Neuro-computational account of how mood fluctuations arise and affect decision making

The influence of mood on choices is a well-established but poorly understood phenomenon. Here, we suggest a three-fold neuro-computational account: (1) the integration of positive and negative events over time induce mood fluctuations, (2) which are underpinned by variations in the baseline activities of critical brain valuation regions, (3) which in turn modulate the relative weights assigned to key dimensions of choice options. We validate this model in healthy participants, using feedback in a quiz task to induce mood fluctuations, and a choice task (accepting vs. declining a motor challenge) to reveal their effects. Using fMRI, we demonstrate the pivotal role of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and anterior insula, in which baseline activities respectively increase and decrease with theoretical mood level and respectively enhance the weighting of potential gains and losses during decision making. The same mechanisms might explain how decisions are biased in mood disorders at longer timescales.