Translational Research in Affective Disorders Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322.
Translational Research in Affective Disorders Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322;
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018 May 29;115(22):E5233-E5242. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1800444115. Epub 2018 May 14.
We are presented with choices each day about how to invest our effort to achieve our goals. Critically, these decisions must frequently be made under conditions of incomplete information, where either the effort required or possible reward to be gained is uncertain. Such choices therefore require the development of potential value estimates to guide effortful goal-directed behavior. To date, however, the neural mechanisms for this expectation process are unknown. Here, we used computational fMRI during an effort-based decision-making task where trial-wise information about effort costs and reward magnitudes was presented separately over time, thereby allowing us to model distinct effort/reward computations as choice-relevant information unfolded. We found that ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) encoded expected subjective value. Further, activity in dorsal anterior cingulate (dACC) and anterior insula (aI) reflected both effort discounting as well as a subjective value prediction error signal derived from trial history. While prior studies have identified these regions as being involved in effort-based decision making, these data demonstrate their specific role in the formation and maintenance of subjective value estimates as relevant information becomes available.
我们每天都要面对如何投入精力来实现目标的选择。至关重要的是，这些决策必须经常在信息不完全的情况下做出，在这种情况下，所需的努力或可能获得的回报是不确定的。因此，这些选择需要制定潜在的价值估计来指导需要努力的目标导向行为。然而，迄今为止，对于这种期望过程的神经机制尚不清楚。在这里，我们使用计算功能磁共振成像（computational fMRI）在基于努力的决策任务中，随着时间的推移分别呈现关于努力成本和奖励幅度的逐次信息，从而使我们能够在选择相关信息展开时对不同的努力/奖励计算进行建模。我们发现，腹内侧前额叶皮层（vmPFC）编码了预期的主观价值。此外，背侧前扣带皮层（dACC）和前岛叶（aI）的活动反映了努力折扣以及来自试验历史的主观价值预测误差信号。虽然之前的研究已经确定了这些区域在基于努力的决策中的作用，但这些数据表明它们在形成和维持主观价值估计中的特定作用，因为相关信息变得可用。
