'Ulm 75230, Paris cedex 05, France
| | - Jan B Engelmann
- CREED, Amsterdam School of Economics (ASE), Universiteit van Amsterdam, Roetersstraat 11, 1018 WB, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
- The Tinbergen Institute, Gustav Mahlerplein 117, 1082 MS, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
| | - Maël Lebreton
- Swiss Center for Affective Science, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Chem. des Mines 9, 1202, Genève, Switzerland.
- Economics of Human Behavior group, Paris-Jourdan Sciences Économiques UMR8545, Paris School of Economics, 48 Boulevard Jourdan, 75014, Paris, France.
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12
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Tegelbeckers J, Porter DB, Voss JL, Schoenbaum G, Kahnt T. Lateral orbitofrontal cortex integrates predictive information across multiple cues to guide behavior. Curr Biol 2023; 33:4496-4504.e5. [PMID: 37804827 PMCID: PMC10622115 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.09.033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2023] [Revised: 08/21/2023] [Accepted: 09/13/2023] [Indexed: 10/09/2023]
Abstract
Individuals are often faced with multiple cues that concurrently predict the same outcome, and combining these predictions may benefit behavior. Previous work has studied the neural basis of decision-making, predominantly using isolated sensory stimuli, and so the mechanisms that allow us to leverage multiple cues remain unclear. In two experiments, we used neuroimaging and network-targeted brain stimulation to probe how the brain integrates outcome predictions to guide adaptive behavior. We identified neural signatures of outcome integration in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), where concurrently presented cues evoke stronger pattern-based representations of expected outcomes. Moreover, perturbing lateral OFC network activity impairs subjects' ability to leverage predictions from multiple cues to facilitate responding. Intriguingly, we found similar behavioral and brain mechanisms for reward-predicting cues and for cues predicting the absence of reward. These findings highlight a causal role for the lateral OFC in utilizing outcome predictions from multiple cues to guide behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jana Tegelbeckers
- Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, 420 E Superior St, Chicago, IL 60611, USA; Otto von Guericke University, Universitaetsplatz 2, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany.
| | - Daria B Porter
- Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, 420 E Superior St, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
| | - Joel L Voss
- University of Chicago, 5841 S Maryland Ave, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Geoffrey Schoenbaum
- National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program, 251 Bayview Blvd, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA
| | - Thorsten Kahnt
- National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program, 251 Bayview Blvd, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA.
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13
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Collomb-Clerc A, Gueguen MCM, Minotti L, Kahane P, Navarro V, Bartolomei F, Carron R, Regis J, Chabardès S, Palminteri S, Bastin J. Human thalamic low-frequency oscillations correlate with expected value and outcomes during reinforcement learning. Nat Commun 2023; 14:6534. [PMID: 37848435 PMCID: PMC10582006 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42380-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2022] [Accepted: 10/09/2023] [Indexed: 10/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Reinforcement-based adaptive decision-making is believed to recruit fronto-striatal circuits. A critical node of the fronto-striatal circuit is the thalamus. However, direct evidence of its involvement in human reinforcement learning is lacking. We address this gap by analyzing intra-thalamic electrophysiological recordings from eight participants while they performed a reinforcement learning task. We found that in both the anterior thalamus (ATN) and dorsomedial thalamus (DMTN), low frequency oscillations (LFO, 4-12 Hz) correlated positively with expected value estimated from computational modeling during reward-based learning (after outcome delivery) or punishment-based learning (during the choice process). Furthermore, LFO recorded from ATN/DMTN were also negatively correlated with outcomes so that both components of reward prediction errors were signaled in the human thalamus. The observed differences in the prediction signals between rewarding and punishing conditions shed light on the neural mechanisms underlying action inhibition in punishment avoidance learning. Our results provide insight into the role of thalamus in reinforcement-based decision-making in humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antoine Collomb-Clerc
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Inserm, U1216, CHU Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble Institut Neurosciences, 38000, Grenoble, France
| | - Maëlle C M Gueguen
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Inserm, U1216, CHU Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble Institut Neurosciences, 38000, Grenoble, France
- Department of Psychiatry, Brain Health Institute and University Behavioral Health Care, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, Piscataway, NJ, USA
| | - Lorella Minotti
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Inserm, U1216, CHU Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble Institut Neurosciences, 38000, Grenoble, France
- Neurology Department, University Hospital of Grenoble, Grenoble, France
| | - Philippe Kahane
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Inserm, U1216, CHU Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble Institut Neurosciences, 38000, Grenoble, France
- Neurology Department, University Hospital of Grenoble, Grenoble, France
| | - Vincent Navarro
- Sorbonne Université, Paris Brain Institute - Institut du Cerveau, ICM, INSERM, CNRS, AP-HP, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France
| | - Fabrice Bartolomei
- Timone University Hospital, Sleep Unit, Epileptology and Cerebral Rhythmology, University Hospital of Marseille, Marseille, France
- Aix Marseille University, Inserm, Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes, Marseille, France
| | - Romain Carron
- Aix Marseille University, Inserm, Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes, Marseille, France
- Timone University Hospital, Department of functional and stereotactic neurosurgery, University Hospital of Marseille, Marseille, France
| | - Jean Regis
- Neurosurgery Department, University Hospital of Marseille, Marseille, France
| | - Stephan Chabardès
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Inserm, U1216, CHU Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble Institut Neurosciences, 38000, Grenoble, France
- Neurosurgery Department, University Hospital of Grenoble, Grenoble, France
| | - Stefano Palminteri
- Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives Computationnelles, Département d'Etudes Cognitives, ENS, PSL, INSERM, Paris, France
| | - Julien Bastin
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Inserm, U1216, CHU Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble Institut Neurosciences, 38000, Grenoble, France.
