Appetitive and aversive goal values are encoded in the medial orbitofrontal cortex at the time of decision making

Neural interactions in the human frontal cortex dissociate reward and punishment learning

How human prefrontal and insular regions interact while maximizing rewards and minimizing punishments is unknown. Capitalizing on human intracranial recordings, we demonstrate that the functional specificity toward reward or punishment learning is better disentangled by interactions compared to local representations. Prefrontal and insular cortices display non-selective neural populations to rewards and punishments. Non-selective responses, however, give rise to context-specific interareal interactions. We identify a reward subsystem with redundant interactions between the orbitofrontal and ventromedial prefrontal cortices, with a driving role of the latter. In addition, we find a punishment subsystem with redundant interactions between the insular and dorsolateral cortices, with a driving role of the insula. Finally, switching between reward and punishment learning is mediated by synergistic interactions between the two subsystems. These results provide a unifying explanation of distributed cortical representations and interactions supporting reward and punishment learning.

Neural correlates of willingness to pay for items: A meta-analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies

Willingness to pay (WTP) pervades every marketplace transaction, therefore, understanding how the brain makes bidding decisions is essential in consumer neuroscience. Although some neuroimaging studies have investigated the neural networks of WTP, systematic understanding remains limited. This study identified reliable neural networks activated by the WTP across different reward types and assessed common and distinct neural networks for different reward types (food and other) bids. We conducted an activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis on WTP across different reward types (25 studies; 254 foci; 705 participants), and to compared neural representations of WTP for food reward (22 studies; 232 foci; 628 participants) and other rewards (7 studies, 61 foci; 177 participants). The ALE results revealed that the brain centers of WTP for different rewards mainly consist of the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), bilateral insula, bilateral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), along with the left caudate. This suggests that neural networks encoding WTP for different rewards consist of brain regions associated with reward processing, cost-benefit calculations, and goal-directed action activities. In addition, consistent activation of the bilateral IFG and bilateral insula for food but no other rewards bids suggest their involvement in the neural network of appetite. WTP for food and other rewards commonly activated ACC, suggesting a common region encoding bids for different rewards. Our findings provide novel insights into neural networks associated with WTP for food and other rewards bids and the mechanisms underlying WTP across different reward types.

Systematic reduction of gray matter volume in anorexia nervosa, but relative enlargement with clinical symptoms in the prefrontal and posterior insular cortices: a multicenter neuroimaging study

Although brain morphological abnormalities have been reported in anorexia nervosa (AN), the reliability and reproducibility of previous studies were limited due to insufficient sample sizes, which prevented exploratory analysis of the whole brain as opposed to regions of interest (ROIs). Objective was to identify brain morphological abnormalities in AN and the association with severity of AN by brain structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a multicenter study, and to conduct exploratory analysis of the whole brain. Here, we conducted a cross-sectional multicenter study using T1-weighted imaging (T1WI) data collected between May 2014 and February 2019 in Japan. We analyzed MRI data from 103 female AN patients (58 anorexia nervosa restricting type [ANR] and 45 anorexia nervosa binge-purging type [ANBP]) and 102 age-matched female healthy controls (HC). MRI data from five centers were preprocessed using the latest harmonization method to correct for intercenter differences. Gray matter volume (GMV) was calculated from T1WI data of all participants. Of the 205 participants, we obtained severity of eating disorder symptom scores from 179 participants, including 87 in the AN group (51 ANR, 36 ANBP) and 92 HC using the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) 6.0. GMV reduction were observed in the AN brain, including the bilateral cerebellum, middle and posterior cingulate gyrus, supplementary motor cortex, precentral gyrus medial segment, and thalamus. In addition, the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), rostral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and posterior insula volumes showed positive correlations with severity of symptoms. This multicenter study was conducted with a large sample size to identify brain morphological abnormalities in AN. The findings provide a better understanding of the pathogenesis of AN and have potential for the development of brain imaging biomarkers of AN. Trial Registration: UMIN000017456. https://center6.umin.ac.jp/cgi-open-bin/icdr/ctr_view.cgi?recptno=R000019303 .

Changes in distinct brain systems identified with fMRI during smoking cessation treatment with varenicline: a review

BACKGROUND

Varenicline is considered one of the most effective treatment options for smoking cessation. Nonetheless, it is only modestly effective. A deeper comprehension of the effects of varenicline by means of the in-depth review of relevant fMRI studies may assist in paving the development of more targeted and effective treatments.

METHODOLOGY

A search of PubMed and Google Scholar databases was conducted with the keywords "functional magnetic resonance imaging" or "fMRI", and "varenicline". All peer-reviewed articles regarding the assessment of smokers with fMRI while undergoing treatment with varenicline and meeting the predefined criteria were included.

RESULTS

Several studies utilizing different methodologies and targeting different aspects of brain function were identified. During nicotine withdrawal, decreased mesocorticolimbic activity and increased amygdala activity, as well as elevated amygdala-insula and insula-default-mode-network functional connectivity are alleviated by varenicline under specific testing conditions. However, other nicotine withdrawal-induced changes, including the decreased reward responsivity of the ventral striatum, the bilateral dorsal striatum and the anterior cingulate cortex are not influenced by varenicline suggesting a task-dependent divergence in neurocircuitry activation. Under satiety, varenicline treatment is associated with diminished cue-induced activation of the ventral striatum and medial orbitofrontal cortex concomitant with reduced cravings; during the resting state, varenicline induces activation of the lateral orbitofrontal cortex and suppression of the right amygdala.

CONCLUSIONS

The current review provides important clues with regard to the neurobiological mechanism of action of varenicline and highlights promising research opportunities regarding the development of more selective and effective treatments and predictive biomarkers for treatment efficacy.

Dimensional emotions are represented by distinct topographical brain networks

The ability to recognize others' facial emotions has become increasingly important after the COVID-19 pandemic, which causes stressful situations in emotion regulation. Considering the importance of emotion in maintaining a social life, emotion knowledge to perceive and label emotions of oneself and others requires an understanding of affective dimensions, such as emotional valence and emotional arousal. However, limited information is available about whether the behavioral representation of affective dimensions is similar to their neural representation. To explore the relationship between the brain and behavior in the representational geometries of affective dimensions, we constructed a behavioral paradigm in which emotional faces were categorized into geometric spaces along the valence, arousal, and valence and arousal dimensions. Moreover, we compared such representations to neural representations of the faces acquired by functional magnetic resonance imaging. We found that affective dimensions were similarly represented in the behavior and brain. Specifically, behavioral and neural representations of valence were less similar to those of arousal. We also found that valence was represented in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, frontal eye fields, precuneus, and early visual cortex, whereas arousal was represented in the cingulate gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, orbitofrontal cortex, fusiform gyrus, and early visual cortex. In conclusion, the current study suggests that dimensional emotions are similarly represented in the behavior and brain and are presented with differential topographical organizations in the brain.

