کد مقاله | کد نشریه | سال انتشار | مقاله انگلیسی | نسخه تمام متن |
---|---|---|---|---|
5738539 | 1615039 | 2017 | 7 صفحه PDF | دانلود رایگان |
- mPFC neurons involve in regulating diverse aspects of decision making behavior.
- mPFC neurons participate in predicting the magnitude of cost and benefit.
- mPFC neurons encode cost with various firing patterns.
Decision making refers to the process that subjects use to choose between competing courses of action based on the expected costs and benefits of their consequences. However, few studies have addressed the neuronal mechanisms behind the processes of how costs and benefits influence decision making. Here we investigated the neuronal representation of costs and benefits towards a goal-directed action under a differential reward schedule by training rats to perform a “Do more, get more” (DM-GM) task utilizing a nosepoke operandum, where longer nosepoke durations resulted in correspondingly larger rewards. Our results showed that the cost a rat pays can be expected from the activity of neurons located in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). These findings indicate that mPFC activity is predictive of the subjects' costs and benefits, providing mechanistic insights on this mental calculation.
Journal: Neuroscience Letters - Volume 660, 1 November 2017, Pages 115-121