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da Eira Silva V, Marigold DS. Fork in the road: How self-efficacy related to walking across terrain influences gaze behavior and path choice. J Vis 2024; 24:7. [PMID: 38984898 PMCID: PMC11244644 DOI: 10.1167/jov.24.7.7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/11/2024] Open
Abstract
Decisions about where to move occur throughout the day and are essential to life. Different movements may present different challenges and affect the likelihood of achieving a goal. Certain choices may have unintended consequences, some of which may cause harm and bias the decision. Movement decisions rely on a person gathering necessary visual information via shifts in gaze. Here we sought to understand what influences this information-seeking gaze behavior. Participants chose between walking across one of two paths that consisted of terrain images found in either hiking or urban environments. We manipulated the number and type of terrain of each path, which altered the amount of available visual information. We recorded gaze behavior during the approach to the paths and had participants rate the confidence in their ability to walk across each terrain type (i.e., self-efficacy) as though it was real. Participants did not direct gaze more to the path with greater visual information, regardless of how we quantified information. Rather, we show that a person's perception of their motor abilities predicts how they visually explore the environment with their eyes as well as their choice of action. The greater the self-efficacy in walking across one path, the more they directed gaze to it and the more likely they chose to walk across it.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vinicius da Eira Silva
- Department of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
- Institute for Neuroscience and Neurotechnology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
| | - Daniel S Marigold
- Department of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
- Institute for Neuroscience and Neurotechnology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
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2
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Chu J, Tenenbaum JB, Schulz LE. In praise of folly: flexible goals and human cognition. Trends Cogn Sci 2024; 28:628-642. [PMID: 38616478 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2024.03.006] [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: 07/13/2022] [Revised: 03/13/2024] [Accepted: 03/13/2024] [Indexed: 04/16/2024]
Abstract
Humans often pursue idiosyncratic goals that appear remote from functional ends, including information gain. We suggest that this is valuable because goals (even prima facie foolish or unachievable ones) contain structured information that scaffolds thinking and planning. By evaluating hypotheses and plans with respect to their goals, humans can discover new ideas that go beyond prior knowledge and observable evidence. These hypotheses and plans can be transmitted independently of their original motivations, adapted across generations, and serve as an engine of cultural evolution. Here, we review recent empirical and computational research underlying goal generation and planning and discuss the ways that the flexibility of our motivational system supports cognitive gains for both individuals and societies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junyi Chu
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA; Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
| | | | - Laura E Schulz
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
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3
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Forss S, Ciria A, Clark F, Galusca CL, Harrison D, Lee S. A transdisciplinary view on curiosity beyond linguistic humans: animals, infants, and artificial intelligence. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2024; 99:979-998. [PMID: 38287201 DOI: 10.1111/brv.13054] [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: 05/19/2023] [Revised: 01/08/2024] [Accepted: 01/12/2024] [Indexed: 01/31/2024]
Abstract
Curiosity is a core driver for life-long learning, problem-solving and decision-making. In a broad sense, curiosity is defined as the intrinsically motivated acquisition of novel information. Despite a decades-long history of curiosity research and the earliest human theories arising from studies of laboratory rodents, curiosity has mainly been considered in two camps: 'linguistic human' and 'other'. This is despite psychology being heritable, and there are many continuities in cognitive capacities across the animal kingdom. Boundary-pushing cross-disciplinary debates on curiosity are lacking, and the relative exclusion of pre-linguistic infants and non-human animals has led to a scientific impasse which more broadly impedes the development of artificially intelligent systems modelled on curiosity in natural agents. In this review, we synthesize literature across multiple disciplines that have studied curiosity in non-verbal systems. By highlighting how similar findings have been produced across the separate disciplines of animal behaviour, developmental psychology, neuroscience, and computational cognition, we discuss how this can be used to advance our understanding of curiosity. We propose, for the first time, how features of curiosity could be quantified and therefore studied more operationally across systems: across different species, developmental stages, and natural or artificial agents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sofia Forss
- Collegium Helveticum, Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Zurich, ETH Zurich and Zurich University of the Arts, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Alejandra Ciria
- School of Psychology, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Fay Clark
- School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Cristina-Loana Galusca
- Laboratoire de Psychologie et NeuroCognition, CNRS Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
| | - David Harrison
- Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Saein Lee
- Interdisciplinary Program of EcoCreative, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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4
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Monosov IE. Curiosity: primate neural circuits for novelty and information seeking. Nat Rev Neurosci 2024; 25:195-208. [PMID: 38263217 DOI: 10.1038/s41583-023-00784-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/13/2023] [Indexed: 01/25/2024]
Abstract
For many years, neuroscientists have investigated the behavioural, computational and neurobiological mechanisms that support value-based decisions, revealing how humans and animals make choices to obtain rewards. However, many decisions are influenced by factors other than the value of physical rewards or second-order reinforcers (such as money). For instance, animals (including humans) frequently explore novel objects that have no intrinsic value solely because they are novel and they exhibit the desire to gain information to reduce their uncertainties about the future, even if this information cannot lead to reward or assist them in accomplishing upcoming tasks. In this Review, I discuss how circuits in the primate brain responsible for detecting, predicting and assessing novelty and uncertainty regulate behaviour and give rise to these behavioural components of curiosity. I also briefly discuss how curiosity-related behaviours arise during postnatal development and point out some important reasons for the persistence of curiosity across generations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilya E Monosov
- Department of Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.
- Department of Neurosurgery, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.
- Pain Center, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.
