Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States.
Brain Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States.
Elife. 2022 Sep 5;11:e80926. doi: 10.7554/eLife.80926.
Adaptive reward-related decision making requires accurate prospective consideration of the specific outcome of each option and its current desirability. These mental simulations are informed by stored memories of the associative relationships that exist within an environment. In this review, I discuss recent investigations of the function of circuitry between the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and lateral (lOFC) and medial (mOFC) orbitofrontal cortex in the learning and use of associative reward memories. I draw conclusions from data collected using sophisticated behavioral approaches to diagnose the content of appetitive memory in combination with modern circuit dissection tools. I propose that, via their direct bidirectional connections, the BLA and OFC collaborate to help us encode detailed, outcome-specific, state-dependent reward memories and to use those memories to enable the predictions and inferences that support adaptive decision making. Whereas lOFC→BLA projections mediate the encoding of outcome-specific reward memories, mOFC→BLA projections regulate the ability to use these memories to inform reward pursuit decisions. BLA projections to lOFC and mOFC both contribute to using reward memories to guide decision making. The BLA→lOFC pathway mediates the ability to represent the identity of a specific predicted reward and the BLA→mOFC pathway facilitates understanding of the value of predicted events. Thus, I outline a neuronal circuit architecture for reward learning and decision making and provide new testable hypotheses as well as implications for both adaptive and maladaptive decision making.
适应性奖励相关决策需要准确地预测每个选项的具体结果及其当前的吸引力。这些心理模拟是通过存储在环境中存在的关联关系的记忆来提供信息的。在这篇综述中，我讨论了最近关于外侧眶额皮层（lOFC）和内侧眶额皮层（mOFC）与基底外侧杏仁核（BLA）之间回路在联想奖励记忆的学习和使用中的功能的研究。我从使用复杂的行为方法收集的数据中得出结论，这些方法用于诊断食欲记忆的内容，结合现代电路解剖工具。我提出，通过它们的直接双向连接，BLA 和 OFC 合作帮助我们编码详细的、特定结果的、状态依赖的奖励记忆，并利用这些记忆来支持支持适应性决策的预测和推断。虽然 lOFC→BLA 投射介导特定结果的奖励记忆的编码，但 mOFC→BLA 投射调节使用这些记忆来告知奖励追求决策的能力。BLA 到 lOFC 和 mOFC 的投射都有助于利用奖励记忆来指导决策。BLA→lOFC 通路介导特定预测奖励的身份表示的能力，而 BLA→mOFC 通路有助于理解预测事件的价值。因此，我概述了一种奖励学习和决策的神经元回路结构，并提供了新的可测试的假设，以及对适应性和不适应性决策的影响。
