Expectations and outcomes: decision-making in the primate brain

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Science
• Decision Science

Background:

• Adapting decision-making strategies to changing reward contingencies is crucial for survival.
• The neural mechanisms underlying this adaptive process have been largely unknown.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how the brain represents and updates behavioral value.
• To identify neural circuits involved in adapting behavior to changing reward contingencies.

Main Methods:

• Coupling economic theory with neurophysiological techniques.
• Recording neural activity in various brain regions during tasks involving fluid reinforcement and visually-guided eye movements.

Main Results:

• Neurons in parietal cortex, prefrontal cortex, basal ganglia, and superior colliculus encode the expected value of targets.
• Midbrain dopaminergic neurons signal reward prediction errors.
• Posterior cingulate cortex neurons link reward outcomes with oculomotor behavior, suggesting a role in updating orienting value.

Conclusions:

• The brain explicitly represents behavioral value, facilitating adaptation to changing environments.
• A network of brain areas, including the posterior cingulate cortex, is involved in updating value estimates and guiding adaptive behavior.