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5
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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: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [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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6
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Ajuwon V, Ojeda A, Murphy RA, Monteiro T, Kacelnik A. Paradoxical choice and the reinforcing value of information. Anim Cogn 2023; 26:623-637. [PMID: 36306041 PMCID: PMC9950180 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-022-01698-2] [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: 05/05/2022] [Revised: 09/07/2022] [Accepted: 10/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
Abstract
Signals that reduce uncertainty can be valuable because well-informed decision-makers can better align their preferences to opportunities. However, some birds and mammals display an appetite for informative signals that cannot be used to increase returns. We explore the role that reward-predictive stimuli have in fostering such preferences, aiming at distinguishing between two putative underlying mechanisms. The 'information hypothesis' proposes that reducing uncertainty is reinforcing per se, somewhat consistently with the concept of curiosity: a motivation to know in the absence of tractable extrinsic benefits. In contrast, the 'conditioned reinforcement hypothesis', an associative account, proposes asymmetries in secondarily acquired reinforcement: post-choice stimuli announcing forthcoming rewards (S+) reinforce responses more than stimuli signalling no rewards (S-) inhibit responses. In three treatments, rats faced two equally profitable options delivering food probabilistically after a fixed delay. In the informative option (Info), food or no food was signalled immediately after choice, whereas in the non-informative option (NoInfo) outcomes were uncertain until the delay lapsed. Subjects preferred Info when (1) both outcomes were explicitly signalled by salient auditory cues, (2) only forthcoming food delivery was explicitly signalled, and (3) only the absence of forthcoming reward was explicitly signalled. Acquisition was slower in (3), when food was not explicitly signalled, showing that signals for positive outcomes have a greater influence on the development of preference than signals for negative ones. Our results are consistent with an elaborated conditioned reinforcement account, and with the conjecture that both uncertainty reduction and conditioned reinforcement jointly act to generate preference.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victor Ajuwon
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
| | - Andrés Ojeda
- grid.4991.50000 0004 1936 8948Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Robin A. Murphy
- grid.4991.50000 0004 1936 8948Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Tiago Monteiro
- grid.4991.50000 0004 1936 8948Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK ,grid.6583.80000 0000 9686 6466Domestication Lab, Department of Interdisciplinary Life Sciences, Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Alex Kacelnik
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
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7
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Chen X, Twomey KE, Westermann G. Curiosity enhances incidental object encoding in 8-month-old infants. J Exp Child Psychol 2022; 223:105508. [PMID: 35850003 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105508] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2021] [Revised: 05/17/2022] [Accepted: 06/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Recent research with adults indicates that curiosity induced by uncertainty enhances learning and memory outcomes and that the resolution of curiosity has a special role in curiosity-driven learning. However, the role of curiosity-based learning in early development is unclear. Here we presented 8-month-old infants with a novel looking time procedure to explore (a) whether uncertainty-induced curiosity enhances learning of incidental information and (b) whether uncertainty-induced curiosity leads infants to seek uncertainty resolution over novelty. In Experiment 1, infants saw blurred images to induce curiosity (Curiosity sequence) or a clear image (Non-curiosity sequence) followed by presentation of incidental objects. Despite looking equally to the incidental objects in both sequences, in a subsequent object recognition phase infants looked longer to incidental objects presented in the Non-curiosity condition compared with the Curiosity condition, indicating that curiosity induced by blurred pictures enhanced the processing of the incidental object, leading to a novelty preference for the incidental object shown in the Non-Curiosity condition. In Experiment 2, a blurred picture of a novel toy was first presented, followed by its corresponding clear picture paired with a clear picture of a new novel toy side by side. Infants showed no preference for either image, providing no evidence for a drive to resolve uncertainty. Overall, the current experiments suggest that curiosity has a broad attention-enhancing effect in infancy. Taking into account existing studies with older children and adults, we propose a developmental change in the function of curiosity, from this attentional enhancement to more goal-directed information seeking in older children and adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoyun Chen
- Department of Psychology, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YF, UK.
| | - Katherine E Twomey
- Division of Human Communication, Development and Hearing, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
| | - Gert Westermann
- Department of Psychology, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YF, UK
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8
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Li Y, Daddaoua N, Horan M, Foley NC, Gottlieb J. Uncertainty modulates visual maps during noninstrumental information demand. Nat Commun 2022; 13:5911. [PMID: 36207316 PMCID: PMC9547007 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33585-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2021] [Accepted: 09/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Animals are intrinsically motivated to obtain information independently of instrumental incentives. This motivation depends on two factors: a desire to resolve uncertainty by gathering accurate information and a desire to obtain positively-valenced observations, which predict favorable rather than unfavorable outcomes. To understand the neural mechanisms, we recorded parietal cortical activity implicated in prioritizing stimuli for spatial attention and gaze, in a task in which monkeys were free (but not trained) to obtain information about probabilistic non-contingent rewards. We show that valence and uncertainty independently modulated parietal neuronal activity, and uncertainty but not reward-related enhancement consistently correlated with behavioral sensitivity. The findings suggest uncertainty-driven and valence-driven information demand depend on partially distinct pathways, with the former being consistently related to parietal responses and the latter depending on additional mechanisms implemented in downstream structures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yvonne Li
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Nabil Daddaoua
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Mattias Horan
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Nicholas C Foley
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Jacqueline Gottlieb
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
- Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
- Kavli Institute for Brain Science, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
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9
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Valenzo D, Ciria A, Schillaci G, Lara B. Grounding Context in Embodied Cognitive Robotics. Front Neurorobot 2022; 16:843108. [PMID: 35812785 PMCID: PMC9262126 DOI: 10.3389/fnbot.2022.843108] [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: 12/24/2021] [Accepted: 05/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Biological agents are context-dependent systems that exhibit behavioral flexibility. The internal and external information agents process, their actions, and emotions are all grounded in the context within which they are situated. However, in the field of cognitive robotics, the concept of context is far from being clear with most studies making little to no reference to it. The aim of this paper is to provide an interpretation of the notion of context and its core elements based on different studies in natural agents, and how these core contextual elements have been modeled in cognitive robotics, to introduce a new hypothesis about the interactions between these contextual elements. Here, global context is categorized as agent-related, environmental, and task-related context. The interaction of their core elements, allows agents to first select self-relevant tasks depending on their current needs, or for learning and mastering their environment through exploration. Second, to perform a task and continuously monitor its performance. Third, to abandon a task in case its execution is not going as expected. Here, the monitoring of prediction error, the difference between sensorimotor predictions and incoming sensory information, is at the core of behavioral flexibility during situated action cycles. Additionally, monitoring prediction error dynamics and its comparison with the expected reduction rate should indicate the agent its overall performance on executing the task. Sensitivity to performance evokes emotions that function as the driving element for autonomous behavior which, at the same time, depends on the processing of the interacting core elements. Taking all these into account, an interactionist model of contexts and their core elements is proposed. The model is embodied, affective, and situated, by means of the processing of the agent-related and environmental core contextual elements. Additionally, it is grounded in the processing of the task-related context and the associated situated action cycles during task execution. Finally, the model proposed here aims to guide how artificial agents should process the core contextual elements of the agent-related and environmental context to give rise to the task-related context, allowing agents to autonomously select a task, its planning, execution, and monitoring for behavioral flexibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diana Valenzo
