Department of Biosciences and Informatics, Keio University, 3-14-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, 223-8522, Japan.
Centre for Brain, Mind and Markets, The University of Melbourne, Grattan Street, Parkville, Victoria, 3010, Australia.
Cereb Cortex. 2024 May 2;34(5). doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhae217.
Deciding whether to wait for a future reward is crucial for surviving in an uncertain world. While seeking rewards, agents anticipate a reward in the present environment and constantly face a trade-off between staying in their environment or leaving it. It remains unclear, however, how humans make continuous decisions in such situations. Here, we show that anticipatory activity in the anterior prefrontal cortex, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, and hippocampus underpins continuous stay-leave decision-making. Participants awaited real liquid rewards available after tens of seconds, and their continuous decision was tracked by dynamic brain activity associated with the anticipation of a reward. Participants stopped waiting more frequently and sooner after they experienced longer delays and received smaller rewards. When the dynamic anticipatory brain activity was enhanced in the anterior prefrontal cortex, participants remained in their current environment, but when this activity diminished, they left the environment. Moreover, while experiencing a delayed reward in a novel environment, the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and hippocampus showed anticipatory activity. Finally, the activity in the anterior prefrontal cortex and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex was enhanced in participants adopting a leave strategy, whereas those remaining stationary showed enhanced hippocampal activity. Our results suggest that fronto-hippocampal anticipatory dynamics underlie continuous decision-making while anticipating a future reward.
在不确定的世界中生存，决定是否等待未来的奖励至关重要。在寻求奖励的过程中，代理会预测当前环境中的奖励，并且经常面临留在环境中还是离开环境的权衡取舍。然而，人类如何在这种情况下做出持续的决策仍然不清楚。在这里，我们展示了前前额叶皮层、腹外侧前额叶皮层和海马体中的预期活动支持连续的停留-离开决策。参与者等待数十秒后可获得真实的液体奖励，他们的连续决策通过与奖励预期相关的动态大脑活动进行跟踪。参与者在经历更长的延迟和获得更小的奖励后，会更频繁且更早地停止等待。当前前额叶皮层的动态预期大脑活动增强时，参与者会留在当前环境中，但当这种活动减弱时，他们会离开环境。此外，当在新环境中体验延迟奖励时，腹外侧前额叶皮层和海马体显示出预期活动。最后，采用离开策略的参与者的前前额叶皮层和腹外侧前额叶皮层的活动增强，而保持静止的参与者则表现出海马体活动增强。我们的结果表明，在预测未来奖励的过程中，额-海马预期动力学是连续决策的基础。
