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Surprise, value and control in anterior cingulate cortex during speeded decision-making.

Eliana Vassena1,2, James Deraeve2, William H Alexander3,4

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The dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) may use surprise signaling for both stopping actions and motivating behavior. This finding suggests surprise is a core computation underlying diverse dACC functions in cognitive neuroscience.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Neuroimaging
  • Decision Science

Background:

  • Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) activity is implicated in various cognitive tasks, but its precise function is debated.
  • Traditional views link dACC to inhibitory control, while recent theories propose roles in motivated control for reward acquisition.
  • Existing computational models of dACC primarily address inhibitory control, lacking integration with motivated control mechanisms.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the computational mechanisms underlying dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) function.
  • To test whether models of dACC function in inhibitory control generalize to motivated control.
  • To identify shared neural computations driving both inhibitory and motivated control processes.

Main Methods:

  • Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was employed to measure brain activity.
  • Participants engaged in value-based decision-making tasks under time pressure.
  • Predictions from three prominent computational accounts of dACC function were derived and tested.

Main Results:

  • Activity in the dACC during a response-invigoration task was best explained by the computational mechanism of surprise.
  • This finding suggests that surprise signaling is a key factor in dACC function during motivated control.
  • The results indicate that surprise may be a unifying computation across different dACC-related functions.

Conclusions:

  • Surprise signaling appears to be a fundamental computation within the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC).
  • This mechanism may serve as a shared driver for both inhibitory control and motivated control.
  • The findings offer a unified account of dACC function in cognitive neuroscience.