- Laboratorio de Robótica Cognitiva, Centro de Investigación en Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, Mexico
| | - Alejandra Ciria
- Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico
| | | | - Bruno Lara
- Laboratorio de Robótica Cognitiva, Centro de Investigación en Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, Mexico
- *Correspondence: Bruno Lara
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10
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Hilchey MD, Rondina R, Soman D. Information‐seeking when information doesn't matter. JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DECISION MAKING 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/bdm.2280] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Matthew D. Hilchey
- Rotman School of Management University of Toronto 105 St George St Toronto Ontario M5S 3E6 Canada
| | - Renante Rondina
- Rotman School of Management University of Toronto 105 St George St Toronto Ontario M5S 3E6 Canada
| | - Dilip Soman
- Rotman School of Management University of Toronto 105 St George St Toronto Ontario M5S 3E6 Canada
- Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Science and Economics, Rotman School of Management University of Toronto 105 St George St Toronto Ontario M5S 3E6 Canada
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11
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Seeking motivation and reward: roles of dopamine, hippocampus and supramammillo-septal pathway. Prog Neurobiol 2022; 212:102252. [PMID: 35227866 PMCID: PMC8961455 DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2022.102252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2021] [Revised: 02/09/2022] [Accepted: 02/23/2022] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
Reinforcement learning and goal-seeking behavior are thought to be mediated by midbrain dopamine neurons. However, little is known about neural substrates of curiosity and exploratory behavior, which occur in the absence of clear goal or reward. This is despite behavioral scientists having long suggested that curiosity and exploratory behaviors are regulated by an innate drive. We refer to such behavior as information-seeking behavior and propose 1) key neural substrates and 2) the concept of environment prediction error as a framework to understand information-seeking processes. The cognitive aspect of information-seeking behavior, including the perception of salience and uncertainty, involves, in part, the pathways from the posterior hypothalamic supramammillary region to the hippocampal formation. The vigor of such behavior is modulated by the following: supramammillary glutamatergic neurons; their projections to medial septal glutamatergic neurons; and the projections of medial septal glutamatergic neurons to ventral tegmental dopaminergic neurons. Phasic responses of dopaminergic neurons are characterized as signaling potentially important stimuli rather than rewards. This paper describes how novel stimuli and uncertainty trigger seeking motivation and how these neural substrates modulate information-seeking behavior.
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12
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Monosov IE, Rushworth MFS. Interactions between ventrolateral prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex during learning and behavioural change. Neuropsychopharmacology 2022; 47:196-210. [PMID: 34234288 PMCID: PMC8617208 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-021-01079-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2021] [Revised: 05/27/2021] [Accepted: 06/15/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Hypotheses and beliefs guide credit assignment - the process of determining which previous events or actions caused an outcome. Adaptive hypothesis formation and testing are crucial in uncertain and changing environments in which associations and meanings are volatile. Despite primates' abilities to form and test hypotheses, establishing what is causally responsible for the occurrence of particular outcomes remains a fundamental challenge for credit assignment and learning. Hypotheses about what surprises are due to stochasticity inherent in an environment as opposed to real, systematic changes are necessary for identifying the environment's predictive features, but are often hard to test. We review evidence that two highly interconnected frontal cortical regions, anterior cingulate cortex and ventrolateral prefrontal area 47/12o, provide a biological substrate for linking two crucial components of hypothesis-formation and testing: the control of information seeking and credit assignment. Neuroimaging, targeted disruptions, and neurophysiological studies link an anterior cingulate - 47/12o circuit to generation of exploratory behaviour, non-instrumental information seeking, and interpretation of subsequent feedback in the service of credit assignment. Our observations support the idea that information seeking and credit assignment are linked at the level of neural circuits and explain why this circuit is important for ensuring behaviour is flexible and adaptive.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilya E Monosov
- Department of Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.
- Department of Neurosurgery, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.
- Pain Center, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.
| | - Matthew F S Rushworth
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN), Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
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13
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Traner MR, Bromberg-Martin ES, Monosov IE. How the value of the environment controls persistence in visual search. PLoS Comput Biol 2021; 17:e1009662. [PMID: 34905548 PMCID: PMC8714092 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009662] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2021] [Revised: 12/28/2021] [Accepted: 11/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Classic foraging theory predicts that humans and animals aim to gain maximum reward per unit time. However, in standard instrumental conditioning tasks individuals adopt an apparently suboptimal strategy: they respond slowly when the expected value is low. This reward-related bias is often explained as reduced motivation in response to low rewards. Here we present evidence this behavior is associated with a complementary increased motivation to search the environment for alternatives. We trained monkeys to search for reward-related visual targets in environments with different values. We found that the reward-related bias scaled with environment value, was consistent with persistent searching after the target was already found, and was associated with increased exploratory gaze to objects in the environment. A novel computational model of foraging suggests that this search strategy could be adaptive in naturalistic settings where both environments and the objects within them provide partial information about hidden, uncertain rewards.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael R. Traner
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America
| | - Ethan S. Bromberg-Martin
- Department of Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America
| | - Ilya E. Monosov
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America
- Department of Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America
- Department of Neurosurgery, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America
- Pain Center, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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14
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Anderson BA, Kim H, Kim AJ, Liao MR, Mrkonja L, Clement A, Grégoire L. The past, present, and future of selection history. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 130:326-350. [PMID: 34499927 PMCID: PMC8511179 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.09.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2021] [Revised: 07/08/2021] [Accepted: 09/02/2021] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
The last ten years of attention research have witnessed a revolution, replacing a theoretical dichotomy (top-down vs. bottom-up control) with a trichotomy (biased by current goals, physical salience, and selection history). This third new mechanism of attentional control, selection history, is multifaceted. Some aspects of selection history must be learned over time whereas others reflect much more transient influences. A variety of different learning experiences can shape the attention system, including reward, aversive outcomes, past experience searching for a target, target‒non-target relations, and more. In this review, we provide an overview of the historical forces that led to the proposal of selection history as a distinct mechanism of attentional control. We then propose a formal definition of selection history, with concrete criteria, and identify different components of experience-driven attention that fit within this definition. The bulk of the review is devoted to exploring how these different components relate to one another. We conclude by proposing an integrative account of selection history centered on underlying themes that emerge from our review.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian A Anderson
- Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, United States.
