Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Inserm, U1216, CHU Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble Institut Neurosciences, 38000, Grenoble, France.
Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Computationnelles, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Paris, France.
Nat Commun. 2024 Aug 29;15(1):7508. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-51822-8.
Neural activity within the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and anterior insula (aIns) is often associated with economic choices and confidence. However, it remains unclear whether these brain regions are causally related to these processes. To address this issue, we leveraged intracranial electrical stimulation (iES) data obtained from patients with epilepsy performing an economic choice task. Our results reveal opposite effects of stimulation on decision-making depending on its location along a dorso-ventral axis within each region. Specifically, stimulation of the ventral subregion within aIns reduces risk-taking by increasing participants' sensitivity to potential losses, whereas stimulation of the dorsal subregion of aIns and the ventral portion of the vmPFC increases risk-taking by reducing participants' sensitivity to losses. Moreover, stimulation of the aIns consistently decreases participants' confidence, regardless of its location within the aIns. These findings suggest the existence of functionally dissociated neural subregions and circuits causally involved in accepting or avoiding challenges.
腹内侧前额叶皮层（vmPFC）和前岛叶（aIns）内的神经活动通常与经济选择和信心有关。然而，这些大脑区域是否与这些过程有因果关系仍不清楚。为了解决这个问题，我们利用了癫痫患者在执行经济选择任务时获得的颅内电刺激（iES）数据。我们的结果表明，刺激在每个区域的背-腹轴上的位置不同，对决策有相反的影响。具体来说，aIns 腹侧亚区的刺激通过增加参与者对潜在损失的敏感度来降低风险承担，而 aIns 的背侧亚区和 vmPFC 的腹侧部分的刺激则通过降低参与者对损失的敏感度来增加风险承担。此外，刺激 aIns 会一致降低参与者的信心，而不管刺激的位置在 aIns 内何处。这些发现表明，存在功能上不同的神经亚区和回路，它们与接受或回避挑战有因果关系。
