Decoding subjective decisions from orbitofrontal cortex

• Published in: Nature neuroscience Vol. 19; no. 7; pp. 973 - 980
• Main Authors: Rich, Erin L, Wallis, Jonathan D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Nature Publishing Group US 01.07.2016; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/378/116/2394; 631/378/1788; Animal Genetics and Genomics; Animals; Behavior, Animal - physiology; Behavioral Sciences; Biological Techniques; Biomedicine; Brain mapping; Choice Behavior - physiology; Decision making; Decision Making - physiology; Discriminant analysis; Frontal Lobe - physiology; Macaca mulatta; Male; Methods; Nerve Net - physiology; Neural circuitry; Neurobiology; Neurons; Neurons - physiology; Neurosciences; Observations; Physiological aspects; Prefrontal Cortex - physiology; United States > US; California
• ISSN: 1097-6256; 1546-1726; 1546-1726
• DOI: 10.1038/nn.4320

The neural mechanisms of subjective choice are largely unknown. Here the authors show that neural activity in orbitofrontal cortex alternates rapidly between the values of available options in patterns that predict choice behavior. These dynamics may provide a neural mechanism for deliberation and optimal decision-making. When making a subjective choice, the brain must compute a value for each option and compare those values to make a decision. The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is critically involved in this process, but the neural mechanisms remain obscure, in part due to limitations in our ability to measure and control the internal deliberations that can alter the dynamics of the decision process. Here we tracked these dynamics by recovering temporally precise neural states from multidimensional data in OFC. During individual choices, OFC alternated between states associated with the value of two available options, with dynamics that predicted whether a subject would decide quickly or vacillate between the two alternatives. Ensembles of value-encoding neurons contributed to these states, with individual neurons shifting activity patterns as the network evaluated each option. Thus, the mechanism of subjective decision-making involves the dynamic activation of OFC states associated with each choice alternative.