| | - Haena Kim
- Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, United States
| | - Andy J Kim
- Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, United States
| | - Ming-Ray Liao
- Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, United States
| | - Lana Mrkonja
- Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, United States
| | - Andrew Clement
- Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, United States
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15
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Jezzini A, Bromberg-Martin ES, Trambaiolli LR, Haber SN, Monosov IE. A prefrontal network integrates preferences for advance information about uncertain rewards and punishments. Neuron 2021; 109:2339-2352.e5. [PMID: 34118190 PMCID: PMC8298287 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2021.05.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2021] [Revised: 03/30/2021] [Accepted: 05/10/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Humans and animals can be strongly motivated to seek information to resolve uncertainty about rewards and punishments. In particular, despite its clinical and societal relevance, very little is known about information seeking about punishments. We show that attitudes toward information about punishments and rewards are distinct and separable at both behavioral and neuronal levels. We demonstrate the existence of prefrontal neuronal populations that anticipate opportunities to gain information in a relatively valence-specific manner, separately anticipating information about either punishments or rewards. These neurons are located in anatomically interconnected subregions of anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) in area 12o/47. Unlike ACC, vlPFC also contains a population of neurons that integrate attitudes toward both reward and punishment information, to encode the overall preference for information in a bivalent manner. This cortical network is well suited to mediate information seeking by integrating the desire to resolve uncertainty about multiple, distinct motivational outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ahmad Jezzini
- Department of Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Ethan S Bromberg-Martin
- Department of Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Lucas R Trambaiolli
- Basic Neuroscience, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Belmont, MA 02478, USA
| | - Suzanne N Haber
- Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA; Basic Neuroscience, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Belmont, MA 02478, USA
| | - Ilya E Monosov
- Department of Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA; Department of Electrical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA; Department of Neurosurgery School of Medicine, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA; Pain Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
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16
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Domínguez-Zamora FJ, Marigold DS. Motives driving gaze and walking decisions. Curr Biol 2021; 31:1632-1642.e4. [PMID: 33600769 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.01.069] [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: 07/13/2020] [Revised: 10/01/2020] [Accepted: 01/20/2021] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
To navigate complex environments, people must decide how to direct gaze to acquire relevant information and decide where, when, and how to move the body. Recent work supports the idea that gaze may be directed to reduce task-relevant environmental uncertainty and to ensure movement accuracy based on the cost (or effort) to move the body and maintain balance. During walking, these two factors may compete for gaze allocation and explain how we make decisions about where to step. Using a forced-choice walking paradigm, where we manipulated the visual uncertainty (simulating uncertain terrain characteristics) and motor cost associated with specific step-target choices, we examined the motives driving gaze and step decisions. We characterized each individual's distinct gaze behavior based on their sensitivity to changes in visual uncertainty, which predicted step-choice behavior when foot-placement accuracy was important to the task. We show that individuals who tended to look at both target choices as visual uncertainty increased prioritized stepping onto the more certain location after looking at it longer, even at the expense of increased motor cost. In contrast, individuals who tended to look at only one of the target choices as visual uncertainty increased preferred to step on the target that minimized motor cost. Overall, we demonstrate that how a person explores the environment with their eyes dictates where they step. These gaze and step decisions may relate to the value a person assigns to information gain, being certain of their actions, and conserving energy.
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Affiliation(s)
- F Javier Domínguez-Zamora
- Department of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada
| | - Daniel S Marigold
- Department of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada.
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17
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Abstract
A central tenet in theoretical work on metacognition is that retrieval experiences during memory search can exert control over behaviour. States of curiosity, which reflect motivational tendencies to seek out information, may play a critical role in this control function. We conducted two experiments to address this idea, focusing on links between feeling-of knowing (FOK) experiences, memory-search duration, and subsequent information-seeking behaviour. We administered an episodic FOK paradigm that probed memory for previously studied face-name pairs, and subsequently provided an opportunity to select limited pairs for restudy. This set-up allowed us to test whether current search duration and subsequent restudy choices are biased towards items with high FOK ratings. Results revealed a positive relationship between FOK ratings and the response times of these judgements. We observed a similar positive relationship between FOK ratings and subsequent item selection for restudy. Moreover, experimental manipulations of FOK ratings based on familiarity of the face cues also had parallel effects. Our findings suggest that metacognitive experiences during unsuccessful retrieval from episodic memory can induce states of curiosity that shape behaviour beyond the immediate retrieval context. Curiosity may act as a bond to ensure that memory gaps identified through unsuccessful retrieval adaptively guide future learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gregory Brooks
- The Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.,Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
| | - Haopei Yang
- The Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.,Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
| | - Stefan Köhler
- The Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.,Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.,Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre, Toronto, Canada
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18
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Abstract
When presented with a set of possible reach targets, the movement trajectory can reveal aspects of the underlying competition for action selection. Current goals and physical salience can affect the trajectory of reaching movements to be attracted towards a distractor. Some studies demonstrated that stimuli associated with reward can also cause an attraction when reaching towards the reward stimulus was previously rewarded and the reward stimulus was physically salient. Here we demonstrate that a non-salient stimulus that signals the availability of reward attracts reaching movements even when moving towards it was never necessary nor rewarded. Moreover, the attraction by reward is particularly evident with short-latency movements. We conclude that neither physical salience nor reinforcing the movement towards a stimulus is necessary for reward to gain priority in the selection for action.
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19
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Hunters, busybodies and the knowledge network building associated with deprivation curiosity. Nat Hum Behav 2020; 5:327-336. [PMID: 33257879 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-020-00985-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2019] [Accepted: 09/24/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The open-ended and internally driven nature of curiosity makes characterizing the information seeking that accompanies it a daunting endeavour. We use a historico-philosophical taxonomy of information seeking coupled with a knowledge network building framework to capture styles of information-seeking in 149 participants as they explore Wikipedia for over 5 hours spanning 21 days. We create knowledge networks in which nodes represent distinct concepts and edges represent the similarity between concepts. We quantify the tightness of knowledge networks using graph theoretical indices and use a generative model of network growth to explore mechanisms underlying information-seeking. Deprivation curiosity (the tendency to seek information that eliminates knowledge gaps) is associated with the creation of relatively tight networks and a relatively greater tendency to return to previously visited concepts. With this framework in hand, future research can readily quantify the information seeking associated with curiosity.