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14
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Messimeris D, Levy R, Le Bouc R. Economic and social values in the brain: evidence from lesions to the human ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Front Neurol 2023; 14:1198262. [PMID: 37900604 PMCID: PMC10602746 DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2023.1198262] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2023] [Accepted: 09/27/2023] [Indexed: 10/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Making good economic and social decisions is essential for individual and social welfare. Decades of research have provided compelling evidence that damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is associated with dramatic personality changes and impairments in economic and social decision-making. However, whether the vmPFC subserves a unified mechanism in the social and non-social domains remains unclear. When choosing between economic options, the vmPFC is thought to guide decision by encoding value signals that reflect the motivational relevance of the options on a common scale. A recent framework, the "extended common neural currency" hypothesis, suggests that the vmPFC may also assign values to social factors and principles, thereby guiding social decision-making. Although neural value signals have been observed in the vmPFC in both social and non-social studies, it is yet to be determined whether they have a causal influence on behavior or merely correlate with decision-making. In this review, we assess whether lesion studies of patients with vmPFC damage offer evidence for such a causal role of the vmPFC in shaping economic and social behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Despina Messimeris
- FrontLab, Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Sorbonne University, INSERM UMRS 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France
- Department of Neurology, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Sorbonne University, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), Paris, France
| | - Richard Levy
- FrontLab, Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Sorbonne University, INSERM UMRS 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France
- Department of Neurology, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Sorbonne University, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), Paris, France
| | - Raphaël Le Bouc
- Department of Neurology, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Sorbonne University, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), Paris, France
- Motivation, Brain and Behavior Laboratory (MBB), Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Sorbonne University, INSERM UMRS 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France
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15
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Marciano D, Staveland BR, Lin JJ, Saez I, Hsu M, Knight RT. Electrophysiological signatures of inequity-dependent reward encoding in the human OFC. Cell Rep 2023; 42:112865. [PMID: 37494185 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112865] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2022] [Revised: 06/12/2023] [Accepted: 07/10/2023] [Indexed: 07/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Social decision making requires the integration of reward valuation and social cognition systems, both dependent on the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). How these two OFC functions interact is largely unknown. We recorded intracranial activity from the OFC of ten patients making choices in a social context where reward inequity with a social counterpart varied and could be either advantageous or disadvantageous. We find that OFC high-frequency activity (HFA; 70-150 Hz) encodes self-reward, consistent with previous reports. We also observe encoding of the social counterpart's reward, as well as the type of inequity being experienced. Additionally, we find evidence of inequity-dependent reward encoding: depending on the type of inequity, electrodes rapidly and reversibly switch between different reward-encoding profiles. These results provide direct evidence for encoding of self- and other rewards in the human OFC and highlight the dynamic nature of encoding in the OFC as a function of social context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Deborah Marciano
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Brooke R Staveland
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Jack J Lin
- Department of Neurology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA; Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | - Ignacio Saez
- Departments of Neuroscience, Neurosurgery and Neurology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA.
| | - Ming Hsu
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
| | - Robert T Knight
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
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16
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Lee DG, Daunizeau J, Pezzulo G. Evidence or Confidence: What Is Really Monitored during a Decision? Psychon Bull Rev 2023; 30:1360-1379. [PMID: 36917370 PMCID: PMC10482769 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-023-02255-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/09/2023] [Indexed: 03/16/2023]
Abstract
Assessing our confidence in the choices we make is important to making adaptive decisions, and it is thus no surprise that we excel in this ability. However, standard models of decision-making, such as the drift-diffusion model (DDM), treat confidence assessment as a post hoc or parallel process that does not directly influence the choice, which depends only on accumulated evidence. Here, we pursue the alternative hypothesis that what is monitored during a decision is an evolving sense of confidence (that the to-be-selected option is the best) rather than raw evidence. Monitoring confidence has the appealing consequence that the decision threshold corresponds to a desired level of confidence for the choice, and that confidence improvements can be traded off against the resources required to secure them. We show that most previous findings on perceptual and value-based decisions traditionally interpreted from an evidence-accumulation perspective can be explained more parsimoniously from our novel confidence-driven perspective. Furthermore, we show that our novel confidence-driven DDM (cDDM) naturally generalizes to decisions involving any number of alternative options - which is notoriously not the case with traditional DDM or related models. Finally, we discuss future empirical evidence that could be useful in adjudicating between these alternatives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Douglas G Lee
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, Rome, Italy.
- School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
| | - Jean Daunizeau
- Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Paris, France
- Translational Neuromodeling Unit (TNU), ETH, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Giovanni Pezzulo
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, Rome, Italy
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17
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Law CK, Kolling N, Chan CCH, Chau BKH. Frontopolar cortex represents complex features and decision value during choice between environments. Cell Rep 2023; 42:112555. [PMID: 37224014 PMCID: PMC10320831 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112555] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2022] [Revised: 11/23/2022] [Accepted: 05/05/2023] [Indexed: 05/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Important decisions often involve choosing between complex environments that define future item encounters. Despite its importance for adaptive behavior and distinct computational challenges, decision-making research primarily focuses on item choice, ignoring environment choice altogether. Here we contrast previously studied item choice in ventromedial prefrontal cortex with lateral frontopolar cortex (FPl) linked to environment choice. Furthermore, we propose a mechanism for how FPl decomposes and represents complex environments during decision making. Specifically, we trained a choice-optimized, brain-naive convolutional neural network (CNN) and compared predicted CNN activation with actual FPl activity. We showed that the high-dimensional FPl activity decomposes environment features to represent the complexity of an environment to make such choice possible. Moreover, FPl functionally connects with posterior cingulate cortex for guiding environment choice. Further probing FPl's computation revealed a parallel processing mechanism in extracting multiple environment features.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chun-Kit Law
- Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong.
| | - Nils Kolling
- Université Lyon 1, INSERM, Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute U1208, 18 Avenue Doyen Lepine, 69500 Bron, France; Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7JX, UK
| | - Chetwyn C H Chan
- Department of Psychology, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Bolton K H Chau
- Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong; University Research Facility in Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong.
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18
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Kahnt T. Computationally Informed Interventions for Targeting Compulsive Behaviors. Biol Psychiatry 2023; 93:729-738. [PMID: 36464521 PMCID: PMC9989040 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2022.08.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2022] [Revised: 08/04/2022] [Accepted: 08/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
Compulsive behaviors are central to addiction and obsessive-compulsive disorder and can be understood as a failure of adaptive decision making. Particularly, they can be conceptualized as an imbalance in behavioral control, such that behavior is guided predominantly by learned rather than inferred outcome expectations. Inference is a computational process required for adaptive behavior, and recent work across species has identified the neural circuitry that supports inference-based decision making. This includes the orbitofrontal cortex, which has long been implicated in disorders of compulsive behavior. Inspired by evidence that modulating orbitofrontal cortex activity can alter inference-based behaviors, here we discuss noninvasive approaches to target these circuits in humans. Specifically, we discuss the potential of network-targeted transcranial magnetic stimulation and real-time neurofeedback to modulate the neural underpinnings of inference. Both interventions leverage recent advances in our understanding of the neurocomputational mechanisms of inference-based behavior and may be used to complement current treatment approaches for behavioral disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thorsten Kahnt
- National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program, Baltimore, Maryland.
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19
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Saez I, Gu X. Invasive Computational Psychiatry. Biol Psychiatry 2023; 93:661-670. [PMID: 36641365 PMCID: PMC10038930 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2022.09.032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2022] [Revised: 08/25/2022] [Accepted: 09/27/2022] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
Abstract
Computational psychiatry, a relatively new yet prolific field that aims to understand psychiatric disorders with formal theories about the brain, has seen tremendous growth in the past decade. Despite initial excitement, actual progress made by computational psychiatry seems stagnant. Meanwhile, understanding of the human brain has benefited tremendously from recent progress in intracranial neuroscience. Specifically, invasive techniques such as stereotactic electroencephalography, electrocorticography, and deep brain stimulation have provided a unique opportunity to precisely measure and causally modulate neurophysiological activity in the living human brain. In this review, we summarize progress and drawbacks in both computational psychiatry and invasive electrophysiology and propose that their combination presents a highly promising new direction-invasive computational psychiatry. The value of this approach is at least twofold. First, it advances our mechanistic understanding of the neural computations of mental states by providing a spatiotemporally precise depiction of neural activity that is traditionally unattainable using noninvasive techniques with human subjects. Second, it offers a direct and immediate way to modulate brain states through stimulation of algorithmically defined neural regions and circuits (i.e., algorithmic targeting), thus providing both causal and therapeutic insights. We then present depression as a use case where the combination of computational and invasive approaches has already shown initial success. We conclude by outlining future directions as a road map for this exciting new field as well as presenting cautions about issues such as ethical concerns and generalizability of findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ignacio Saez
- Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York; Department of Neurosurgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York; Department of Neurology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York; Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York.
| | - Xiaosi Gu
- Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York; Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York.
