The role of ventromedial prefrontal cortex in reward valuation and future thinking during intertemporal choice
- Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Bologna, Italy
- Centro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Università di Bologna, Italy
- Department of Psychology, York University, Canada
- Department of Philosophy, Washington University, United States
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University, United States
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest, Canada
Figures
Figure 1
Location and overlap of brain lesions.
The panel shows the lesions of the 12 patients with ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) damage projected on the same eight axial slices and on the mesial view of the standard Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) brain. The level of the axial slices is indicated by horizontal lines on the mesial view of the brain, and by z-coordinates. The color bar indicates the number of overlapping lesions. Maximal overlap occurs in Brodmann areas (BAs) 11, 10, and 32 of vmPFC. In axial slices, the left hemisphere is on the left side.
Figure 2
Example of an experimental trial in the episodic future thinking (EFT) condition.
Participants were presented with an episodic cue and asked to imagine a personal future experience occurring at a specific delay (e.g., in 1 year). They then were presented with two hypothetical reward amounts and indicated their choice between the smaller-immediate reward and the larger-delayed reward to be received at that delay.
Figure 3 with 1 supplement
Subjective value as a function of delay by participant group and task condition.
Lines represent choices averaged across both reward amounts (data points available in the source data file: Figure 3—source data 1).
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Figure 3—source data 1
Data points for Figure 3.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/67387/elife-67387-fig3-data1-v2.xlsx
Figure 3—figure supplement 1
Subjective value of small and large rewards as a function of delay for individual participants in the Standard and episodic future thinking (EFT) condition (data points available in the source data file: Figure 3—figure supplement 1—source data 1).
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Figure 3—figure supplement 1—source data 1
Data points for Figure 3—figure supplement 1.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/67387/elife-67387-fig3-figsupp1-data1-v2.xlsx
Figure 4
Area under the empirical discounting curve (AuC) by participant group, task condition, and reward magnitude.
The figure reports individual participants’ data. Empty symbols denote ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) patients with brain damage touching the lateral prefrontal cortex. *p < 0.05 (data points available in the source data file: Figure 4—source data 1).
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Figure 4—source data 1
Data points for Figure 4.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/67387/elife-67387-fig4-data1-v2.xlsx
Tables
Table 1
vmPFC patients’ demographic and clinical data.
| vmPFC patient | Age (y) | Edu (y) | Sex (y) | Time since lesion (y) | EFT Int (z score) | EFT Ext (z score) | PF | LF | DS | LL Imm | LL Del | ROCF copy | ROCF recall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P1 (I) | 55 | 13 | M | 4 | −1.42 | 0.58 | 21% | 23% | 34% | 14% | 17% | 100% | 50% |
| P2 (I) | 46 | 13 | M | 7 | −1.54 | −1.44 | 38% | 7% | 49% | 12% | 8% | 100% | 41% |
| P3 (I) | 56 | 8 | M | 13 | −1.43 | −0.73 | 42% | 16% | 23% | 0.43% | 3% | 25% | 2% |
| P4 (I) | 57 | 8 | M | 7 | −1.57 | −0.28 | 42% | 31% | 23% | 7% | 12% | 89% | 27% |
| P5 (C) | 58 | 15 | F | 8 | – | – | 82% | 35% | 18% | 1% | 0.02% | 2% | 13% |
| P6 (C) | 76 | 16 | F | 5 | 0.20 | −0.86 | 55% | 40% | 80% | 81% | 50% | 67% | 62% |
| P7 (C) | 54 | 13 | F | 2 | −2.27 | −1.64 | 58% | 30% | 59% | 2% | 2–3% | 8% | 42% |
| P8 (C) | 65 | 18 | M | 4 | −1.93 | −1.00 | 45% | 2% | 39% | 8% | 7% | 22% | 18% |
| P9 (C) | 56 | 20 | M | 4 | −2.24 | −1.24 | 47% | - | 39% | 1% | 0.7% | 68% | 1% |
| P10 (C) | 51 | 10 | M | 8 | – | – | 45% | 20% | 59% | 4% | 0.7% | 84% | 13% |
| P11 (C) | 66 | 15 | F | 1 | −1.73 | −1.41 | 47% | 55% | 39% | 1% | 1% | 70% | 2% |
| P12 (C) | 49 | 12 | M | 5 | −1.89 | 0.95 | 86% | 50% | 39% | 1% | 0.03% | 58% | 0.7% |
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Note: (I) = patient tested in Italy; (C) = patient tested in Canada; M = male; F = female; Edu = education; y = years; vmPFC = ventromedial prefrontal cortex; EFT Int = internal details at the Crovitz episodic future thinking task; EFT Ext = external details at the Crovitz episodic future thinking task; PF = premorbid functioning, based on the full-scale IQ at Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WAIS–IV; Wechsler, 2009) for Canadian patients P7, P9, P12, on the Wechsler test of adult reading (WTAR; Holdnack, 2001) for Canadian patients P6 and P11, on the National Adult Reading Test (NART) (Paolo and Ryan, 1992) for Canadian patients P5, P8, and P10, and on the Raven Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM) for all Italian patients (Spinnler and Tognoni, 1987); LF = letter fluency (Spinnler and Tognoni, 1987; Spreen and Strauss, 1998); DS = digit span (forward); LL Imm = list learning immediate recall, LL Del = list learning delayed recall, assessed with the Buschke–Fuld Test (Buschke and Fuld, 1974; Spinnler and Tognoni, 1987) in Italian patients, and with the California Verbal Learning Test-II (Woods et al., 2006) in Canadian vmPFC patients; ROCF = Rey–Osterrieth Complex Figure (Spinnler and Tognoni, 1987; Spreen and Strauss, 1998). For PF, LF, DS, LL, and ROCF, we report percentile scores. Dashes indicate missing data.
Table 2
Mean number of internal and external details for past and future events at the Galton–Crovitz cue-word task.
| Past events | Future events | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Internal details | External details | Internal details | External details | |
| Italian vmPFC patients | 13.20 (3.96) | 13.15 (5.74) | 9.69 (0.68) | 9.63 (3.79) |
| Italian healthy controls | 27.84 (10.08) | 12.19 (3.38) | 23.17 (9.05) | 11.73 (4.48) |
| Canadian vmPFC patients | 11.51 (8.07) | 17.88 (8.62) | 9.75 (10.43) | 15.70 (10.21) |
| Canadian healthy controls | 35.34 (9.53) | 26.09 (12.47) | 28.22 (11.24) | 25.21 (10.96) |
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Note: Values in parenthesis are standard deviations.
Additional files
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Source data 1
Statistical analyses.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/67387/elife-67387-data1-v2.doc
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Transparent reporting form
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/67387/elife-67387-transrepform-v2.docx
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The role of ventromedial prefrontal cortex in reward valuation and future thinking during intertemporal choice
eLife 10:e67387.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.67387