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20
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Taghizadeh B, Foley NC, Karimimehr S, Cohanpour M, Semework M, Sheth SA, Lashgari R, Gottlieb J. Reward uncertainty asymmetrically affects information transmission within the monkey fronto-parietal network. Commun Biol 2020; 3:594. [PMID: 33087809 PMCID: PMC7578031 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-020-01320-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2020] [Accepted: 09/25/2020] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
A central hypothesis in research on executive function is that controlled information processing is costly and is allocated according to the behavioral benefits it brings. However, while computational theories predict that the benefits of new information depend on prior uncertainty, the cellular effects of uncertainty on the executive network are incompletely understood. Using simultaneous recordings in monkeys, we describe several mechanisms by which the fronto-parietal network reacts to uncertainty. We show that the variance of expected rewards, independently of the value of the rewards, was encoded in single neuron and population spiking activity and local field potential (LFP) oscillations, and, importantly, asymmetrically affected fronto-parietal information transmission (measured through the coherence between spikes and LFPs). Higher uncertainty selectively enhanced information transmission from the parietal to the frontal lobe and suppressed it in the opposite direction, consistent with Bayesian principles that prioritize sensory information according to a decision maker’s prior uncertainty. Bahareh Taghizadeh and Nicholas Foley et al. show that individual neuronal responses, population spiking activity, and local field potential oscillations encode the variance of expected rewards independent of their value. They also demonstrate that reward uncertainty asymmetrically affects neuronal transmission within the monkey fronto-parietal network.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bahareh Taghizadeh
- Brain Engineering Research Center, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, Tehran, Iran.,School of Cognitive Sciences, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Nicholas C Foley
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.,Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Saeed Karimimehr
- Brain Engineering Research Center, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, Tehran, Iran.,School of Cognitive Sciences, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Michael Cohanpour
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.,Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Mulugeta Semework
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.,Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Sameer A Sheth
- Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Reza Lashgari
- Brain Engineering Research Center, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, Tehran, Iran.,Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Jacqueline Gottlieb
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. .,Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. .,The Kavli Institute for Brain Science, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
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21
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22
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Gottlieb J, Cohanpour M, Li Y, Singletary N, Zabeh E. Curiosity, information demand and attentional priority. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2020.07.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
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23
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Monosov IE. How Outcome Uncertainty Mediates Attention, Learning, and Decision-Making. Trends Neurosci 2020; 43:795-809. [PMID: 32736849 PMCID: PMC8153236 DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2020.06.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2020] [Revised: 06/16/2020] [Accepted: 06/24/2020] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Animals and humans evolved sophisticated nervous systems that endowed them with the ability to form internal-models or beliefs and make predictions about the future to survive and flourish in a world in which future outcomes are often uncertain. Crucial to this capacity is the ability to adjust behavioral and learning policies in response to the level of uncertainty. Until recently, the neuronal mechanisms that could underlie such uncertainty-guided control have been largely unknown. In this review, I discuss newly discovered neuronal circuits in primates that represent uncertainty about future rewards and propose how they guide information-seeking, attention, decision-making, and learning to help us survive in an uncertain world. Lastly, I discuss the possible relevance of these findings to learning in artificial systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilya E Monosov
- Department of Neuroscience and Neurosurgery, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO, USA; Washington University Pain Center, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO, USA.
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24
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Abstract
Humans and animals navigate uncertain environments by seeking information about the future. Remarkably, we often seek information even when it has no instrumental value for aiding our decisions - as if the information is a source of value in its own right. In recent years, there has been a flourishing of research into these non-instrumental information preferences and their implementation in the brain. Individuals value information about uncertain future rewards, and do so for multiple reasons, including valuing resolution of uncertainty and overweighting desirable information. The brain motivates this information seeking by tapping into some of the same circuitry as primary rewards like food and water. However, it also employs cortex and basal ganglia circuitry that predicts and values information as distinct from primary reward. Uncovering how these circuits cooperate will be fundamental to understanding information seeking and motivated behavior as a whole, in our increasingly complex and information-rich world.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ilya E Monosov
- Department of Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.,Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.,Department of Neurosurgery, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.,Pain Center, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA
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25
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Iigaya K, Hauser TU, Kurth-Nelson Z, O’Doherty JP, Dayan P, Dolan RJ. The value of what's to come: Neural mechanisms coupling prediction error and the utility of anticipation. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2020; 6:eaba3828. [PMID: 32596456 PMCID: PMC7304967 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aba3828] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2019] [Accepted: 05/07/2020] [Indexed: 05/02/2023]
Abstract
Having something to look forward to is a keystone of well-being. Anticipation of future reward, such as an upcoming vacation, can often be more gratifying than the experience itself. Theories suggest the utility of anticipation underpins various behaviors, ranging from beneficial information-seeking to harmful addiction. However, how neural systems compute anticipatory utility remains unclear. We analyzed the brain activity of human participants as they performed a task involving choosing whether to receive information predictive of future pleasant outcomes. Using a computational model, we show three brain regions orchestrate anticipatory utility. Specifically, ventromedial prefrontal cortex tracks the value of anticipatory utility, dopaminergic midbrain correlates with information that enhances anticipation, while sustained hippocampal activity mediates a functional coupling between these regions. Our findings suggest a previously unidentified neural underpinning for anticipation's influence over decision-making and unify a range of phenomena associated with risk and time-delay preference.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kiyohito Iigaya
- Max-Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, 10-12 Russell Square, London WC1B 5EH, UK
- Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, University College London, 25 Howland Street, London W1T 4JG, UK
- Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E California Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Tobias U. Hauser
- Max-Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, 10-12 Russell Square, London WC1B 5EH, UK
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, 12 Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK
| | - Zeb Kurth-Nelson
- Max-Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, 10-12 Russell Square, London WC1B 5EH, UK
- Deepmind, 6 Pancras Square, London N1C 4AG, UK
| | - John P. O’Doherty
- Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E California Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Peter Dayan
- Max-Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, 10-12 Russell Square, London WC1B 5EH, UK
- Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, University College London, 25 Howland Street, London W1T 4JG, UK
- Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, 72076 Tubingen, Germany
- University of Tübingen, 72074 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Raymond J. Dolan
- Max-Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, 10-12 Russell Square, London WC1B 5EH, UK
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, 12 Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK
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26
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Lau JKL, Ozono H, Kuratomi K, Komiya A, Murayama K. Shared striatal activity in decisions to satisfy curiosity and hunger at the risk of electric shocks. Nat Hum Behav 2020; 4:531-543. [PMID: 32231281 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-020-0848-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2018] [Accepted: 03/02/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Curiosity is often portrayed as a desirable feature of human faculty. However, curiosity may come at a cost that sometimes puts people in harmful situations. Here, using a set of behavioural and neuroimaging experiments with stimuli that strongly trigger curiosity (for example, magic tricks), we examine the psychological and neural mechanisms underlying the motivational effect of curiosity. We consistently demonstrate that across different samples, people are indeed willing to gamble, subjecting themselves to electric shocks to satisfy their curiosity for trivial knowledge that carries no apparent instrumental value. Also, this influence of curiosity shares common neural mechanisms with that of hunger for food. In particular, we show that acceptance (compared to rejection) of curiosity-driven or incentive-driven gambles is accompanied by enhanced activity in the ventral striatum when curiosity or hunger was elicited, which extends into the dorsal striatum when participants made a decision.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johnny King L Lau
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK.