A calculus of probability or belief? Neural underpinnings of social decision-making in a card game

For decades, the prefrontal cortex (PFC) has been the focus of social neuroscience research, specifically regarding its role in competitive social decision-making. However, the distinct contributions of PFC subregions when making strategic decisions involving multiple types of information (social, non-social, and mixed information) remain unclear. This study investigates decision-making strategies (pure probability calculation vs. mentalizing) and their neural representations using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) data collected during a two-person card game. We observed individual differences in information processing strategy, indicating that some participants relied more on probability than others. Overall, the use of pure probability decreased over time in favor of other types of information (e.g., mixed information), with this effect being more pronounced within-round trials than across rounds. In the brain, (1) the lateral PFC activates when decisions are driven by probability calculations; (2) the right lateral PFC responds to trial difficulty; and (3) the anterior medial PFC is engaged when decision-making involves mentalizing. Furthermore, neural synchrony, which reflects the real-time interplay between individuals' cognitive processes, did not consistently contribute to correct decisions and fluctuated throughout the experiment, suggesting a hierarchical mentalizing mechanism at work.

Economic value in the Brain: A meta-analysis of willingness-to-pay using the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak auction

Forming and comparing subjective values (SVs) of choice options is a critical stage of decision-making. Previous studies have highlighted a complex network of brain regions involved in this process by utilising a diverse range of tasks and stimuli, varying in economic, hedonic and sensory qualities. However, the heterogeneity of tasks and sensory modalities may systematically confound the set of regions mediating the SVs of goods. To identify and delineate the core brain valuation system involved in processing SV, we utilised the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) auction, an incentivised demand-revealing mechanism which quantifies SV through the economic metric of willingness-to-pay (WTP). A coordinate-based activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis analysed twenty-four fMRI studies employing a BDM task (731 participants; 190 foci). Using an additional contrast analysis, we also investigated whether this encoding of SV would be invariant to the concurrency of auction task and fMRI recordings. A fail-safe number analysis was conducted to explore potential publication bias. WTP positively correlated with fMRI-BOLD activations in the left ventromedial prefrontal cortex with a sub-cluster extending into anterior cingulate cortex, bilateral ventral striatum, right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, right inferior frontal gyrus, and right anterior insula. Contrast analysis identified preferential engagement of the mentalizing-related structures in response to concurrent scanning. Together, our findings offer succinct empirical support for the core structures participating in the formation of SV, separate from the hedonic aspects of reward and evaluated in terms of WTP using BDM, and show the selective involvement of inhibition-related brain structures during active valuation.

Central Regulation of Eating Behaviors in Humans: Evidence from Functional Neuroimaging Studies

Neuroimaging has great potential to provide insight into the neural response to food stimuli. Remarkable advances have been made in understanding the neural activity underlying food perception, not only in normal eating but also in obesity, eating disorders, and disorders of gut-brain interaction in recent decades. In addition to the abnormal brain function in patients with eating disorders compared to healthy controls, new therapies, such as neurofeedback and neurostimulation techniques, have been developed that target the malfunctioning brain regions in patients with eating disorders based on the results of neuroimaging studies. In this review, we present an overview of early and more recent research on the central processing and regulation of eating behavior in healthy and patient populations. In order to better understand the relationship between the gut and the brain as well as the neural mechanisms underlying abnormal ingestive behaviors, we also provide suggestions for future directions to enhance our current methods used in food-related neuroimaging studies.

Strengths of social ties modulate brain computations for third-party punishment

Costly punishment of social norm transgressors by third-parties has been considered as a decisive stage in the evolution of human cooperation. An important facet of social relationship knowledge concerns the strength of the social ties between individuals, as measured by social distance. Yet, it is unclear how the enforcement of social norms is influenced by the social distance between a third-party and a norm violator at the behavioral and the brain system levels. Here, we investigated how social distance between punishers and norm-violators influences third-party punishment. Participants as third-party punished norm violators more severely as social distance between them increased. Using model-based fMRI, we disentangled key computations contributing to third-party punishment: inequity aversion, social distance between participant and norm violator and integration of the cost to punish with these signals. Inequity aversion increased activity in the anterior cingulate cortex and bilateral insula, and processing social distance engaged a bilateral fronto-parietal cortex brain network. These two brain signals and the cost to punish were integrated in a subjective value signal of sanctions that modulated activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Together, our results reveal the neurocomputational underpinnings of third-party punishment and how social distance modulates enforcement of social norms in humans.

Elucidating medial temporal and frontal lobe contributions to approach-avoidance conflict decision-making using functional MRI and the hierarchical drift diffusion model

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) has long been associated with arbitrating between approach and avoidance in the face of conflicting and uncertain motivational information, but recent work has also highlighted medial temporal lobe (MTL) involvement. It remains unclear, however, how the contributions of these regions differ in their resolution of conflict information and uncertainty. We designed an fMRI paradigm in which participants approached or avoided object pairs that differed by motivational conflict and outcome uncertainty (complete certainty vs. complete uncertainty). Behavioral data and decision-making parameters estimated using the hierarchical drift diffusion model revealed that participants' responding was driven by conflict rather than uncertainty. Our neural data suggest that PFC areas contribute to cognitive control during approach-avoidance conflict by potentially adjusting response caution and the strength of evidence generated towards either choice, with differential involvement of anterior cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The MTL, on the other hand, appears to contribute to evidence generation, with the hippocampus linked to evidence accumulation for stimuli. Although findings within perirhinal cortex were comparatively equivocal, some evidence suggests contributions to perceptual representations, particularly under conditions of threat. Our findings provide evidence that MTL and PFC regions may contribute uniquely to arbitrating approach-avoidance conflict.

Neural correlates of changing food choices while bypassing values

Current theories suggest that altering choices requires value modification. To investigate this, normal-weight female participants' food choices and values were tested before and after an approach-avoidance training (AAT), while neural activity was recorded during the choice task using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). During AAT, participants consistently approached low- while avoiding high-calorie food cues. AAT facilitated low-calorie food choices, leaving food values unchanged. Instead, we observed a shift in indifference points, indicating the decreased contribution of food values in food choices. Training-induced choice shifts were associated with increased activity in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). In contrast, the medial PFC activity was not changed. Additionally, PCC grey matter density predicted individual differences in training-induced functional changes, suggesting anatomic predispositions to training impact. Our findings demonstrate neural mechanisms underlying choice modulation independent of valuation-related processes, with substantial theoretical significance for decision-making frameworks and translational implications for health-related decisions resilient to value shifts.

The "(a)moral brain": When things go wrong

In the past decades, a growing interest of neuroscience on moral judgment and decision-making has shed new light on the neurobiological correlates of human morality. It is now understood that moral cognition relies on a complex integration of cognitive and affective information processes that implicate a widely distributed brain network. Moral cognition relies on the coordination of several domain-general processes, subserved by domain-general neural networks, rather than a specific moral cognition system subserved by a specific neural network. In this chapter, we will first briefly review what is currently known about the "moral brain," i.e., the network of brain regions consistently implicated in studies of moral cognition, which include decision-making, affective processing, mentalizing, and perspective-taking processing regions. We will then review the evidence of the impairments found in this network in individuals with psychopathy, a condition whose characteristics indicate profound disturbances in appropriate moral processing. We will present data from neuroimaging studies with forensic/clinical, general population, as well as child and adolescent samples, which seem to converge to support the notion that the moral dysfunction observed in individuals with psychopathy may stem from a disruption of affective components of moral processing rather than from an inability to compute moral judgments per se.

