Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Indiana University, 1101 E. 10th St., Bloomington, IN 47405, USA; Program in Neuroscience, Indiana University, 1101 E. 10th St., Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, East Hall, 530 Church St, #1265 Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
Neuroimage. 2021 Jul 1;234:117979. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.117979. Epub 2021 Mar 23.
Value-based decision-making is presumed to involve a dynamic integration process that supports assessing the potential outcomes of different choice options. Decision frameworks assume the value of a decision rests on both the desirability and risk surrounding an outcome. Previous work has highlighted neural representations of risk in the human brain, and their relation to decision choice. Key neural regions including the insula and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) have been implicated in encoding the effects of risk on decision outcomes, including approach and avoidance. Yet, it remains unknown whether these regions are involved in the dynamic integration processes that precede and drive choice, and their relationship with ongoing attention. Here, we used concurrent fMRI and eye-tracking to discern neural activation related to visual attention preceding choice between sure-thing (i.e. safe) and risky gamble options. We found activation in both dorsal ACC (dACC) and posterior insula (PI) scaled in opposite directions with the difference in attention to risky rewards relative to risky losses. PI activation also differentiated foveations on both risky options (rewards and losses) relative to a sure-thing option. These findings point to ACC involvement in ongoing evaluation of risky but higher value options. The role of PI in risky outcomes points to a more general evaluative role in the decision-making that compares both safe and risky outcomes, irrespective of potential for gains or losses.
基于价值的决策被认为涉及一个动态的整合过程，支持评估不同选择选项的潜在结果。决策框架假设决策的价值取决于结果周围的可取性和风险。先前的工作已经强调了人类大脑中风险的神经表示及其与决策选择的关系。包括脑岛和前扣带皮层（ACC）在内的关键神经区域已被牵连到风险对决策结果的影响的编码中，包括接近和回避。然而，尚不清楚这些区域是否参与了先于并推动选择的动态整合过程，以及它们与持续关注的关系。在这里，我们使用并发 fMRI 和眼动追踪来辨别在安全（即安全）和风险赌博选项之间进行选择之前与视觉注意力相关的神经激活。我们发现，背侧 ACC（dACC）和后岛（PI）的激活都与相对于风险损失的风险奖励的注意力差异呈相反方向。PI 激活还区分了两种风险选项（奖励和损失）相对于安全选项的注视点。这些发现表明，ACC 参与了对风险但价值更高的选项的持续评估。PI 在风险结果中的作用表明，在比较安全和风险结果的决策中，它具有更普遍的评估作用，而不论潜在收益或损失如何。