| | - Hiroki Ozono
- Faculty of Law, Economics and Humanities, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima, Japan
| | - Kei Kuratomi
- Faculty of Psychology, Aichi Shukutoku University, Nagakute, Japan
| | - Asuka Komiya
- Graduate School of Integrated Arts and Sciences, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan
| | - Kou Murayama
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK. .,Research Institute, Kochi University of Technology, Kochi, Japan.
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27
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Gruber MJ, Ranganath C. How Curiosity Enhances Hippocampus-Dependent Memory: The Prediction, Appraisal, Curiosity, and Exploration (PACE) Framework. Trends Cogn Sci 2019; 23:1014-1025. [PMID: 31706791 PMCID: PMC6891259 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2019.10.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 96] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2018] [Revised: 09/06/2019] [Accepted: 10/07/2019] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Curiosity plays a fundamental role for learning and memory, but the neural mechanisms that stimulate curiosity and its effect on memory are poorly understood. Accumulating evidence suggests that curiosity states are related to modulations in activity in the dopaminergic circuit and that these modulations impact memory encoding and consolidation for both targets of curiosity and incidental information encountered during curiosity states. To account for this evidence, we propose the Prediction, Appraisal, Curiosity, and Exploration (PACE) framework, which attempts to explain curiosity and memory in terms of cognitive processes, neural circuits, behavior, and subjective experience. The PACE framework generates testable predictions that can stimulate future investigation of the mechanisms underlying curiosity-related memory enhancements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthias J Gruber
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
| | - Charan Ranganath
- Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA; Psychology Department, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
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28
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Gold BP, Pearce MT, Mas-Herrero E, Dagher A, Zatorre RJ. Predictability and Uncertainty in the Pleasure of Music: A Reward for Learning? J Neurosci 2019; 39:9397-9409. [PMID: 31636112 PMCID: PMC6867811 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0428-19.2019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2019] [Revised: 09/30/2019] [Accepted: 10/01/2019] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Music ranks among the greatest human pleasures. It consistently engages the reward system, and converging evidence implies it exploits predictions to do so. Both prediction confirmations and errors are essential for understanding one's environment, and music offers many of each as it manipulates interacting patterns across multiple timescales. Learning models suggest that a balance of these outcomes (i.e., intermediate complexity) optimizes the reduction of uncertainty to rewarding and pleasurable effect. Yet evidence of a similar pattern in music is mixed, hampered by arbitrary measures of complexity. In the present studies, we applied a well-validated information-theoretic model of auditory expectation to systematically measure two key aspects of musical complexity: predictability (operationalized as information content [IC]), and uncertainty (entropy). In Study 1, we evaluated how these properties affect musical preferences in 43 male and female participants; in Study 2, we replicated Study 1 in an independent sample of 27 people and assessed the contribution of veridical predictability by presenting the same stimuli seven times. Both studies revealed significant quadratic effects of IC and entropy on liking that outperformed linear effects, indicating reliable preferences for music of intermediate complexity. An interaction between IC and entropy further suggested preferences for more predictability during more uncertain contexts, which would facilitate uncertainty reduction. Repeating stimuli decreased liking ratings but did not disrupt the preference for intermediate complexity. Together, these findings support long-hypothesized optimal zones of predictability and uncertainty in musical pleasure with formal modeling, relating the pleasure of music listening to the intrinsic reward of learning.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Abstract pleasures, such as music, claim much of our time, energy, and money despite lacking any clear adaptive benefits like food or shelter. Yet as music manipulates patterns of melody, rhythm, and more, it proficiently exploits our expectations. Given the importance of anticipating and adapting to our ever-changing environments, making and evaluating uncertain predictions can have strong emotional effects. Accordingly, we present evidence that listeners consistently prefer music of intermediate predictive complexity, and that preferences shift toward expected musical outcomes in more uncertain contexts. These results are consistent with theories that emphasize the intrinsic reward of learning, both by updating inaccurate predictions and validating accurate ones, which is optimal in environments that present manageable predictive challenges (i.e., reducible uncertainty).
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin P Gold
- Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2B4, Canada,
- International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research, Montreal, Quebec H2V 2J2, Canada
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1E3, Canada
| | - Marcus T Pearce
- Cognitive Science Research Group, School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, United Kingdom, and
- Centre for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University, Aarhus 8000, Denmark
| | - Ernest Mas-Herrero
- Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2B4, Canada
| | - Alain Dagher
- Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2B4, Canada
| | - Robert J Zatorre
- Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2B4, Canada
- International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research, Montreal, Quebec H2V 2J2, Canada
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1E3, Canada
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29
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Abstract
Humans and other animals often show a strong desire to know the uncertain rewards their future has in store, even when they cannot use this information to influence the outcome. However, it is unknown how the brain predicts opportunities to gain information and motivates this information-seeking behavior. Here we show that neurons in a network of interconnected subregions of primate anterior cingulate cortex and basal ganglia predict the moment of gaining information about uncertain rewards. Spontaneous increases in their information prediction signals are followed by gaze shifts toward objects associated with resolving uncertainty, and pharmacologically disrupting this network reduces the motivation to seek information. These findings demonstrate a cortico-basal ganglia mechanism responsible for motivating actions to resolve uncertainty by seeking knowledge about the future. Animals resolve uncertainty by seeking knowledge about the future. How the brain controls this is unclear. The authors show that a network including primate anterior cingulate cortex and basal ganglia encodes opportunities to gain information about uncertain rewards and mediates information seeking.