Model-based prioritization for acquiring protection

Protection often involves the capacity to prospectively plan the actions needed to mitigate harm. The computational architecture of decisions involving protection remains unclear, as well as whether these decisions differ from other beneficial prospective actions such as reward acquisition. Here we compare protection acquisition to reward acquisition and punishment avoidance to examine overlapping and distinct features across the three action types. Protection acquisition is positively valenced similar to reward. For both protection and reward, the more the actor gains, the more benefit. However, reward and protection occur in different contexts, with protection existing in aversive contexts. Punishment avoidance also occurs in aversive contexts, but differs from protection because punishment is negatively valenced and motivates avoidance. Across three independent studies (Total N = 600) we applied computational modeling to examine model-based reinforcement learning for protection, reward, and punishment in humans. Decisions motivated by acquiring protection evoked a higher degree of model-based control than acquiring reward or avoiding punishment, with no significant differences in learning rate. The context-valence asymmetry characteristic of protection increased deployment of flexible decision strategies, suggesting model-based control depends on the context in which outcomes are encountered as well as the valence of the outcome.

More complex than you might think: Neural representations of food reward value in obesity

Obesity reached pandemic proportions and weight-loss treatments are mostly ineffective. The level of brain activity in the reward circuitry is proposed to be proportionate to the reward value of food stimuli, and stronger in people with obesity. However, empirical evidence is inconsistent. This may be due to the double-sided nature of high caloric palatable foods: at once highly palatable and high in calories (unhealthy). This study hypothesizes that, viewing high caloric palatable foods, a hedonic attentional focus compared to a health and a neutral attentional focus elicits more activity in reward-related brain regions, mostly in people with obesity. Moreover, caloric content and food palatability can be decoded from multivoxel patterns of activity most accurately in people with obesity and in the corresponding attentional focus. During one fMRI-session, attentional focus (hedonic, health, neutral) was manipulated using a one-back task with individually tailored food stimuli in 32 healthy-weight people and 29 people with obesity. Univariate analyses (p < 0.05, FWE-corrected) showed that brain activity was not different for palatable vs. unpalatable foods, nor for high vs. low caloric foods. Instead, this was higher in the hedonic compared to the health and neutral attentional focus. Multivariate analyses (MVPA) (p < 0.05, FDR-corrected) showed that palatability and caloric content could be decoded above chance level, independently of either BMI or attentional focus. Thus, brain activity to visual food stimuli is neither proportionate to the reward value (palatability and/or caloric content), nor significantly moderated by BMI. Instead, it depends on people's attentional focus, and may reflect motivational salience. Furthermore, food palatability and caloric content are represented as patterns of brain activity, independently of BMI and attentional focus. So, food reward value is reflected in patterns, not levels, of brain activity.

Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex plays causal role in probability weighting during risky choice

In this study, we provide causal evidence that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) supports the computation of subjective value in choices under risk via its involvement in probability weighting. Following offline continuous theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation (cTBS) of the DLPFC subjects (N = 30, mean age 23.6, 56% females) completed a computerized task consisting of 96 binary lottery choice questions presented in random order. Using the hierarchical Bayesian modeling approach, we then estimated the structural parameters of risk preferences (the degree of risk aversion and the curvature of the probability weighting function) and analyzed the obtained posterior distributions to determine the effect of stimulation on model parameters. On a behavioral level, temporary downregulation of the left DLPFC excitability through cTBS decreased the likelihood of choosing an option with higher expected reward while the probability of choosing a riskier lottery did not significantly change. Modeling the stimulation effects on risk preference parameters showed anecdotal evidence as assessed by Bayes factors that probability weighting parameter increased after the left DLPFC TMS compared to sham.

Amygdala-cortical collaboration in reward learning and decision making

Adaptive reward-related decision making requires accurate prospective consideration of the specific outcome of each option and its current desirability. These mental simulations are informed by stored memories of the associative relationships that exist within an environment. In this review, I discuss recent investigations of the function of circuitry between the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and lateral (lOFC) and medial (mOFC) orbitofrontal cortex in the learning and use of associative reward memories. I draw conclusions from data collected using sophisticated behavioral approaches to diagnose the content of appetitive memory in combination with modern circuit dissection tools. I propose that, via their direct bidirectional connections, the BLA and OFC collaborate to help us encode detailed, outcome-specific, state-dependent reward memories and to use those memories to enable the predictions and inferences that support adaptive decision making. Whereas lOFC→BLA projections mediate the encoding of outcome-specific reward memories, mOFC→BLA projections regulate the ability to use these memories to inform reward pursuit decisions. BLA projections to lOFC and mOFC both contribute to using reward memories to guide decision making. The BLA→lOFC pathway mediates the ability to represent the identity of a specific predicted reward and the BLA→mOFC pathway facilitates understanding of the value of predicted events. Thus, I outline a neuronal circuit architecture for reward learning and decision making and provide new testable hypotheses as well as implications for both adaptive and maladaptive decision making.

Neural signals implicated in the processing of appetitive and aversive events in social and non-social contexts

In 2014, we participated in a special issue of Frontiers examining the neural processing of appetitive and aversive events. Specifically, we reviewed brain areas that contribute to the encoding of prediction errors and value versus salience, attention and motivation. Further, we described how we disambiguated these cognitive processes and their neural substrates by using paradigms that incorporate both appetitive and aversive stimuli. We described a circuit in which the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) signals expected value and the basolateral amygdala (BLA) encodes the salience and valence of both appetitive and aversive events. This information is integrated by the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and dopaminergic (DA) signaling in order to generate prediction and prediction error signals, which guide decision-making and learning via the dorsal striatum (DS). Lastly, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is monitoring actions and outcomes, and signals the need to engage attentional control in order to optimize behavioral output. Here, we expand upon this framework, and review our recent work in which within-task manipulations of both appetitive and aversive stimuli allow us to uncover the neural processes that contribute to the detection of outcomes delivered to a conspecific and behaviors in social contexts. Specifically, we discuss the involvement of single-unit firing in the ACC and DA signals in the NAc during the processing of appetitive and aversive events in both social and non-social contexts.

