Distinct regions of anterior cingulate cortex signal prediction and outcome evaluation

Our task independently manipulated both the number of predicted outcomes and the degree to which outcomes violated expectancies, the former providing assessment of regions sensitive to prediction and the latter providing assessment of regions sensitive to evaluation. Using quantitative regressors derived from the PRO computational model, we show that prediction-based model signals load on a network including the posterior and perigenual ACC, but outcome evaluation model signals load on the mid-dorsal ACC. These findings are consistent with distinct prediction and evaluation signals as posited by the PRO model and provide new perspective on a large set of known effects within ACC.