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Related Experiment Video

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Investigating the Function of Deep Cortical and Subcortical Structures Using Stereotactic Electroencephalography: Lessons from the Anterior Cingulate Cortex

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Decision salience signals in posterior cingulate cortex.

Sarah R Heilbronner¹, Benjamin Y Hayden, Michael L Platt

¹Department of Neurobiology, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University Durham, NC, USA.

Frontiers in Neuroscience

|May 5, 2011

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Neurons in the posterior cingulate cortex (CGp) track decision salience, not subjective value. This suggests CGp may flexibly allocate neural resources to motivationally significant information.

Keywords:

cingulate decision making discounting motivation reward risk salience

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Neuroscience
Decision Neuroscience

Background:

The posterior cingulate cortex (CGp) is evolutionarily ancient and clinically significant.
It is a critical brain region involved in attention, memory, motivation, and decision-making.
Its precise role in these functions remains incompletely understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether posterior cingulate cortex (CGp) neurons encode subjective value or decision salience.
To determine how CGp neuronal activity relates to different types of decision-making contexts.

Main Methods:

Recorded spiking activity of CGp neurons in monkeys during decision-making tasks.
Monkeys chose between options varying in reward risk, delay, and social outcomes.
Decision salience was manipulated across different choice scenarios.

Main Results:

CGp neuronal firing rates increased with decision salience, irrespective of the decision context (risk, delay, social).
Neuronal activity was uncorrelated with the monkeys' inferred subjective valuation of options.
Firing rates reflected the degree to which an option deviated from a standard, not its desirability.

Conclusions:

Posterior cingulate cortex (CGp) neurons signal decision salience, representing the difference between an option and a baseline.
This finding challenges the view of CGp solely encoding subjective value.
CGp may play a role in flexibly allocating neural resources to salient information, similar to attentional mechanisms.