Neural encoding of task-dependent errors during adaptive learning

Abstract
Data availability
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Abstract

Effective learning requires using errors in a task-dependent manner, for example adjusting to errors that result from unpredicted environmental changes but ignoring errors that result from environmental stochasticity. Where and how the brain represents errors in a task-dependent manner and uses them to guide behavior are not well understood. We imaged the brains of human participants performing a predictive-inference task with two conditions that had different sources of errors. Their performance was sensitive to this difference, including more choice switches after fundamental changes versus stochastic fluctuations in reward contingencies. Using multi-voxel pattern classification, we identified task-dependent representations of error magnitude and past errors in posterior parietal cortex. These representations were distinct from representations of the resulting behavioral adjustments in dorsomedial frontal, anterior cingulate, and orbitofrontal cortex. The results provide new insights into how the human brain represents errors in a task-dependent manner and guides subsequent adaptive behavior.

Data availability

The fMRI dataset has been made available at OpenNeuro under the accession ds003170. Codes and behavioral dataset are available at Github (https://github.com/changhaokao/mvpa_changepoint_fmri).

The following data sets were generated

1. Kao C-H
2. Lee S
3. Gold JI
4. Kable JW
(2020) changepoint fmri
OpenNeuro, ds003170.

https://openneuro.org/datasets/ds003170/versions/2.0.0

Article and author information

Author details

Chang-Hao Kao

Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States

For correspondence
chakao@sas.upenn.edu

Competing interests
No competing interests declared.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-2928-302X
Sangil Lee

Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States

Competing interests
No competing interests declared.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-4443-9926
Joshua I Gold

Department of Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States

Competing interests
Joshua I Gold, Senior editor, eLife.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-6018-0483
Joseph W Kable

Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States

For correspondence
kable@psych.upenn.edu

Competing interests
No competing interests declared.

Funding

National Institute of Mental Health (R01-MH098899)

Joshua I Gold
Joseph W Kable

National Science Foundation (1533623)

Joshua I Gold
Joseph W Kable

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Human subjects: All procedures were approved by University of Pennsylvania Internal Review Board. All participants provided informed consent before the experiment. (IRB Protocol # 816727).

Copyright

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.