Value, Confidence, Deliberation: A Functional Partition of the Medial Prefrontal Cortex Demonstrated across Rating and Choice Tasks

Deciding about courses of action involves minimizing costs and maximizing benefits. Decision neuroscience studies have implicated both the ventral and dorsal medial PFC (vmPFC and dmPFC) in signaling goal value and action cost, but the precise functional role of these regions is still a matter of debate. Here, we suggest a more general functional partition that applies not only to decisions but also to judgments about goal value (expected reward) and action cost (expected effort). In this conceptual framework, cognitive representations related to options (reward value and effort cost) are dissociated from metacognitive representations (confidence and deliberation) related to solving the task (providing a judgment or making a choice). We used an original approach aimed at identifying consistencies across several preference tasks, from likeability ratings to binary decisions involving both attribute integration and option comparison. fMRI results in human male and female participants confirmed the vmPFC as a generic valuation system, its activity increasing with reward value and decreasing with effort cost. In contrast, more dorsal regions were not concerned with the valuation of options but with metacognitive variables, confidence being reflected in mPFC activity and deliberation time in dmPFC activity. Thus, there was a dissociation between the effort attached to choice options (represented in the vmPFC) and the effort invested in deliberation (represented in the dmPFC), the latter being expressed in pupil dilation. More generally, assessing commonalities across preference tasks might help in reaching a unified view of the neural mechanisms underlying the cost/benefit tradeoffs that drive human behavior.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Decision neuroscience studies have implicated the medial PFC in forming the cognitive representations that drive human choice behavior. However, different studies using different tasks have suggested somewhat inconsistent links between precise computational variables and specific brain regions. Here, we use fMRI to demonstrate a robust functional partition of the medial PFC that generalizes across tasks involving an estimation of goal value and/or action cost to provide a judgment or make a choice. This general functional partition makes a critical dissociation between neural representations of decisional factors (the expected costs and benefits attached to a given option) and metacognitive estimates (confidence in the judgment or choice, and effort invested in the deliberation process).

A systematic and meta-analytic review on the neural correlates of viewing high- and low-calorie foods among normal-weight adults

In the context of current-day online shopping, people select foods based on pictures and using their visual systems. Although there are some reviews of previous neuroimaging studies on appetitive behaviors, the findings on neural activation in response to pictures of high- and low-calorie foods seem inconsistent. This study aims to systematically review, integrate, and meta-analyze neuroimaging evidence of viewing high- and low-calorie foods. There were 25 samples from 24 studies, totalizing 489 normal-weight participants (311 female, 160 male, and 18 of unknown sex). We conducted a systematic review and Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) meta-analysis on viewing high-calorie foods (versus non-foods), low-calorie foods (versus non-foods), and high- versus low-calorie foods. In systematic review, several brain regions were shown to be activated when viewing high- or low-calorie foods (versus non-foods) and viewing high- versus low-calorie foods, including the prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, amygdala, insula, ventral striatum, hippocampus, superior parietal lobe, and fusiform gyrus. However, the ALE meta-analysis showed that the left orbitofrontal cortex, left amygdala, insula, superior parietal lobe, and fusiform gyrus were activated when viewing high-calorie foods (versus non-foods); the left fusiform gyrus was activated when viewing low-calorie foods (versus non-foods); and no cluster was activated when viewing high- versus low-calorie foods. Our research suggests an appetitive brain network that includes visual perception and attentional processing, sensory input integration, subjective reward value encoding, decision-making, and top-down cognitive control. Future studies should control for the effects of methodological and physiological variables when examining the neural correlates of viewing high- and low-calorie foods.

Filling the gaps: Cognitive control as a critical lens for understanding mechanisms of value-based decision-making

While often seeming to investigate rather different problems, research into value-based decision making and cognitive control have historically offered parallel insights into how people select thoughts and actions. While the former studies how people weigh costs and benefits to make a decision, the latter studies how they adjust information processing to achieve their goals. Recent work has highlighted ways in which decision-making research can inform our understanding of cognitive control. Here, we provide the complementary perspective: how cognitive control research has informed understanding of decision-making. We highlight three particular areas of research where this critical interchange has occurred: (1) how different types of goals shape the evaluation of choice options, (2) how people use control to adjust the ways they make their decisions, and (3) how people monitor decisions to inform adjustments to control at multiple levels and timescales. We show how adopting this alternate viewpoint offers new insight into the determinants of both decisions and control; provides alternative interpretations for common neuroeconomic findings; and generates fruitful directions for future research.

Aversive motivation and cognitive control

Aversive motivation plays a prominent role in driving individuals to exert cognitive control. However, the complexity of behavioral responses attributed to aversive incentives creates significant challenges for developing a clear understanding of the neural mechanisms of this motivation-control interaction. We review the animal learning, systems neuroscience, and computational literatures to highlight the importance of experimental paradigms that incorporate both motivational context manipulations and mixed motivational components (e.g., bundling of appetitive and aversive incentives). Specifically, we postulate that to understand aversive incentive effects on cognitive control allocation, a critical contextual factor is whether such incentives are associated with negative reinforcement or punishment. We further illustrate how the inclusion of mixed motivational components in experimental paradigms enables increased precision in the measurement of aversive influences on cognitive control. A sharpened experimental and theoretical focus regarding the manipulation and assessment of distinct motivational dimensions promises to advance understanding of the neural, monoaminergic, and computational mechanisms that underlie the interaction of motivation and cognitive control.

Role of the prefrontal cortex in prosocial and self-maximization motivations: an rTMS study

More than a decade of neuroimaging and brain stimulation studies point to a crucial role for the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (rDLPFC) in prosocial behavior. The intuitive prosociality model postulates that the rDLPFC controls intuitive prosocial behavior, whereas the reflective model assumes that the rDLPFC controls selfish impulses during prosocial behavior. The intuitive prosociality model implies that the transient disruption of the rDLPFC should increase voluntary transfers in both dictator and generosity games. In contrast, the reflective model suggests that the transient disruption of the rDLPFC should decrease transfers in the dictator game, without affecting voluntary transfers in the generosity game, in which selfish motives are minimized. The aim of this paper was to compare predictions of the intuitive and reflective models using the classic dictator game and generosity game and continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS). In this study, two groups of healthy participants (dictators) received either cTBS over the rDLPFC or right extrastriate visual areas. As shown by the results, the transient disruption of the rDLPFC significantly promoted prosocial motives in the dictator game only, particularly in the trials with the lowest dictator's costs. These findings partially support the notion that the rDLPFC controls intuitive prosocial behavior.

Mapping reward mechanisms by intracerebral self-stimulation in the rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta)

The objective of the study was to identify brain structures that mediate reward as evidenced by positive reinforcing effects of stimuli on behavior. Testing by intracerebral self-stimulation enabled monkeys to inform whether activation of ~2900 sites in 74 structures of 4 sensorimotor pathways and 4 modulatory loop pathways was positive, negative or neutral. Stimulation was rewarding at 30% of sites, negative at 17%, neutral at 52%. Virtually all (99%) structures yielded some positive or negative sites, suggesting a ubiquitous distribution of pathways transmitting valence information. Mapping of sites to structures with dense versus sparse dopaminergic (DA) or noradrenergic (NA) innervation showed that stimulation of DA-pathways was rewarding or neutral. Stimulation of NA-pathways was not rewarding. Stimulation of association areas was generally rewarding; stimulation of purely sensory or motor structures was generally negative. Reward related more to structures' sensorimotor function than to density of DA-innervation. Stimulation of basal ganglia loop pathways was rewarding except in lateral globus pallidus, an inhibitory structure in the negative feedback loop; stimulation of the cerebellar loop was rewarding in anterior vermis and the spinocerebellar pathway; and stimulation of the hippocampal CA1 loop was rewarding. While most positive sites were in the DA reward system, numerous sites in sparsely DA-innervated posterior cingulate and parietal cortices may represent a separate reward system. DA-density represents concentrations of plastic synapses that mediate acquisition of new synaptic connections. DA-sparse areas may represent innate, genetically programmed reward-associated pathways. Implications of findings in regard to response habituation and addiction are discussed.