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20
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Le Bouc R, Borderies N, Carle G, Robriquet C, Vinckier F, Daunizeau J, Azuar C, Levy R, Pessiglione M. Effort avoidance as a core mechanism of apathy in frontotemporal dementia. Brain 2023; 146:712-726. [PMID: 36401873 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awac427] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2022] [Revised: 11/03/2022] [Accepted: 11/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Apathy is a core symptom in patients with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). It is defined by the observable reduction in goal-directed behaviour, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. According to decision theory, engagement in goal-directed behaviour depends on a cost-benefit optimization trading off the estimated effort (related to the behaviour) against the expected reward (related to the goal). In this framework, apathy would thus result from either a decreased appetence for reward, or from an increased aversion to effort. Here, we phenotyped the motivational state of 21 patients with bvFTD and 40 matched healthy controls using computational analyses of behavioural responses in a comprehensive series of behavioural tasks, involving both expression of preference (comparing reward value and effort cost) and optimization of performance (adjusting effort production to the reward at stake). The primary finding was an elevated aversion to effort, consistent across preference and performance tasks in patients with bvFTD compared to controls. Within the bvFTD group, effort avoidance was correlated to cortical atrophy in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and to apathy score measured on a clinical scale. Thus, our results highlight elevated effort aversion (not reduced reward appetence) as a core dysfunction that might generate apathy in patients with bvFTD. More broadly, they provide novel behavioural tests and computational tools to identify the dysfunctional mechanisms producing motivation deficits in patients with brain damage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raphaël Le Bouc
- Motivation, Brain and Behavior Laboratory (MBB), Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Sorbonne University, INSERM UMRS 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital, F-75013 Paris, France.,Department of Neurology, Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital, Sorbonne University, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), F75013 Paris, France
| | - Nicolas Borderies
- Motivation, Brain and Behavior Laboratory (MBB), Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Sorbonne University, INSERM UMRS 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital, F-75013 Paris, France
| | - Guilhem Carle
- Department of Neurology, Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital, Sorbonne University, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), F75013 Paris, France.,FrontLab, Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Sorbonne University, INSERM UMRS 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital, F-75013 Paris, France
| | - Chloé Robriquet
- Motivation, Brain and Behavior Laboratory (MBB), Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Sorbonne University, INSERM UMRS 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital, F-75013 Paris, France
| | - Fabien Vinckier
- Motivation, Brain and Behavior Laboratory (MBB), Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Sorbonne University, INSERM UMRS 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital, F-75013 Paris, France.,Department of Psychiatry, Service Hospitalo-Universitaire, GHU Paris Psychiatrie and Neurosciences, University of Paris, F-75014 Paris, France
| | - Jean Daunizeau
- Motivation, Brain and Behavior Laboratory (MBB), Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Sorbonne University, INSERM UMRS 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital, F-75013 Paris, France
| | - Carole Azuar
- Department of Neurology, Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital, Sorbonne University, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), F75013 Paris, France.,FrontLab, Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Sorbonne University, INSERM UMRS 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital, F-75013 Paris, France
| | - Richard Levy
- Department of Neurology, Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital, Sorbonne University, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), F75013 Paris, France.,FrontLab, Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Sorbonne University, INSERM UMRS 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital, F-75013 Paris, France
| | - Mathias Pessiglione
- Motivation, Brain and Behavior Laboratory (MBB), Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Sorbonne University, INSERM UMRS 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital, F-75013 Paris, France
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21
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Globig LK, Gianotti LRR, Ponsi G, Koenig T, Dahinden FM, Knoch D. The path of dishonesty: identification of mental processes with electrical neuroimaging. Cereb Cortex 2023:7033304. [PMID: 36758947 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac535] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2022] [Revised: 12/22/2022] [Accepted: 12/22/2022] [Indexed: 02/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Much research finds that lying takes longer than truth-telling. Yet, the source of this response time difference remains elusive. Here, we assessed the spatiotemporal evolution of electrical brain activity during honesty and dishonesty in 150 participants using a sophisticated electrical neuroimaging approach-the microstate approach. This uniquely positioned us to identify and contrast the entire chain of mental processes involved during honesty and dishonesty. Specifically, we find that the response time difference is the result of an additional late-occurring mental process, unique to dishonest decisions, interrupting the antecedent mental processing. We suggest that this process inhibits the activation of the truth, thus permitting the execution of the lie. These results advance our understanding of dishonesty and clarify existing theories about the role of increased cognitive load. More broadly, we demonstrate the vast potential of our approach to illuminate the temporal organization of mental processes involved in decision-making.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura K Globig
- Department of Social Neuroscience and Social Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern 3012, Switzerland.,Affective Brain Lab, Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, WC1H 0AP, United Kingdom.,The Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, University College London, London, WC1H 0AP, United Kingdom
| | - Lorena R R Gianotti
- Department of Social Neuroscience and Social Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern 3012, Switzerland
| | - Giorgia Ponsi
- Department of Social Neuroscience and Social Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern 3012, Switzerland.,Department of Psychology, Italian Institute of Technology, Sapienza University of Rome and CLN2S@Sapienza, Rome 00185, Italy.,IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome 00170, Italy
| | - Thomas Koenig
- Translational Research Center, University Hospital of Psychiatry, University of Bern, Bern 3012, Switzerland
| | - Franziska M Dahinden
- Department of Social Neuroscience and Social Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern 3012, Switzerland
| | - Daria Knoch
- Department of Social Neuroscience and Social Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern 3012, Switzerland
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22
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Rouault M, Lebreton M, Pessiglione M. A shared brain system forming confidence judgment across cognitive domains. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:1426-1439. [PMID: 35552662 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2021] [Revised: 03/22/2022] [Accepted: 03/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Confidence is typically defined as a subjective judgment about whether a decision is right. Decisions are based on sources of information that come from various cognitive domains and are processed in different brain systems. An unsettled question is whether the brain computes confidence in a similar manner whatever the domain or in a manner that would be idiosyncratic to each domain. To address this issue, human participants performed two tasks probing confidence in decisions made about the same material (history and geography statements), but based on different cognitive processes: semantic memory for deciding whether the statement was true or false, and duration perception for deciding whether the statement display was long or short. At the behavioral level, we found that the same factors (difficulty, accuracy, response time, and confidence in the preceding decision) predicted confidence judgments in both tasks. At the neural level, we observed using functional magnetic resonance imaging that confidence judgments in both tasks were associated to activity in the same brain regions: positively in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and negatively in a prefronto-parietal network. Together, these findings suggest the existence of a shared brain system that generates confidence judgments in a similar manner across cognitive domains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marion Rouault
- Motivation, Brain & Behavior (MBB) Lab, Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière, 47 boulevard de l'hôpital, 75013 Paris, France.,Sorbonne University, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (Inserm), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France.,Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Computationnelles, Inserm, Département d'Études Cognitives, École Normale Supérieure, Université Paris Sciences & Lettres (PSL University), 29 rue d'Ulm, 75005 Paris, France.,Institut Jean Nicod, CNRS, Département d'Études Cognitives, École Normale Supérieure, Université Paris Sciences & Lettres (PSL University), 29 rue d'Ulm, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Maël Lebreton
