Department of Economics, University of Minnesota, 1925 4th Street South 4-101, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA.
Department of Neuroscience, Washington University in St Louis, 660 South Euclid Avenue, St Louis, MO, 63110, USA.
Nat Commun. 2017 Oct 31;8(1):1208. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-01373-y.
During economic decisions, offer value cells in orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) encode the values of offered goods. Furthermore, their tuning functions adapt to the range of values available in any given context. A fundamental and open question is whether range adaptation is behaviorally advantageous. Here we present a theory of optimal coding for economic decisions. We propose that the representation of offer values is optimal if it ensures maximal expected payoff. In this framework, we examine offer value cells in non-human primates. We show that their responses are quasi-linear even when optimal tuning functions are highly non-linear. Most importantly, we demonstrate that for linear tuning functions range adaptation maximizes the expected payoff. Thus value coding in OFC is functionally rigid (linear tuning) but parametrically plastic (range adaptation with optimal gain). Importantly, the benefit of range adaptation outweighs the cost of functional rigidity. While generally suboptimal, linear tuning may facilitate transitive choices.
在经济决策中，眶额皮层（OFC）中的价值细胞编码提供商品的价值。此外，它们的调谐函数适应任何给定环境中可用的价值范围。一个基本的开放性问题是范围适应是否具有行为优势。在这里，我们提出了一个经济决策最优编码的理论。我们提出，如果提供的价值表示能够确保最大的预期收益，那么它就是最优的。在这个框架中，我们研究了非人类灵长类动物的出价价值细胞。我们发现，即使最优调谐函数具有高度的非线性，它们的反应也是准线性的。最重要的是，我们证明了对于线性调谐函数，范围适应会使预期收益最大化。因此，OFC 中的价值编码在功能上是刚性的（线性调谐），但在参数上是可塑的（具有最佳增益的范围适应）。重要的是，范围适应的好处超过了功能刚性的成本。虽然通常是次优的，但线性调谐可能会促进传递性选择。