Incentivized and non-incentivized liking ratings outperform willingness-to-pay in predicting choice

A core principle in decision science is that people choose according to their subjective values. These values are often measured using unincentivized scales with arbitrary units (e.g., from 0 to 10) or using incentivized willingness-to-pay (WTP) with dollars and cents. What is unclear is whether using WTP actually improves choice predictions. In two experiments, we compare the effects of three different subjective valuation procedures: an unincentivized rating scale, the same scale with incentives, and incentivized WTP. We use these subjective values to predict behavior in a subsequent binary food-choice task. The unincentivized rating task performed better than the incentivized WTP task and no worse than the incentivized rating task. These findings challenge the view that subjective valuation tasks need to be incentivized. At least for low-stakes decisions, commonly used measures such as WTP may reduce predictive power.

Neural underpinnings of morality judgment and moral aesthetic judgment

Morality judgment usually refers to the evaluation of moral behavior`s ability to affect others` interests and welfare, while moral aesthetic judgment often implies the appraisal of moral behavior's capability to provide aesthetic pleasure. Both are based on the behavioral understanding. To our knowledge, no study has directly compared the brain activity of these two types of judgments. The present study recorded and analyzed brain activity involved in the morality and moral aesthetic judgments to reveal whether these two types of judgments differ in their neural underpinnings. Results reveled that morality judgment activated the frontal, parietal and occipital cortex previously reported for motor representations of behavior. Evaluation of goodness and badness showed similar patterns of activation in these brain regions. In contrast, moral aesthetic judgment elicited specific activations in the frontal, parietal and temporal cortex proved to be involved in the behavioral intentions and emotions. Evaluation of beauty and ugliness showed similar patterns of activation in these brain regions. Our findings indicate that morality judgment and moral aesthetic judgment recruit different cortical networks that might decode others' behaviors at different levels. These results contribute to further understanding of the essence of the relationship between morality judgment and aesthetic judgment.

The dynamics of pain reappraisal: the joint contribution of cognitive change and mental load

This study was designed to investigate the neural mechanism of cognitive modulation of pain via a reappraisal strategy with high temporal resolution. The EEG signal was recorded from 29 participants who were instructed to down-regulate, up-regulate, or maintain their pain experience. The L2 minimum norm source reconstruction method was used to localize areas in which a significant effect of the instruction was present. Down-regulating pain by reappraisal exerted a robust effect on pain processing from as early as ~100 ms that diminished the activity of limbic brain regions: the anterior cingulate cortex, right orbitofrontal cortex, left anterior temporal region, and left insula. However, compared with the no-regulation condition, the neural activity was similarly attenuated in the up- and down-regulation conditions. We suggest that this effect could be ascribed to the cognitive load that was associated with the execution of a cognitively demanding reappraisal task that could have produced a general attenuation of pain-related areas regardless of the aim of the reappraisal task (i.e., up- or down-regulation attempts). These findings indicate that reappraisal effects reflect the joint influence of both reappraisal-specific (cognitive change) and unspecific (cognitive demand) factors, thus pointing to the importance of cautiously selected control conditions that allow the modulating impact of both processes to be distinguished.

Regional Differences in S-Nitrosylation in the Cortex, Striatum, and Hippocampus of Juvenile Male Mice

Nitric oxide (NO) is a multifunctional neurotransmitter that plays a major role in neuronal and synaptic functions. S-nitrosylation (SNO), the NO-mediated protein posttransitional modification (PTM), is known to regulate physiological and pathological processes in the brain. However, the physiological role in different neuroanatomical brain regions has not been well investigated. To understand the role of SNO in the brain of juvenile WT mice, we used SNOTRAP technology. We mapped the SNO-proteome in three different neuroanatomical regions: cortex, striatum, and hippocampus. By conducting systems biology analysis, we found that the three brain regions share similar biological processes (BP) including biogenesis and developmental processes. Exclusive and different BP and molecular functions were found for each of the regions. Unraveling the BP and signaling mechanisms of SNO in the cortex, striatum, and hippocampus may help to understand the functional differences between the three regions under physiological conditions.

Resting-state connectivity within the brain's reward system predicts weight loss and correlates with leptin

Weight gain is often associated with the pleasure of eating food rich in calories. This idea is based on the findings that people with obesity showed increased neural activity in the reward and motivation systems of the brain in response to food cues. Such correlations, however, overlook the possibility that obesity may be associated with a metabolic state that impacts the functioning of reward and motivation systems, which in turn could be linked to reactivity to food and eating behaviour and weight gain. In a study involving 44 female participants [14 patients with obesity, aged 20–63 years (mean: 42, SEM: 3.2 years), and 30 matched lean controls, aged 22–60 years (mean: 37, SEM: 1.8 years)], we investigated how ventromedial prefrontal cortex seed-to-voxel resting-state connectivity distinguished between lean and obese participants at baseline. We used the results of this first step of our analyses to examine whether changes in ventromedial prefrontal cortex resting-state connectivity over 8 months could formally predict weight gain or loss. It is important to note that participants with obesity underwent bariatric surgery at the beginning of our investigation period. We found that ventromedial prefrontal cortex–ventral striatum resting-state connectivity and ventromedial–dorsolateral prefrontal cortex resting-state connectivity were sensitive to obesity at baseline. However, only the ventromedial prefrontal cortex–ventral striatum resting-state connectivity predicted weight changes over time using cross-validation, out-of-sample prediction analysis. Such an out-of-sample prediction analysis uses the data of all participants of a training set to predict the actually observed data in one independent participant in the hold-out validation sample and is then repeated for all participants. In seeking to explain the reason why ventromedial pre-frontal cortex–ventral striatum resting-state connectivity as the central hub of the brain’s reward and motivational system may predict weight change over time, we linked weight loss surgery-induced changes in ventromedial prefrontal cortex–ventral striatum resting-state connectivity to surgery-induced changes in homeostatic hormone regulation. More specifically, we focussed on changes in fasting state systemic leptin, a homeostatic hormone signalling satiety, and inhibiting reward-related dopamine signalling. We found that the surgery-induced increase in ventromedial prefrontal cortex–ventral striatum resting-state connectivity was correlated with a decrease in fasting-state systemic leptin. These findings establish the first link between individual differences in brain connectivity in reward circuits in a more tonic state at rest, weight change over time and homeostatic hormone regulation.

