Neurons in human pre-supplementary motor area encode key computations for value-based choice

• Published in: Nature human behaviour Vol. 7; no. 6; pp. 970 - 985
• Main Authors: Aquino, Tomas G., Cockburn, Jeffrey, Mamelak, Adam N., Rutishauser, Ueli, O’Doherty, John P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.06.2023; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/1647/1453/2205; 631/378/1595/2618; 631/378/2649/1409; 631/477/2811; Adaptive behavior; Behavioral Sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Choice Behavior - physiology; Cortex; Decision making; Encoding; Expected values; Experimental Psychology; Gyrus Cinguli - physiology; Humans; Life Sciences; Microeconomics; Motor Cortex; Neurons; Neurons - physiology; Neurosciences; Patients; Personality and Social Psychology; Prefrontal Cortex - physiology; Regression analysis; Uncertainty; Variables; Ventromedial prefrontal cortex
• ISSN: 2397-3374; 2397-3374
• DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01548-2

Adaptive behaviour in real-world environments requires that choices integrate several variables, including the novelty of the options under consideration, their expected value and uncertainty in value estimation. Here, to probe how integration over decision variables occurs during decision-making, we recorded neurons from the human pre-supplementary motor area (preSMA), ventromedial prefrontal cortex and dorsal anterior cingulate. Unlike the other areas, preSMA neurons not only represented separate pre-decision variables for each choice option but also encoded an integrated utility signal for each choice option and, subsequently, the decision itself. Post-decision encoding of variables for the chosen option was more widely distributed and especially prominent in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Our findings position the human preSMA as central to the implementation of value-based decisions. Aquino et al. show using human brain recordings that the pre-supplementary motor area encodes an integrated utility signal for each choice option and, subsequently, the decision itself.