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30
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Kobayashi K, Ravaioli S, Baranès A, Woodford M, Gottlieb J. Diverse motives for human curiosity. Nat Hum Behav 2019; 3:587-595. [PMID: 30988479 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-019-0589-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 78] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2018] [Accepted: 03/12/2019] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Curiosity-our desire to know-is a fundamental drive in human behaviour, but its mechanisms are poorly understood. A classical question concerns the curiosity motives. What drives individuals to become curious about some but not other sources of information?1 Here we show that curiosity about probabilistic events depends on multiple aspects of the distribution of these events. Participants (n = 257) performed a task in which they could demand advance information about only one of two randomly selected monetary prizes that contributed to their income. Individuals differed markedly in the extent to which they requested information as a function of the ex ante uncertainty or ex ante value of an individual prize. This heterogeneity was not captured by theoretical models describing curiosity as a desire to learn about the total rewards of a situation2,3. Instead, it could be explained by an extended model that allowed for attribute-specific anticipatory utility-the savouring of individual components of the eventual reward-and postulates that this utility increased nonlinearly with the certainty of receiving the reward. Parameter values fitting individual choices were consistent for information about gains or losses, suggesting that attribute-specific anticipatory utility captures fundamental heterogeneity in the determinants of curiosity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kenji Kobayashi
- The Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Silvio Ravaioli
- Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.,Department of Economics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Adrien Baranès
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | | | - Jacqueline Gottlieb
- The Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.,Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.,The Kavli Institute for Brain Science, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
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Oemisch M, Westendorff S, Azimi M, Hassani SA, Ardid S, Tiesinga P, Womelsdorf T. Feature-specific prediction errors and surprise across macaque fronto-striatal circuits. Nat Commun 2019; 10:176. [PMID: 30635579 PMCID: PMC6329800 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-08184-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2018] [Accepted: 12/20/2018] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
To adjust expectations efficiently, prediction errors need to be associated with the precise features that gave rise to the unexpected outcome, but this credit assignment may be problematic if stimuli differ on multiple dimensions and it is ambiguous which feature dimension caused the outcome. Here, we report a potential solution: neurons in four recorded areas of the anterior fronto-striatal networks encode prediction errors that are specific to feature values of different dimensions of attended multidimensional stimuli. The most ubiquitous prediction error occurred for the reward-relevant dimension. Feature-specific prediction error signals a) emerge on average shortly after non-specific prediction error signals, b) arise earliest in the anterior cingulate cortex and later in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, caudate and ventral striatum, and c) contribute to feature-based stimulus selection after learning. Thus, a widely-distributed feature-specific eligibility trace may be used to update synaptic weights for improved feature-based attention. In order to adjust expectations efficiently, prediction errors need to be associated with the features that gave rise to the unexpected outcome. Here, the authors show that neurons in anterior fronto-striatal networks encode prediction errors that are specific to feature values of different stimulus dimensions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariann Oemisch
- Department of Biology, Centre for Vision Research, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON, M6J 1P3, Canada. .,Department of Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA.
| | - Stephanie Westendorff
- Department of Biology, Centre for Vision Research, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON, M6J 1P3, Canada.,Institute of Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, 72076, Germany
| | - Marzyeh Azimi
- Department of Biology, Centre for Vision Research, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON, M6J 1P3, Canada
| | - Seyed Alireza Hassani
- Department of Biology, Centre for Vision Research, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON, M6J 1P3, Canada.,Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37240, USA
| | - Salva Ardid
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA
| | - Paul Tiesinga
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, 6525 EN, Netherlands
| | - Thilo Womelsdorf
- Department of Biology, Centre for Vision Research, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON, M6J 1P3, Canada. .,Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37240, USA.
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33
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Hunt LT, Malalasekera WMN, de Berker AO, Miranda B, Farmer SF, Behrens TEJ, Kennerley SW. Triple dissociation of attention and decision computations across prefrontal cortex. Nat Neurosci 2018; 21:1471-1481. [PMID: 30258238 PMCID: PMC6331040 DOI: 10.1038/s41593-018-0239-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 96] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2017] [Accepted: 08/11/2018] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
Naturalistic decision-making typically involves sequential deployment of attention to choice alternatives to gather information before a decision is made. Attention filters how information enters decision circuits, thus implying that attentional control may shape how decision computations unfold. We recorded neuronal activity from three subregions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) while monkeys performed an attention-guided decision-making task. From the first saccade to decision-relevant information, a triple dissociation of decision- and attention-related computations emerged in parallel across PFC subregions. During subsequent saccades, orbitofrontal cortex activity reflected the value comparison between currently and previously attended information. In contrast, the anterior cingulate cortex carried several signals reflecting belief updating in light of newly attended information, the integration of evidence to a decision bound and an emerging plan for what action to choose. Our findings show how anatomically dissociable PFC representations evolve during attention-guided information search, supporting computations critical for value-guided choice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laurence T Hunt
- Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK.
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, UK.
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
- Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK.
| | | | - Archy O de Berker
- Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, UK
| | - Bruno Miranda
- Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK
- International Neuroscience Doctoral Programme, Champalimaud Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal
- Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Simon F Farmer
- Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK
| | - Timothy E J Behrens
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, UK
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Steven W Kennerley
- Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK.
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Rich EL, Stoll FM, Rudebeck PH. Linking dynamic patterns of neural activity in orbitofrontal cortex with decision making. Curr Opin Neurobiol 2018; 49:24-32. [PMID: 29169086 PMCID: PMC5889957 DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2017.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2017] [Revised: 10/30/2017] [Accepted: 11/04/2017] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Humans and animals demonstrate extraordinary flexibility in choice behavior, particularly when deciding based on subjective preferences. We evaluate options on different scales, deliberate, and often change our minds. Little is known about the neural mechanisms that underlie these dynamic aspects of decision-making, although neural activity in orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) likely plays a central role. Recent evidence from studies in macaques shows that attention modulates value responses in OFC, and that ensembles of OFC neurons dynamically signal different options during choices. When contexts change, these ensembles flexibly remap to encode the new task. Determining how these dynamic patterns emerge and relate to choices will inform models of decision-making and OFC function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erin L Rich
- Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY 10014, USA.
| | - Frederic M Stoll
- Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY 10014, USA
| | - Peter H Rudebeck
- Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY 10014, USA.