- Motivation, Brain & Behavior (MBB) Lab, Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière, 47 boulevard de l'hôpital, 75013 Paris, France.,Sorbonne University, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (Inserm), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France.,Swiss Center for Affective Sciences (CISA), University of Geneva (UNIGE), Chemin des Mines 9, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland.,Neurology and Imaging of Cognition (LabNIC), Department of Basic Neurosciences, University of Geneva, Chemin des Mines 9, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland.,Economics of Human Behavior group, Paris-Jourdan Sciences Économiques UMR8545, Paris School of Economics, 48 Bd Jourdan, 75014 Paris, France
| | - Mathias Pessiglione
- Motivation, Brain & Behavior (MBB) Lab, Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière, 47 boulevard de l'hôpital, 75013 Paris, France.,Sorbonne University, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (Inserm), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France
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23
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Abstract
Sharing responsibility in social decision-making helps individuals use the flexibility of the collective context to benefit themselves by claiming credit for good outcomes or avoiding the blame for bad outcomes. Using magnetoencephalography, we examined the neuronal basis of the impact that social context has on this flexible sense of responsibility. Participants performed a gambling task in various social contexts and reported feeling less responsibility when playing as a member of a team. A reduced magnetoencephalography outcome processing effect was observed as a function of decreasing responsibility at 200 msec post outcome onset and was centered over parietal, central, and frontal brain regions. Before outcome revelation in socially made decisions, an attenuated motor preparation signature at 500 msec after stimulus onset was found. A boost in reported responsibility for positive outcomes in social contexts was associated with increased activity in regions related to social and reward processing. Together, these results show that sharing responsibility with others reduces agency, influencing pre-outcome motor preparation and post-outcome processing, and provides opportunities to flexibly claim credit for positive outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marwa El Zein
- Max Planck Center for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
- University College London, United Kingdom
| | | | - Bahador Bahrami
- University College London, United Kingdom
- Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany
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24
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Hoven M, de Boer NS, Goudriaan AE, Denys D, Lebreton M, van Holst RJ, Luigjes J. Metacognition and the effect of incentive motivation in two compulsive disorders: Gambling disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 2022; 76:437-449. [PMID: 35674699 PMCID: PMC9541950 DOI: 10.1111/pcn.13434] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2022] [Revised: 05/30/2022] [Accepted: 06/01/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
AIMS Compulsivity is a common phenotype among psychiatric disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and gambling disorder (GD). Deficiencies in metacognition, such as the inability to estimate one's performance via confidence judgments could contribute to pathological decision-making. Earlier research has shown that patients with OCD exhibit underconfidence, while patients with GD exhibit overconfidence. Moreover, it is known that motivational states (e.g. monetary incentives) influence metacognition, with gain (respectively loss) prospects increasing (respectively decreasing) confidence. Here, we reasoned that OCD and GD symptoms might correspond to an exacerbation of this interaction between metacognition and motivation. METHODS We hypothesized GD's overconfidence to be exaggerated during gain prospects, while OCD's underconfidence to be worsened in loss context, which we expected to see represented in ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) blood-oxygen-level-dependent activity. We tested those hypotheses in a task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) design (27 patients with GD, 28 patients with OCD, 55 controls). The trial is registered in the Dutch Trial Register (NL6171). RESULTS We showed increased confidence for patients with GD versus patients with OCD, which could partly be explained by sex and IQ. Although our primary analyses did not support the hypothesized interaction between incentives and groups, exploratory analyses did show increased confidence in patients with GD specifically in gain context. fMRI analyses confirmed a central role for VMPFC in the processing of confidence and incentives, but no differences between the groups. CONCLUSION Patients with OCD and those with GD reside at opposite ends of the confidence spectrum, while no interaction with incentives was found, nor group differences in neuronal processing of confidence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monja Hoven
- Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Nina S de Boer
- Department of Philosophy, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Anna E Goudriaan
- Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.,Arkin and Jellinek, Mental Health Care, and Amsterdam Institute for Addiction Research, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Damiaan Denys
- Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Maël Lebreton
- Paris School of Economics, Paris, France.,Swiss Center for Affective Science, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.,Laboratory for Behavioral Neurology and Imaging of Cognition, Department of Fundamental Neurosciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Ruth J van Holst
- Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Judy Luigjes
- Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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25
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Cecchi R, Vinckier F, Hammer J, Marusic P, Nica A, Rheims S, Trebuchon A, Barbeau EJ, Denuelle M, Maillard L, Minotti L, Kahane P, Pessiglione M, Bastin J. Intracerebral mechanisms explaining the impact of incidental feedback on mood state and risky choice. eLife 2022; 11:72440. [PMID: 35822700 PMCID: PMC9348847 DOI: 10.7554/elife.72440] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2021] [Accepted: 07/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Identifying factors whose fluctuations are associated with choice inconsistency is a major issue for rational decision theory. Here, we investigated the neuro-computational mechanisms through which mood fluctuations may bias human choice behavior. Intracerebral EEG data were collected in a large group of subjects (n=30) while they were performing interleaved quiz and choice tasks that were designed to examine how a series of unrelated feedbacks affect decisions between safe and risky options. Neural baseline activity preceding choice onset was confronted first to mood level, estimated by a computational model integrating the feedbacks received in the quiz task, and then to the weighting of option attributes, in a computational model predicting risk attitude in the choice task. Results showed that (1) elevated broadband gamma activity (BGA) in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and dorsal anterior insula (daIns) was respectively signaling periods of high and low mood, (2) increased vmPFC and daIns BGA respectively promoted and tempered risk taking by overweighting gain vs. loss prospects. Thus, incidental feedbacks induce brain states that correspond to different moods and bias the evaluation of risky options. More generally, these findings might explain why people experiencing positive (or negative) outcome in some part of their life tend to expect success (or failure) in any other.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Jiri Hammer
- University Hospital in Motol, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Petr Marusic
- University Hospital in Motol, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Anca Nica
- Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Rennes, Rennes, France
| | | | | | - Emmanuel J Barbeau
- Brain and Cognition Research Centre (CerCo), CNRS, University of Toulouse Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France
| | - Marie Denuelle
- Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse, Toulouse, France
| | | | - Lorella Minotti
- Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Grenoble, Grenoble, France
| | - Philippe Kahane
- Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Grenoble, Grenoble, France
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26
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Klein-Flügge MC, Bongioanni A, Rushworth MFS. Medial and orbital frontal cortex in decision-making and flexible behavior. Neuron 2022; 110:2743-2770. [PMID: 35705077 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2022.05.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2022] [Revised: 05/17/2022] [Accepted: 05/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
The medial frontal cortex and adjacent orbitofrontal cortex have been the focus of investigations of decision-making, behavioral flexibility, and social behavior. We review studies conducted in humans, macaques, and rodents and argue that several regions with different functional roles can be identified in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, perigenual anterior cingulate cortex, anterior medial frontal cortex, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and medial and lateral parts of the orbitofrontal cortex. There is increasing evidence that the manner in which these areas represent the value of the environment and specific choices is different from subcortical brain regions and more complex than previously thought. Although activity in some regions reflects distributions of reward and opportunities across the environment, in other cases, activity reflects the structural relationships between features of the environment that animals can use to infer what decision to take even if they have not encountered identical opportunities in the past.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miriam C Klein-Flügge
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN), Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Tinsley Building, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TA, UK; Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN), Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain (FMRIB), University of Oxford, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Level 6, West Wing, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK; Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Warneford Lane, Headington, Oxford OX3 7JX, UK.
