The dorsomedial prefrontal cortex represents subjective value across effort-based and risky decision-making

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Science
• Decision Science

Background:

• Effort-based decision-making is common, but its neural basis is debated.
• The neural common currency theory proposes a domain-general valuation network for comparing costs and rewards.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if effort-based decisions utilize a domain-general valuation network.
• To compare the neural mechanisms of effort-based and risky decision-making.

Main Methods:

• Computational modeling (power discounting model).
• Univariate and multivariate functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
• Analysis of data from two independent studies.

Main Results:

• Effort-based decisions are modeled by power discounting, considering rate and sensitivity.
• Multivariate fMRI decoding revealed dmPFC patterns represent subjective value across effort and risk tasks.
• Univariate signals in dmPFC were more varied than multivariate patterns.

Conclusions:

• Multivariate dmPFC patterns are crucial for task-independent subjective value computation.
• Findings support and extend the neural common currency theory's scope.
• Effort-based and risky decisions share neural valuation mechanisms.