From affective to cognitive processing: Functional organization of the medial frontal cortex

The medial wall of the primate frontal lobe encompasses multiple anatomical subregions. Based on distinct neurophysiological correlates and effects of lesions, individual areas are thought to play unique roles in behavior. Further, evidence suggests that dysfunction localized to specific subregions is commonly found in different neuropsychiatric disorders. The neurobiological underpinnings of these disorders, however, remain far from clear. Here, to better understand the functions of medial frontal cortex (MFC) and its role in psychiatric disease, we focus on its functional organization. We describe the emerging pattern in which more dorsal regions subserve temporally extended cognitive functions and more ventral regions predominantly subserve affective functions. We focus on two specific domains, decision-making and social cognition, that require integration across emotion and cognition. In each case, we discuss the current understanding of the functions believed to depend on subregions of MFC as a stepping-stone to speculate on how they might work in unison. We conclude with an overview of how symptoms of certain psychiatric disorders relate to our understanding of MFC functional organization and how further discovery could fuel advances in circuit-based therapies.

Altered Resting-State Connectivity with Pain-Related Expectation Regions in Female Patients with Severe Knee Osteoarthritis

Purpose

Expectation affects pain experience in humans. Numerous studies have reported that pre-stimulus activity in the anterior insular cortex (aIC), together with prefrontal and limbic regions, integrated pain intensity and expectations. However, it is unclear whether the resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) between the aIC and other brain regions affects chronic pain. The purpose of this study was to examine the rs-FC between the aIC and the whole brain regions in female patients with severe knee osteoarthritis (OA).

Patients and Methods

Nineteen female patients with chronic severe knee OA and 15 matched controls underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. We compared the rs-FC from the aIC seed region between the two groups. A disease-specific measurement of knee OA was performed.

Results

The aIC showed stronger rs-FC with the right orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), subcallosal area, and bilateral frontal pole compared with controls. The strength of rs-FC between the left aIC and the right OFC was positively correlated with the knee OA pain score (r = 0.49, p = 0.03). The strength of rs-FC between the right aIC and right OFC was positively correlated with the knee OA total score (r = 0.48, p = 0.036) and pain score (r = 0.46, p = 0.049). The OFC, subcallosal area, and frontal pole, together with the aIC, were activated during anticipation of pain stimulus. These areas have been reported as representative pain-related expectation regions.

Conclusion

This was the first study to show the stronger rs-FCs between the aIC and other pain-related expectation regions in female patients with severe knee OA. Female sex and preoperative pain intensity are risk factors of persistent postoperative pain after total knee arthroplasty. It is suggested that the functional relationship between pain-related expectation regions affects the formation of severe knee OA and persistent postoperative pain following total knee arthroplasty.

Forced choices reveal a trade-off between cognitive effort and physical pain

Cognitive effort is described as aversive, and people will generally avoid it when possible. This aversion to effort is believed to arise from a cost-benefit analysis of the actions available. The comparison of cognitive effort against other primary aversive experiences, however, remains relatively unexplored. Here, we offered participants choices between performing a cognitively demanding task or experiencing thermal pain. We found that cognitive effort can be traded off for physical pain and that people generally avoid exerting high levels of cognitive effort. We also used computational modelling to examine the aversive subjective value of effort and its effects on response behaviours. Applying this model to decision times revealed asymmetric effects of effort and pain, suggesting that cognitive effort may not share the same basic influences on avoidance behaviour as more primary aversive stimuli such as physical pain.

Processing in Lateral Orbitofrontal Cortex Is Required to Estimate Subjective Preference during Initial, but Not Established, Economic Choice

The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is proposed to be critical to economic decision making. Yet one can inactivate OFC without affecting well-practiced choices. One possible explanation of this lack of effect is that well-practiced decisions are codified into habits or configural-based policies not normally thought to require OFC. Here, we tested this idea by training rats to choose between different pellet pairs across a set of standard offers and then inactivating OFC subregions during choices between novel offers of previously experienced pairs or between novel pairs of previously experienced pellets. Contrary to expectations, controls performed as well on novel as experienced offers yet had difficulty initially estimating their subjective preference on novel pairs, difficulty exacerbated by lateral OFC inactivation. This pattern of results indicates that established economic choice reflects the use of an underlying model or goods space and that lateral OFC is only required for normal behavior when the established framework must incorporate new information.

Common and distinct neural systems support the generation retrieval phase of autobiographical memory and personal problem solving

Prior research has documented engagement of a common 'core' retrieval network during autobiographical memory retrieval and higher-order prospective tasks, such as personal problem solving. This neural overlap has overwhelmingly been documented in the context of the 'elaboration phase' of retrieval, when a single mental event is simulated in detail . However, recollective and prospective tasks are often associated with generic cues, which require the retrieval and consideration of multiple conceptually-related events. This initial 'generation phase' of retrieval has received comparably little attention in the literature, leaving open questions as to how and when autobiographical memory and prospective tasks overlap within the brain. Here, we compare and contrast neural activity between autobiographical memory retrieval and personal problem solving with a focus on the initial generation phase of retrieval. In the MRI scanner, young adults completed both an autobiographical memory and a personal problem solving task. Each task consisted of a generation phase, which required participants to generate multiple past personal events or problem solutions to a given cue and a subsequent elaboration phase, where a single memory or solution was simulated in detail. A multivariate Partial Least Squares analysis revealed patterns of neural overlap between memory and problem solving during the generation phase that were distinct from the elaboration phase. Among regions commonly recruited during the generation phase was the anterior hippocampus, a structure involved in initiating mental construction and integrating concepts. Subsequent analyses demonstrated that the anterior hippocampus interacted with distinct cortical regions as a function of task, in particular the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Together, these data provide novel evidence that neural overlap between autobiographical memory and personal problem solving does not occur solely in the context of detailed simulation but, instead, is driven by common retrieval demands.

Regulating food craving: From mechanisms to interventions

Craving, defined here as a strong desire to eat, is a common experience that drives behavior. Here we discuss the concept of craving from historical, physiological, and clinical perspectives, and review work investigating the effects of cue reactivity and cue-induced craving on eating and weight outcomes, as well as underlying neural mechanisms. We also highlight the significance of cue reactivity and craving in the context of our "toxic food environment" and the obesity epidemic. We then summarize our work developing the Regulation of Craving (ROC) task, used to test the causal effects of cognitive strategies on craving for food and drugs as well as the underlying neural mechanisms of such regulation. Next, we review our recent development of a novel ROC-based intervention that trains individuals to use cognitive strategies to regulate craving, with promising effects on subsequent food choice and caloric consumption. We end by discussing future directions for this important line of work.