| | - Alessandro Bongioanni
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN), Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Tinsley Building, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TA, UK
| | - Matthew F S Rushworth
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN), Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Tinsley Building, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TA, UK; Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN), Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain (FMRIB), University of Oxford, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Level 6, West Wing, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
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27
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Zha R, Li P, Liu Y, Alarefi A, Zhang X, Li J. The orbitofrontal cortex represents advantageous choice in the Iowa gambling task. Hum Brain Mapp 2022; 43:3840-3856. [PMID: 35476367 PMCID: PMC9294296 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25887] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2021] [Revised: 02/19/2022] [Accepted: 03/18/2022] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
A good‐based model, the central neurobiological model of economic decision‐making, proposes that the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) represents binary choice outcome, that is, the chosen good. A good is defined by a group of determinants characterizing the conditions in which the commodity is offered, including commodity type, cost, risk, time delay, and ambiguity. Previous studies have found that the OFC represents the binary choice outcome in decision‐making tasks involving commodity type, cost, risk, and delay. Real‐life decisions are often complex and involve uncertainty, rewards, and penalties; however, whether the OFC represents binary choice outcomes in a complex decision‐making situation, for example, Iowa gambling task (IGT), remains unclear. Here, we propose that the OFC represents binary choice outcome, that is, advantageous choice versus disadvantageous choice, in the IGT. We propose two hypotheses: first, the activity pattern in the human OFC represents an advantageous choice; and second, choice induces an OFC‐related functional network. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging and advanced machine‐learning tools, we found that the OFC represented an advantageous choice in the IGT. The OFC representation of advantageous choice was related to decision‐making performance. Choice modulated the functional connectivity between the OFC and the superior medial gyrus. In conclusion, the OFC represents an advantageous choice during the IGT. In the framework of a good‐based model, the results extend the role of the OFC to complex decision‐making situation when making a binary choice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rujing Zha
- Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Department of Psychology, School of Humanities & Social Science, Division of Life Science and Medicine, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China
| | - Peng Li
- Department of Automation, School of Information Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China
| | - Ying Liu
- Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Department of Psychology, School of Humanities & Social Science, Division of Life Science and Medicine, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China
| | - Abdulqawi Alarefi
- Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Department of Psychology, School of Humanities & Social Science, Division of Life Science and Medicine, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China
| | - Xiaochu Zhang
- Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Department of Psychology, School of Humanities & Social Science, Division of Life Science and Medicine, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China.,Application Technology Center of Physical Therapy to Brain Disorders, Institute of Advanced Technology, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China.,Hefei Medical Research Center on Alcohol Addiction, Affiliated Psychological Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei Fourth People's Hospital, Anhui Mental Health Center, Hefei, Anhui, China.,Biomedical Sciences and Health Laboratory of Anhui Province, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China
| | - Jun Li
- Department of Automation, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
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28
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Welke D, Vessel EA. Naturalistic viewing conditions can increase task engagement and aesthetic preference but have only minimal impact on EEG quality. Neuroimage 2022; 256:119218. [PMID: 35443219 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119218] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2021] [Revised: 04/06/2022] [Accepted: 04/14/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Free gaze and moving images are typically avoided in EEG experiments due to the expected generation of artifacts and noise. Yet for a growing number of research questions, loosening these rigorous restrictions would be beneficial. Among these is research on visual aesthetic experiences, which often involve open-ended exploration of highly variable stimuli. Here we systematically compare the effect of conservative vs. more liberal experimental settings on various measures of behavior, brain activity and physiology in an aesthetic rating task. Our primary aim was to assess EEG signal quality. 43 participants either maintained fixation or were allowed to gaze freely, and viewed either static images or dynamic (video) stimuli consisting of dance performances or nature scenes. A passive auditory background task (auditory steady-state response; ASSR) was added as a proxy measure for overall EEG recording quality. We recorded EEG, ECG and eyetracking data, and participants rated their aesthetic preference and state of boredom on each trial. Whereas both behavioral ratings and gaze behavior were affected by task and stimulus manipulations, EEG SNR was barely affected and generally robust across all conditions, despite only minimal preprocessing and no trial rejection. In particular, we show that using video stimuli does not necessarily result in lower EEG quality and can, on the contrary, significantly reduce eye movements while increasing both the participants' aesthetic response and general task engagement. We see these as encouraging results indicating that - at least in the lab - more liberal experimental conditions can be adopted without significant loss of signal quality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dominik Welke
- Department of Neuroscience, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt (Main), Germany.
| | - Edward A Vessel
- Department of Neuroscience, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt (Main), Germany.