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Gottlieb J. Understanding active sampling strategies: Empirical approaches and implications for attention and decision research. Cortex 2017; 102:150-160. [PMID: 28919222 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2017.08.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2017] [Revised: 08/01/2017] [Accepted: 08/14/2017] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
In natural behavior we actively gather information using attention and active sensing behaviors (such as shifts of gaze) to sample relevant cues. However, while attention and decision making are naturally coordinated, in the laboratory they have been dissociated. Attention is studied independently of the actions it serves. Conversely, decision theories make the simplifying assumption that the relevant information is given, and do not attempt to describe how the decision maker may learn and implement active sampling policies. In this paper I review recent studies that address questions of attentional learning, cue validity and information seeking in humans and non-human primates. These studies suggest that learning a sampling policy involves large scale interactions between networks of attention and valuation, which implement these policies based on reward maximization, uncertainty reduction and the intrinsic utility of cognitive states. I discuss the importance of using such paradigms for formalizing the role of attention, as well as devising more realistic theories of decision making that capture a broader range of empirical observations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacqueline Gottlieb
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, USA; Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, USA.
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Abstract
Investigation of natural behavior has contributed a number of insights to our understanding of visual guidance of actions by highlighting the importance of behavioral goals and focusing attention on how vision and action play out in time. In this context, humans make continuous sequences of sensory-motor decisions to satisfy current behavioral goals, and the role of vision is to provide the relevant information for making good decisions in order to achieve those goals. This conceptualization of visually guided actions as a sequence of sensory-motor decisions has been formalized within the framework of statistical decision theory, which structures the problem and provides the context for much recent progress in vision and action. Components of a good decision include the task, which defines the behavioral goals, the rewards and costs associated with those goals, uncertainty about the state of the world, and prior knowledge.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary M Hayhoe
- Center for Perceptual Systems, University of Texas at Austin, Texas 78712;
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Abstract
In natural behavior, animals have access to multiple sources of information, but only a few of these sources are relevant for learning and actions. Beyond choosing an appropriate action, making good decisions entails the ability to choose the relevant information, but fundamental questions remain about the brain's information sampling policies. Recent studies described the neural correlates of seeking information about a reward, but it remains unknown whether, and how, neurons encode choices of instrumental information, in contexts in which the information guides subsequent actions. Here we show that parietal cortical neurons involved in oculomotor decisions encode, before an information sampling saccade, the reduction in uncertainty that the saccade is expected to bring for a subsequent action. These responses were distinct from the neurons' visual and saccadic modulations and from signals of expected reward or reward prediction errors. Therefore, even in an instrumental context when information and reward gains are closely correlated, individual cells encode decision variables that are based on informational factors and can guide the active sampling of action-relevant cues.
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White JK, Monosov IE. Neurons in the primate dorsal striatum signal the uncertainty of object-reward associations. Nat Commun 2016; 7:12735. [PMID: 27623750 PMCID: PMC5027277 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12735] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2016] [Accepted: 07/28/2016] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
To learn, obtain reward and survive, humans and other animals must monitor, approach and act on objects that are associated with variable or unknown rewards. However, the neuronal mechanisms that mediate behaviours aimed at uncertain objects are poorly understood. Here we demonstrate that a set of neurons in an internal-capsule bordering regions of the primate dorsal striatum, within the putamen and caudate nucleus, signal the uncertainty of object–reward associations. Their uncertainty responses depend on the presence of objects associated with reward uncertainty and evolve rapidly as monkeys learn novel object–reward associations. Therefore, beyond its established role in mediating actions aimed at known or certain rewards, the dorsal striatum also participates in behaviours aimed at reward-uncertain objects. The dorsal striatum (DS) is a brain region that is thought to aim actions at certain or known rewards. Here, the authors show that an internal-capsule bordering region of the primate DS signals the uncertainty of object-reward associations, suggesting a novel role for the DS in behavior under uncertainty.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Kael White
- Department of Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S. Euclid Avenue, St Louis, Missouri 63110, USA
| | - Ilya E Monosov
- Department of Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S. Euclid Avenue, St Louis, Missouri 63110, USA
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Intrinsic Valuation of Information in Decision Making under Uncertainty. PLoS Comput Biol 2016; 12:e1005020. [PMID: 27416034 PMCID: PMC4944922 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2016] [Accepted: 06/14/2016] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
In a dynamic world, an accurate model of the environment is vital for survival, and agents ought regularly to seek out new information with which to update their world models. This aspect of behaviour is not captured well by classical theories of decision making, and the cognitive mechanisms of information seeking are poorly understood. In particular, it is not known whether information is valued only for its instrumental use, or whether humans also assign it a non-instrumental intrinsic value. To address this question, the present study assessed preference for non-instrumental information among 80 healthy participants in two experiments. Participants performed a novel information preference task in which they could choose to pay a monetary cost to receive advance information about the outcome of a monetary lottery. Importantly, acquiring information did not alter lottery outcome probabilities. We found that participants were willing to incur considerable monetary costs to acquire payoff-irrelevant information about the lottery outcome. This behaviour was well explained by a computational cognitive model in which information preference resulted from aversion to temporally prolonged uncertainty. These results strongly suggest that humans assign an intrinsic value to information in a manner inconsistent with normative accounts of decision making under uncertainty. This intrinsic value may be associated with adaptive behaviour in real-world environments by producing a bias towards exploratory and information-seeking behaviour. Acquiring information about the external world is vital for planning and decision making. However, recent research has shown that some animals choose to acquire information at considerable cost even when the information is of no practical benefit, a counter-intuitive behavior associated with suboptimal outcomes. In this study, we demonstrate that humans also engage in this suboptimal behavior by forfeiting future monetary reward in exchange for early but unusable information about future outcomes. Our results suggest that participants attach a value to information beyond its purely instrumental value. This preference for information may help account for apparent anomalies in human choice behavior such as compulsive checking behaviors in obsessive-compulsive disorder, and excessive and wasteful use of uninformative laboratory testing in hospitals.
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