Valence Encoding Signals in the Human Amygdala and the Willingness to Eat

One of the strongest drivers of food consumption is pleasure, and with a large variety of palatable food continuously available, there is rarely any necessity to eat something not tasty. The amygdala is involved in hedonic valuation, but its role in valence assignment during food choices is less understood. Given recent evidence for spatially segregated amygdala signatures encoding palatability, we applied a multivariate approach on fMRI data to extract valence-specific signal patterns during an explicit evaluation of food liking. These valence localizers were then used to identify hedonic valuation processes while the same healthy human participants (14 female, 16 male; in overnight fasted state on both scanning days) performed a willingness-to-eat task in a separate fMRI measurement. Valence-specific patterns of amygdala signaling predicted decisions on food consumption significantly. Findings could be validated using the same valence localizers to predict consumption decisions participants made on a separate set of food stimuli that had not been used for localizer identification. Control analyses revealed these findings to be restricted to a multivariate compared with a univariate approach, and to be specific for valence processing in the amygdala. Spatially distributed valuation signals of the amygdala thus appear to modulate appetitive consumption decisions, and may be useful to identify current hedonic valuation processes triggering food choices even when not explicitly instructed.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The expectation of tastiness is a particularly strong driver in everyday decisions on food consumption. The amygdala is important for hedonic valuation processes and involved in valence-related behavior, but the relationship between both processes is less understood. Here, we show that hedonic values of food are represented in spatially distributed activation patterns in the amygdala. The engagement of these patterns during food choices modulates consumption decisions. Findings are stable in a separate stimulus set. These results suggest that valence-specific amygdala signals are integrated into the formation of food choices.

Emotion Regulation Modulates Dietary Decision-Making via Activity in the Prefrontal-Striatal Valuation System

The consumption of indulgent, carbohydrate- and fat-rich foods is often used as a strategy to cope with negative affect because they provide immediate self-reward. Such dietary choices, however, can severely affect people's health. One countermeasure could be to improve one's emotion regulation ability. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the neural activity underlying the downregulation of incidental emotions and its effect on subsequent food choices. We investigated whether emotion regulation leads to healthier food choices and how emotion regulation interacts with the brain's valuation and decision-making circuitry. We found that 1) the downregulation of incidental negative emotions was associated with a subsequent selective increase in decisions for tasty but also for healthy foods, 2) food preferences were predicted by palatability but also by the current emotional state, and 3) emotion regulation modulated decision-related activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and ventral striatum. These results indicate that emotional states are indeed important for food choice and that the process of emotion regulation might boost the subsequent processing of health attributes, possibly via neural reward circuits. In consequence, our findings suggest that increasing emotion regulation ability could effectively modulate food choices by stimulating an incidental upvaluation of health attributes.

Cortical thickness, local gyrification index and fractal dimensionality in people with acute and recovered Anorexia Nervosa and in people with Bulimia Nervosa

Eating disorders (EDs) have a possible neurodevelopmental pathogenesis. Our study aim was to assess regional cortical thickness (CT), local gyrification index (lGI) and fractal dimensionality (FD), as specific markers of cortical neurodevelopment in ED females. Twenty-two women with acute anorexia nervosa (acuAN), 10 with recovered anorexia nervosa (recAN), 24 with bulimia nervosa (BN) and 35 female healthy controls (HC) underwent a 3T MRI scan. All data were processed by FreeSurfer. Compared to recAN group women with acuAN showed a lower CT in multiple areas, while compared to HC they showed lower CT in temporal regions. BN group showed higher CT values in temporal and paracentral areas compared to HC. In multiple cortical areas, AcuAN group showed greater values of lGI compared to recAN group and lower values of lGI compared to HC. The BN group showed lower lGI in left medial orbitofrontal cortex compared to HC. No significant differences were found in FD among the groups. Present results provide evidence of CT and lGI alterations in patients with AN and, for the first time, in those with BN. Although these alterations could be state-dependent phenomena, they may underlie psychopathological aspects of EDs.

Mechanisms of competitive selection: A canonical neural circuit framework

Competitive selection, the transformation of multiple competing sensory inputs and internal states into a unitary choice, is a fundamental component of animal behavior. Selection behaviors have been studied under several intersecting umbrellas including decision-making, action selection, perceptual categorization, and attentional selection. Neural correlates of these behaviors and computational models have been investigated extensively. However, specific, identifiable neural circuit mechanisms underlying the implementation of selection remain elusive. Here, we employ a first principles approach to map competitive selection explicitly onto neural circuit elements. We decompose selection into six computational primitives, identify demands that their execution places on neural circuit design, and propose a canonical neural circuit framework. The resulting framework has several links to neural literature, indicating its biological feasibility, and has several common elements with prominent computational models, suggesting its generality. We propose that this framework can help catalyze experimental discovery of the neural circuit underpinnings of competitive selection.

Journey of neuroscience: marketing management to organizational behavior

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the advancement of neuroscience research works in the domains of marketing management and organizational behavior and its future scope for expansion in the area of organizational behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 77 neuroscience research articles in the area of marketing management and organizational behavior published between 2004 and 2017 were reviewed, and a possible future direction for neuroscience research in the area of organizational behavior was identified in this article.

Findings

Findings from neuroscience research works suggest that tools and techniques that are useful in the neuroscience domain are also quite powerful and reliable in the context of organizational behavior research. Here, it should be noted that not all of these are independently powerful. Therefore, in certain cases, it is desirable to use neuroscience techniques in association with existing methods.

Originality/value

Neuroscientific research works in the context of the marketing domain were started with the motivation to identify the neural signaling in association with different marketing initiatives. However, the research works have proceeded much deeper and entered into the field of consumer psychology. Further research shows that neuroscience techniques are quite useful in the understanding of consumer behavior and can be extended in the field of organizational behavior. In this study, the authors have provided the future direction of neuroscience research works in the area of organizational behavior.

Predicting Real-Life Self-Control From Brain Activity Encoding the Value of Anticipated Future Outcomes

Deficient self-control leads to shortsighted decisions and incurs severe personal and societal costs. Although neuroimaging has advanced our understanding of neural mechanisms underlying self-control, the ecological validity of laboratory tasks used to assess self-control remains largely unknown. To increase ecological validity and to test a specific hypothesis about the mechanisms underlying real-life self-control, we combined functional MRI during value-based decision-making with smartphone-based assessment of real-life self-control in a large community sample (N = 194). Results showed that an increased propensity to make shortsighted decisions and commit self-control failures, both in the laboratory task as well as during real-life conflicts, was associated with a reduced modulation of neural value signals in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex in response to anticipated long-term consequences. These results constitute the first evidence that neural mechanisms mediating anticipations of future consequences not only account for self-control in laboratory tasks but also predict real-life self-control, thereby bridging the gap between laboratory research and real-life behavior.