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29
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Cogliati Dezza I, Cleeremans A, Alexander WH. Independent and interacting value systems for reward and information in the human brain. eLife 2022; 11:66358. [PMID: 35416151 PMCID: PMC9064296 DOI: 10.7554/elife.66358] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2021] [Accepted: 03/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Theories of prefrontal cortex (PFC) as optimizing reward value have been widely deployed to explain its activity in a diverse range of contexts, with substantial empirical support in neuroeconomics and decision neuroscience. Similar neural circuits, however, have also been associated with information processing. By using computational modeling, model-based functional magnetic resonance imaging analysis, and a novel experimental paradigm, we aim at establishing whether a dedicated and independent value system for information exists in the human PFC. We identify two regions in the human PFC that independently encode reward and information. Our results provide empirical evidence for PFC as an optimizer of independent information and reward signals during decision-making under realistic scenarios, with potential implications for the interpretation of PFC activity in both healthy and clinical populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irene Cogliati Dezza
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Axel Cleeremans
- Center for Research in Cognition and Neurosciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
| | - William H Alexander
- Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, United States
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30
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Motivational signals disrupt metacognitive signals in the human ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Commun Biol 2022; 5:244. [PMID: 35304877 PMCID: PMC8933484 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-03197-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2021] [Accepted: 02/24/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
A growing body of evidence suggests that, during decision-making, BOLD signal in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) correlates both with motivational variables – such as incentives and expected values – and metacognitive variables – such as confidence judgments – which reflect the subjective probability of being correct. At the behavioral level, we recently demonstrated that the value of monetary stakes bias confidence judgments, with gain (respectively loss) prospects increasing (respectively decreasing) confidence judgments, even for similar levels of difficulty and performance. If and how this value-confidence interaction is reflected in the VMPFC remains unknown. Here, we used an incentivized perceptual decision-making fMRI task that dissociates key decision-making variables, thereby allowing to test several hypotheses about the role of the VMPFC in the value-confidence interaction. While our initial analyses seemingly indicate that the VMPFC combines incentives and confidence to form an expected value signal, we falsified this conclusion with a meticulous dissection of qualitative activation patterns. Rather, our results show that strong VMPFC confidence signals observed in trials with gain prospects are disrupted in trials with no – or negative (loss) – monetary prospects. Deciphering how decision variables are represented and interact at finer scales seems necessary to better understand biased (meta)cognition. The human ventromedial prefrontal cortex helps to determine value and confidence in certain decisions, but only in situations when there is a potential for a (monetary) reward.
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31
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Strijbosch W, Vessel EA, Welke D, Mitas O, Gelissen J, Bastiaansen M. On the Neuronal Dynamics of Aesthetic Experience: Evidence from Electroencephalographic Oscillatory Dynamics. J Cogn Neurosci 2021; 34:461-479. [PMID: 35015884 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01812] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Aesthetic experiences have an influence on many aspects of life. Interest in the neural basis of aesthetic experiences has grown rapidly in the past decade, and fMRI studies have identified several brain systems supporting aesthetic experiences. Work on the rapid neuronal dynamics of aesthetic experience, however, is relatively scarce. This study adds to this field by investigating the experience of being aesthetically moved by means of ERP and time-frequency analysis. Participants' electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded while they viewed a diverse set of artworks and evaluated the extent to which these artworks moved them. Results show that being aesthetically moved is associated with a sustained increase in gamma activity over centroparietal regions. In addition, alpha power over right frontocentral regions was reduced in high- and low-moving images, compared to artworks given intermediate ratings. We interpret the gamma effect as an indication for sustained savoring processes for aesthetically moving artworks compared to aesthetically less-moving artworks. The alpha effect is interpreted as an indication of increased attention for aesthetically salient images. In contrast to previous works, we observed no significant effects in any of the established ERP components, but we did observe effects at latencies longer than 1 sec. We conclude that EEG time-frequency analysis provides useful information on the neuronal dynamics of aesthetic experience.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Edward A Vessel
- Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Dominik Welke
- Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Ondrej Mitas
- Breda University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands
| | - John Gelissen
- Breda University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands.,Tilburg University, The Netherlands
| | - Marcel Bastiaansen
- Breda University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands.,Tilburg University, The Netherlands
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32
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Pessiglione M. Computational fingerprinting: a new approach to motivation deficit in neuropsychiatric diseases. C R Biol 2021; 344:275-296. [DOI: 10.5802/crbiol.61] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2021] [Accepted: 09/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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33
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Vinckier F, Pessiglione M, Forgeot d'Arc B. Absence of covert face valuation in Autism. Transl Psychiatry 2021; 11:463. [PMID: 34493707 PMCID: PMC8423803 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-021-01551-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2020] [Revised: 06/26/2021] [Accepted: 08/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition defined on clinical criteria related to diminished social reciprocity and stereotyped behavior. An influential view explains autism as a social motivation disorder characterized by less attention paid to the social environment and less pleasure experienced with social rewards. However, experimental attempts to validate this theory, by testing the impact of social reward on behavioral choice and brain activity, has yielded mixed results, possibly due to variations in how explicit instructions were about task goals. Here, we specified the putative motivation deficit as an absence of spontaneous valuation in the social domain, unexplained by inattention and correctible by explicit instruction. Since such deficit cannot be assessed with behavioral measures, we used functional neuroimaging (fMRI) to readout covert subjective values, assigned to social and nonsocial stimuli (faces and objects), either explicitly asked to participants (during a likeability judgment task) or not (during age or size estimation tasks). Value-related neural activity observed for objects, or for faces under explicit instructions, was very similar in autistic and control participants, with an activation peak in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), known as a key node of the brain valuation system. The only difference observed in autistic participants was an absence of the spontaneous valuation normally triggered by faces, even when they were attended for age estimation. Our findings, therefore, suggest that in autism, social stimuli might fail to trigger the automatic activation of the brain valuation system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabien Vinckier
- Université de Paris, F-75006, Paris, France
- Department of Psychiatry, Service Hospitalo-Universitaire, GHU Paris Psychiatrie & Neurosciences, F-75014, Paris, France
- Motivation, Brain & Behavior (MBB) lab, Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, F-75013, Paris, France
| | - Mathias Pessiglione
- Motivation, Brain & Behavior (MBB) lab, Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, F-75013, Paris, France
- Sorbonne University, Inserm, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Baudouin Forgeot d'Arc
- CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center, Montréal, QC, H3T 1C5, Canada.
- Department of Psychiatry, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada.
- Centre intégré Universitaire du Nord-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, Montréal, QC, H1E 1A4, Canada.
