Post-decision processing in primate prefrontal cortex influences subsequent choices on an auditory decision-making task
- University of Pennsylvania, United States
Abstract
Perceptual decisions do not occur in isolation but instead reflect ongoing evaluation and adjustment processes that can affect future decisions. However, the neuronal substrates of these across-decision processes are not well understood, particularly for auditory decisions. We measured and manipulated the activity of choice-selective neurons in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) while monkeys made decisions about the frequency content of noisy auditory stimuli. As the decision was being formed, vlPFC activity was not modulated strongly by the task. However, after decision commitment, vlPFC population activity encoded the sensory evidence, choice, and outcome of the current trial and predicted subject-specific choice biases on the subsequent trial. Consistent with these patterns of neuronal activity, electrical microstimulation in vlPFC tended to affect the subsequent, but not current, decision. Thus, distributed post-commitment representations of graded decision-related information in prefrontal cortex can play a causal role in evaluating past decisions and biasing subsequent ones.
Data availability
The data analyses were performed in Matlab; this code is available https://github.com/CohenAuditoryLab/Joji.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (DC009224)
- Yale Cohen
National Eye Institute (MH115557)
- Joshua I Gold
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (DC012961)
- Yale Cohen
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Reviewing Editor
- Timothy D Griffiths, Newcastle University, United Kingdom
Ethics
Animal experimentation: The University of Pennsylvania Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee approved all of the experimental protocols, which were conducted under protocol 804699.
Version history
- Received: March 12, 2019
- Accepted: June 5, 2019
- Accepted Manuscript published: June 6, 2019 (version 1)
- Version of Record published: June 14, 2019 (version 2)
Copyright
© 2019, Tsunada et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Post-decision processing in primate prefrontal cortex influences subsequent choices on an auditory decision-making task
eLife 8:e46770.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.46770
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We are unresponsive during slow-wave sleep but continue monitoring external events for survival. Our brain wakens us when danger is imminent. If events are non-threatening, our brain might store them for later consideration to improve decision-making. To test this hypothesis, we examined whether novel vocabulary consisting of simultaneously played pseudowords and translation words are encoded/stored during sleep, and which neural-electrical events facilitate encoding/storage. An algorithm for brain-state-dependent stimulation selectively targeted word pairs to slow-wave peaks or troughs. Retrieval tests were given 12 and 36 hr later. These tests required decisions regarding the semantic category of previously sleep-played pseudowords. The sleep-played vocabulary influenced awake decision-making 36 hr later, if targeted to troughs. The words’ linguistic processing raised neural complexity. The words’ semantic-associative encoding was supported by increased theta power during the ensuing peak. Fast-spindle power ramped up during a second peak likely aiding consolidation. Hence, new vocabulary played during slow-wave sleep was stored and influenced decision-making days later.