Alcohol Use Disorder Interventions Targeting Brain Sites for Both Conditioned Reward and Delayed Gratification

Alcohol use disorder is a destructive compulsion characterized by chronic relapse and poor recovery outcomes. Heightened reactivity to alcohol-associated stimuli and compromised executive function are hallmarks of alcohol use disorder. Interventions targeting these two interacting domains are thought to ameliorate these altered states, but the mutual brain sites of action are yet unknown. Although interventions on alcohol cue reactivity affect reward area responses, how treatments alter brain responses when subjects exert executive effort to delay gratification is not as well-characterized. Focusing on interventions that could be developed into effective clinical treatments, we review and identify brain sites of action for these two categories of potential therapies. Using activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis, we find that interventions on alcohol cue reactivity localize to ventral prefrontal cortex, dorsal anterior cingulate, and temporal, striatal, and thalamic regions. Interventions for increasing delayed reward preference elicit changes mostly in midline default mode network regions, including posterior cingulate, precuneus, and ventromedial prefrontal cortex-in addition to temporal and parietal regions. Anatomical co-localization of effects appears in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, whereas effects specific to delay-of-gratification appear in the posterior cingulate and precuneus. Thus, the current available literature suggests that interventions in the domains of cue reactivity and delay discounting alter brain activity along midline default mode regions, specifically in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex for both domains, and the posterior cingulate/precuneus for delay-of-gratification. We believe that these findings could facilitate targeting and development of new interventions, and ultimately treatments of this challenging disorder.

Neural underpinnings of value-guided choice during auction tasks: An eye-fixation related potentials study

Values are attributed to goods during free viewing of objects which entails multi- and trans-saccadic cognitive processes. Using electroencephalographic eye-fixation related potentials, the present study investigated how neural signals related to value-guided choice evolved over time when viewing household and office products during an auction task. Participants completed a Becker-DeGroot-Marschak auction task whereby half of the stimuli were presented in either a free or forced bid protocol to obtain willingness-to-pay. Stimuli were assigned to three value categories of low, medium and high value based on subjective willingness-to-pay. Eye fixations were organised into five 800 ms time-bins spanning the objects total viewing time. Independent component analysis was applied to eye-fixation related potentials. One independent component (IC) was found to represent fixations for high value products with increased activation over the left parietal region of the scalp. An IC with a spatial maximum over a fronto-central region of the scalp coded the intermediate values. Finally, one IC displaying activity that extends over the right frontal scalp region responded to intermediate- and low-value items. Each of these components responded early on during viewing an object and remained active over the entire viewing period, both during free and forced bid trials. Results suggest that the subjective value of goods are encoded using sets of brain activation patterns which are tuned to respond uniquely to either low, medium, or high values. Data indicates that the right frontal region of the brain responds to low and the left frontal region to high values. Values of goods are determined at an early point in the decision making process and carried for the duration of the decision period via trans-saccadic processes.

Neural activity in human ventromedial prefrontal cortex reflecting the intention to save reward

Saving behavior usually requires individuals to perform several consecutive choices before collecting the final reward. The overt behavior is preceded by an intention to perform an appropriate choice sequence. We studied saving sequences for which each participant rated the intention numerically as willingness to save. Each sequence resulted in a specific reward amount and thus had a particular value for the participant, which we assessed with a Becker-DeGroot-Marschak auction-like mechanism. Using functional MRI, we found that blood-oxygen-level-dependent signals in human ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) correlated with the participant's stated intention before each choice sequence. An adjacent vmPFC region showed graded activation that reflected the value of the sequence. These results demonstrate an involvement of vmPFC in intentional processes preceding sequential economic choices.

The Context of Values in Pain Control: Understanding the Price Effect in Placebo Analgesia

The experience of pain relief arises from physiological and psychological factors, and attributes such as the commercial features of analgesic treatments have been shown to influence placebo analgesia by affecting treatment expectations. Therefore, treatment valuation from price information should influence the placebo analgesic effect. This hypothesis was tested in a functional magnetic resonance imaging study in which healthy subjects were enrolled in a 2-day experiment. On day 1, the participants (n = 19) had treatment experiences with 2 different placebo creams during a conditioning session without receiving information on treatment price. On day 2, placebo analgesia was tested after providing price information (high vs low) while functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed. The results showed that the higher priced placebo treatment leads to enhanced pain relief. Placebo analgesia in response to the higher priced treatment was associated with activity in the ventral striatum, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and ventral tegmental area. The behavioral results indicate that the experience of pain was influenced by treatment valuation from price. Our findings reveal that the context of values in pain control is associated with activity in expectation- and reward-related circuitry. PERSPECTIVE: Treatment with higher price was associated with enhanced placebo analgesia, and this effect was influenced by activities in expectation and reward processing brain areas. The context of value such as medical cost influences cognitive evaluation processes to modulate pain. Our study may help evaluate a patient's preference toward high-priced drugs.

Neural correlates of reward-directed action and inhibition of action

Human and non-human primate studies have examined neural responses to action and inhibition of action. However, it remains unclear whether the cerebral processes supporting these two distinct responses are differentially modulated by reward. In a sample of 35 healthy human adults, we examined brain activations to action and inhibition of action in a reward go/no-go task, with approximately ⅔ go and ⅓ no-go trials. Correct go and no-go trials were rewarded with $1 or ¢5 in reward sessions. Behaviorally, reward facilitated go and impeded no-go. A conjunction analysis showed shared activation to rewarded go and no-go responses in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) and inferior parietal cortex. A whole-brain two-way ANOVA of response (go vs no-go) and reward (dollar vs nickel) revealed a significant main effect of response, with greater activity for no-go vs go success in the middle frontal cortex and the reversed pattern in the dorsal ACC, insula, thalamus, and caudate. The thalamus and caudate also responded preferentially to dollar relative to nickel reward during go trials. The main effect of reward (dollar > nickel) involved not only regions associated with reward valuation (e.g., medial orbitofrontal cortex - mOFC) but also those implicated in motor control, saliency, and visual attention including the rACC, ventral striatum, insula, and occipital cortex. Finally, the mOFC distinguished go and no-go responses in the dollar but not nickel trials, suggesting a functional bias toward response execution that leads to larger rewards. Together, these findings identified both shared and non-overlapping neural processes underlying goal-directed action and inhibition of action as well as delineated the effects of reward magnitude on such processes.

Goal congruency dominates reward value in accounting for behavioral and neural correlates of value-based decision-making

When choosing between options, whether menu items or career paths, we can evaluate how rewarding each one will be, or how congruent it is with our current choice goal (e.g., to point out the best option or the worst one.). Past decision-making research interpreted findings through the former lens, but in these experiments the most rewarding option was always most congruent with the task goal (choosing the best option). It is therefore unclear to what extent expected reward vs. goal congruency can account for choice value findings. To deconfound these two variables, we performed three behavioral studies and an fMRI study in which the task goal varied between identifying the best vs. the worst option. Contrary to prevailing accounts, we find that goal congruency dominates choice behavior and neural activity. We separately identify dissociable signals of expected reward. Our findings call for a reinterpretation of previous research on value-based choice.

Decision-making research has confounded the reward value of options with their goal-congruency, as the task goal was always to pick the most rewarding option. Here, authors separately asked participants to select the least rewarding of a set of options, revealing a dominant role for goal congruency.