Neural computations underlying action-based decision making in the human brain

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 106; no. 40; pp. 17199 - 17204
• Main Authors: Wunderlich, Klaus, Rangel, Antonio, O'Doherty, John P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 06.10.2009; National Acad Sciences
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Behavioral neuroscience; Biological Sciences; Brain; Brain - anatomy & histology; Brain - physiology; Brain Mapping - methods; Choice Behavior - physiology; Comparative analysis; Comparators; cortex; Decision Making; Economic value; Eye movements; Eye Movements - physiology; Female; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Modeling; Models, Neurological; Motor cortex; Neurons; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Photic Stimulation; Prefrontal cortex; Prefrontal Cortex - physiology; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Reward; Signal reflection; Social Sciences; Task Performance and Analysis; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0901077106

Action-based decision making involves choices between different physical actions to obtain rewards. To make such decisions the brain needs to assign a value to each action and then compare them to make a choice. Using fMRI in human subjects, we found evidence for action-value signals in supplementary motor cortex. Separate brain regions, most prominently ventromedial prefrontal cortex, were involved in encoding the expected value of the action that was ultimately taken. These findings differentiate two main forms of value signals in the human brain: those relating to the value of each available action, likely reflecting signals that are a precursor of choice, and those corresponding to the expected value of the action that is subsequently chosen, and therefore reflecting the consequence of the decision process. Furthermore, we also found signals in the dorsomedial frontal cortex that resemble the output of a decision comparator, which implicates this region in the computation of the decision itself.