Modality-specific and modality-general representations of subjective value in frontal cortex

Autor: Shilpa Dang, Jessica Emily Antono, Igor Kagan, Arezoo Pooresmaeili
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2024
Předmět:
Zdroj: Communications Biology, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-19 (2024)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2399-3642
DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-07253-8
Popis: Abstract Neuroeconomics theories propose that the value associated with diverse rewards or reward-predicting stimuli is encoded along a common reference scale, irrespective of their sensory properties. However, in a dynamic environment with changing stimulus-reward pairings, the brain must also represent the sensory features of rewarding stimuli. The mechanism by which the brain balances these needs—deriving a common reference scale for valuation while maintaining sensitivity to sensory contexts—remains unclear. To investigate this, we conducted an fMRI study with human participants engaged in a dynamic foraging task, which required integrating the reward history of auditory or visual choice options and updating the subjective value for each sensory modality. Univariate fMRI analysis revealed modality-specific value representations in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and modality-general value representations in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), confirmed by an exploratory multivariate pattern classification approach. Crucially, modality-specific value representations were absent when the task involved instruction-based rather than value-based choices. Effective connectivity analysis showed that modality-specific value representations emerged from selective bidirectional interactions across the auditory and visual sensory cortices, the corresponding OFC clusters, and the vmPFC. These results illustrate how the brain enables a valuation process that is sensitive to the sensory context of rewarding stimuli.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals
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