What's better for me? Fundamental role for lateral habenula in promoting subjective decision biases
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Updated: May 5, 2026

An Automated T-maze Based Apparatus and Protocol for Analyzing Delay- and Effort-based Decision Making in Free Moving Rodents
Published on: August 2, 2018
Colin M Stopper1, Stan B Floresco1
1Department of Psychology and Brain Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Abstract:
The lateral habenula (LHb) is believed to convey an aversive or 'anti-reward' signal, but its contribution to reward-related action selection is unknown. We found that LHb inactivation abolished choice biases, making rats indifferent when choosing between rewards associated with different subjective costs and magnitudes, but not larger or smaller rewards of equal cost. Thus, instead of serving as an aversion center, the evolutionarily conserved LHb acts as a preference center that is integral for expressing subjective decision biases.
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