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34
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Azzalini D, Buot A, Palminteri S, Tallon-Baudry C. Responses to Heartbeats in Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Contribute to Subjective Preference-Based Decisions. J Neurosci 2021; 41:5102-5114. [PMID: 33926998 PMCID: PMC8197644 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1932-20.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2020] [Revised: 01/14/2021] [Accepted: 01/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Forrest Gump or The Matrix? Preference-based decisions are subjective and entail self-reflection. However, these self-related features are unaccounted for by known neural mechanisms of valuation and choice. Self-related processes have been linked to a basic interoceptive biological mechanism, the neural monitoring of heartbeats, in particular in ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), a region also involved in value encoding. We thus hypothesized a functional coupling between the neural monitoring of heartbeats and the precision of value encoding in vmPFC. Human participants of both sexes were presented with pairs of movie titles. They indicated either which movie they preferred or performed a control objective visual discrimination that did not require self-reflection. Using magnetoencephalography, we measured heartbeat-evoked responses (HERs) before option presentation and confirmed that HERs in vmPFC were larger when preparing for the subjective, self-related task. We retrieved the expected cortical value network during choice with time-resolved statistical modeling. Crucially, we show that larger HERs before option presentation are followed by stronger value encoding during choice in vmPFC. This effect is independent of overall vmPFC baseline activity. The neural interaction between HERs and value encoding predicted preference-based choice consistency over time, accounting for both interindividual differences and trial-to-trial fluctuations within individuals. Neither cardiac activity nor arousal fluctuations could account for any of the effects. HERs did not interact with the encoding of perceptual evidence in the discrimination task. Our results show that the self-reflection underlying preference-based decisions involves HERs, and that HER integration to subjective value encoding in vmPFC contributes to preference stability.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Deciding whether you prefer Forrest Gump or The Matrix is based on subjective values, which only you, the decision-maker, can estimate and compare, by asking yourself. Yet, how self-reflection is biologically implemented and its contribution to subjective valuation are not known. We show that in ventromedial prefrontal cortex, the neural response to heartbeats, an interoceptive self-related process, influences the cortical representation of subjective value. The neural interaction between the cortical monitoring of heartbeats and value encoding predicts choice consistency (i.e., whether you consistently prefer Forrest Gump over Matrix over time. Our results pave the way for the quantification of self-related processes in decision-making and may shed new light on the relationship between maladaptive decisions and impaired interoception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Damiano Azzalini
- Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Computationnelles, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL University, 75005 Paris, France
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Anne Buot
- Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Computationnelles, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL University, 75005 Paris, France
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Stefano Palminteri
- Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Computationnelles, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL University, 75005 Paris, France
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Catherine Tallon-Baudry
- Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Computationnelles, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL University, 75005 Paris, France
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, 75005 Paris, France
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Anatomical dissociation of intracerebral signals for reward and punishment prediction errors in humans. Nat Commun 2021; 12:3344. [PMID: 34099678 PMCID: PMC8184756 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23704-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2020] [Accepted: 05/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Whether maximizing rewards and minimizing punishments rely on distinct brain systems remains debated, given inconsistent results coming from human neuroimaging and animal electrophysiology studies. Bridging the gap across techniques, we recorded intracerebral activity from twenty participants while they performed an instrumental learning task. We found that both reward and punishment prediction errors (PE), estimated from computational modeling of choice behavior, correlate positively with broadband gamma activity (BGA) in several brain regions. In all cases, BGA scaled positively with the outcome (reward or punishment versus nothing) and negatively with the expectation (predictability of reward or punishment). However, reward PE were better signaled in some regions (such as the ventromedial prefrontal and lateral orbitofrontal cortex), and punishment PE in other regions (such as the anterior insula and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex). These regions might therefore belong to brain systems that differentially contribute to the repetition of rewarded choices and the avoidance of punished choices. Whether maximizing rewards and minimizing punishments rely on distinct brain learning systems remains debated. Here, using intracerebral recordings in humans, the authors provide evidence for brain regions differentially engaged in signaling reward and punishment prediction errors that prescribe repetition versus avoidance of past choices.
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Bakas S, Adamos DA, Laskaris N. On the estimate of music appraisal from surface EEG: a dynamic-network approach based on cross-sensor PAC measurements. J Neural Eng 2021; 18. [PMID: 33975291 DOI: 10.1088/1741-2552/abffe6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2020] [Accepted: 05/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Objective.The aesthetic evaluation of music is strongly dependent on the listener and reflects manifold brain processes that go well beyond the perception of incident sound. Being a high-level cognitive reaction, it is difficult to predict merely from the acoustic features of the audio signal and this poses serious challenges to contemporary music recommendation systems. We attempted to decode music appraisal from brain activity, recorded via wearable EEG, during music listening.Approach.To comply with the dynamic nature of music stimuli, cross-frequency coupling measurements were employed in a time-evolving manner to capture the evolving interactions between distinct brain-rhythms during music listening. Brain response to music was first represented as a continuous flow of functional couplings referring to both regional and inter-regional brain dynamics and then modelled as an ensemble of time-varying (sub)networks. Dynamic graph centrality measures were derived, next, as the final feature-engineering step and, lastly, a support-vector machine was trained to decode the subjective music appraisal. A carefully designed experimental paradigm provided the labeled brain signals.Main results.Using data from 20 subjects, dynamic programming to tailor the decoder to each subject individually and cross-validation, we demonstrated highly satisfactory performance (MAE= 0.948,R2= 0.63) that can be attributed, mostly, to interactions of left frontal gamma rhythm. In addition, our music-appraisal decoder was also employed in a part of the DEAP dataset with similar success. Finally, even a generic version of the decoder (common for all subjects) was found to perform sufficiently.Significance.A novel brain signal decoding scheme was introduced and validated empirically on suitable experimental data. It requires simple operations and leaves room for real-time implementation. Both the code and the experimental data are publicly available.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stylianos Bakas
- Department of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece.,Neuroinformatics GRoup, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Dimitrios A Adamos
- School of Music Studies, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece.,Department of Computing, Imperial College London, SW7 2AZ London, United Kingdom.,Neuroinformatics GRoup, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Nikolaos Laskaris
- Department of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece.,Neuroinformatics GRoup, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
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Seak LCU, Volkmann K, Pastor-Bernier A, Grabenhorst F, Schultz W. Single-Dimensional Human Brain Signals for Two-Dimensional Economic Choice Options. J Neurosci 2021; 41:3000-3013. [PMID: 33568490 PMCID: PMC8018883 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1555-20.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2020] [Revised: 10/28/2020] [Accepted: 11/03/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Rewarding choice options typically contain multiple components, but neural signals in single brain voxels are scalar and primarily vary up or down. In a previous study, we had designed reward bundles that contained the same two milkshakes with independently set amounts; we had used psychophysics and rigorous economic concepts to estimate two-dimensional choice indifference curves (ICs) that represented revealed stochastic preferences for these bundles in a systematic, integrated manner. All bundles on the same ICs were equally revealed preferred (and thus had same utility, as inferred from choice indifference); bundles on higher ICs (higher utility) were preferred to bundles on lower ICs (lower utility). In the current study, we used the established behavior for testing with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We now demonstrate neural responses in reward-related brain structures of human female and male participants, including striatum, midbrain, and medial orbitofrontal cortex (mid-OFC) that followed the characteristic pattern of ICs: similar responses along ICs (same utility despite different bundle composition), but monotonic change across ICs (different utility). Thus, these brain structures integrated multiple reward components into a scalar signal, well beyond the known subjective value coding of single-component rewards.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Rewards have several components, like the taste and size of an apple, but it is unclear how each component contributes to the overall value of the reward. While choice indifference curves (ICs) of economic theory provide behavioral approaches to this question, it is unclear whether brain responses capture the preference and utility integrated from multiple components. We report activations in striatum, midbrain, and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) that follow choice ICs representing behavioral preferences over and above variations of individual reward components. In addition, the concept-driven approach encourages future studies on natural, multicomponent rewards that are prone to irrational choice of normal and brain-damaged individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leo Chi U Seak
- Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3DY, United Kingdom
| | - Konstantin Volkmann
- Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3DY, United Kingdom
| | - Alexandre Pastor-Bernier
- Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3DY, United Kingdom
| | - Fabian Grabenhorst
- Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3DY, United Kingdom
| | - Wolfram Schultz
- Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3DY, United Kingdom
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Skvortsova V, Palminteri S, Buot A, Karachi C, Welter ML, Grabli D, Pessiglione M. A Causal Role for the Pedunculopontine Nucleus in Human Instrumental Learning. Curr Biol 2021; 31:943-954.e5. [PMID: 33352119 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.11.042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2020] [Revised: 09/23/2020] [Accepted: 11/17/2020] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
A critical mechanism for maximizing reward is instrumental learning. In standard instrumental learning models, action values are updated on the basis of reward prediction errors (RPEs), defined as the discrepancy between expectations and outcomes. A wealth of evidence across species and experimental techniques has established that RPEs are signaled by midbrain dopamine neurons. However, the way dopamine neurons receive information about reward outcomes remains poorly understood. Recent animal studies suggest that the pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN), a small brainstem structure considered as a locomotor center, is sensitive to reward and sends excitatory projection to dopaminergic nuclei. Here, we examined the hypothesis that the PPN could contribute to reward learning in humans. To this aim, we leveraged a clinical protocol that assessed the therapeutic impact of PPN deep-brain stimulation (DBS) in three patients with Parkinson disease. PPN local field potentials (LFPs), recorded while patients performed an instrumental learning task, showed a specific response to reward outcomes in a low-frequency (alpha-beta) band. Moreover, PPN DBS selectively improved learning from rewards but not from punishments, a pattern that is typically observed following dopaminergic treatment. Computational analyses indicated that the effect of PPN DBS on instrumental learning was best captured by an increase in subjective reward sensitivity. Taken together, these results support a causal role for PPN-mediated reward signals in human instrumental learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vasilisa Skvortsova
- Motivation, Brain and Behavior (MBB) laboratory, Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris 75013, France; INSERM Unit 1127, CNRS Unit 7225, Sorbonne Universités (SU), Paris 75005, France; Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Computationnelles, Département d'Etudes Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris 75005, France; INSERM Unit 960, Université de Paris Sciences et Lettres (UP), 75005 Paris, France; Max Planck UCL Center for Computational Psychiatry and Aging, London WC1B 5EH, UK.
