Independent and interacting value systems for reward and information in the human brain

Abstract
Data availability
Article and author information
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Abstract

Theories of Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) as optimizing reward value have been widely deployed to explain its activity in a diverse range of contexts, with substantial empirical support in neuroeconomics and decision neuroscience. Similar neural circuits, however, have also been associated with information processing. By using computational modeling, model-based fMRI analysis, and a novel experimental paradigm, we aim at establishing whether a dedicated and independent value system for information exists in the human PFC. We identify two regions in the human PFC which independently encode reward and information. Our results provide empirical evidence for PFC as an optimizer of independent information and reward signals during decision-making under realistic scenarios, with potential implications for the interpretation of PFC activity in both healthy and clinical populations.

Data availability

Behavioral data is available on OSF, https://osf.io/e3rp6/.

The following data sets were generated

(2022) Indipendent and interacting value system for reward and information in the human brain
OSF, DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/E3RP6.

https://osf.io/e3rp6/

Article and author information

Author details

Irene Cogliati Dezza

Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, United Kingdom

For correspondence
irene.cogliatidezza@gmail.com

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-1212-4751
Axel Cleeremans

Center for Research in Cognition and Neurosciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
William H Alexander

Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-3723-4789

Funding

FWO-Flanders Odysseus 2 (G.OC44.13N)

William H Alexander

F.R.S.-fNRS

Irene Cogliati Dezza

FWO

Irene Cogliati Dezza

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

Ethics

Human subjects: The experiment was approved by the Ethical Committee of the Ghent University Hospital and conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki. Informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to the experiment.

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.