| | - Stefano Palminteri
- Motivation, Brain and Behavior (MBB) laboratory, Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris 75013, France; INSERM Unit 1127, CNRS Unit 7225, Sorbonne Universités (SU), Paris 75005, France; Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Computationnelles, Département d'Etudes Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris 75005, France; INSERM Unit 960, Université de Paris Sciences et Lettres (UP), 75005 Paris, France
| | - Anne Buot
- INSERM Unit 1127, CNRS Unit 7225, Sorbonne Universités (SU), Paris 75005, France; Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Computationnelles, Département d'Etudes Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris 75005, France; INSERM Unit 960, Université de Paris Sciences et Lettres (UP), 75005 Paris, France
| | - Carine Karachi
- INSERM Unit 1127, CNRS Unit 7225, Sorbonne Universités (SU), Paris 75005, France; Neurology and Neurosurgery department, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, 75013 Paris, France
| | - Marie-Laure Welter
- INSERM Unit 1127, CNRS Unit 7225, Sorbonne Universités (SU), Paris 75005, France; Neurophysiology Department, Hôpital Universitaire de Rouen, 76000 Rouen, France
| | - David Grabli
- INSERM Unit 1127, CNRS Unit 7225, Sorbonne Universités (SU), Paris 75005, France; Neurology and Neurosurgery department, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, 75013 Paris, France
| | - Mathias Pessiglione
- Motivation, Brain and Behavior (MBB) laboratory, Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris 75013, France; INSERM Unit 1127, CNRS Unit 7225, Sorbonne Universités (SU), Paris 75005, France.
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Targeted Stimulation of an Orbitofrontal Network Disrupts Decisions Based on Inferred, Not Experienced Outcomes. J Neurosci 2020; 40:8726-8733. [PMID: 33051355 PMCID: PMC7643295 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1680-20.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2020] [Revised: 08/26/2020] [Accepted: 09/18/2020] [Indexed: 01/30/2023] Open
Abstract
When direct experience is unavailable, animals and humans can imagine or infer the future to guide decisions. Behavior based on direct experience versus inference may recruit partially distinct brain circuits. In rodents, the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) contains neural signatures of inferred outcomes, and OFC is necessary for behavior that requires inference but not for responding driven by direct experience. In humans, OFC activity is also correlated with inferred outcomes, but it is unclear whether OFC activity is required for inference-based behavior. To test this, we used noninvasive network-based continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) in human subjects (male and female) to target lateral OFC networks in the context of a sensory preconditioning task that was designed to isolate inference-based behavior from responding that can be based on direct experience alone. We show that, relative to sham, cTBS targeting this network impairs reward-related behavior in conditions in which outcome expectations have to be mentally inferred. In contrast, OFC-targeted stimulation does not impair behavior that can be based on previously experienced stimulus–outcome associations. These findings suggest that activity in the targeted OFC network supports decision-making when outcomes have to be mentally simulated, providing converging cross-species evidence for a critical role of OFC in model-based but not model-free control of behavior. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT It is widely accepted that the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is important for decision-making. However, it is less clear how exactly this region contributes to behavior. Here we test the hypothesis that the human OFC is only required for decision-making when future outcomes have to be mentally simulated, but not when direct experience with stimulus–outcome associations is available. We show that targeting OFC network activity in humans using network-based continuous theta burst stimulation selectively impairs behavior that requires inference but does not affect responding that can be based solely on direct experience. These results are in line with previous findings in animals and suggest a critical role for human OFC in model-based but not model-free behavior.
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Li Y, Wang J, Ye H, Luo J. Modulating the Activity of vmPFC Regulates Informational Social Conformity: A tDCS Study. Front Psychol 2020; 11:566977. [PMID: 33041931 PMCID: PMC7527649 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.566977] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2020] [Accepted: 08/28/2020] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Social conformity has been evaluated in many different contexts, ranging from an emotional contagion in psychology, to speculative episodes in economics, to mass protests concerning politics. Previous neuroscience studies suggest that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) participates in social conformity, especially when it comes to the value integration process, but the specific mechanism of vmPFC is still unclear. In this study, we aimed to identify a direct link between the vmPFC and conformity tendencies by means of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). Conformity tendencies are measured by the probability that participants change their decisions when they observe the majority responses. In our experiment, subjects could make two decisions in each trial, once without social information and once with social information, which allowed us to directly observe the conformity tendency of subjects in different conditions. We found that cathodal stimulation of the vmPFC significantly increased conformity tendency and decreased response time when the initial decision of participants differs from the majority opinion. Based on the experimental results, our study suggests that the vmPFC mainly inhibits and regulates the informational conformity behavior. These findings complement investigations of the neural mechanism of conformity and the role of the vmPFC in the neural circuit behind conformity behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuzhen Li
- School of Economics, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China.,Center for Economic Behavior and Decision-Making (CEBD), Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China
| | - Jinjin Wang
- School of Economics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.,Interdisciplinary Center for Social Sciences (ICSS), Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Hang Ye
- School of Economics, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China.,Center for Economic Behavior and Decision-Making (CEBD), Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China.,Interdisciplinary Center for Social Sciences (ICSS), Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Jun Luo
- School of Economics, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China.,Center for Economic Behavior and Decision-Making (CEBD), Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China
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