Anterior prefrontal cortex contributes to action selection through tracking of recent reward trends

Christopher K Kovach; Nathaniel D Daw; David Rudrauf; Daniel Tranel; John P O'Doherty; Ralph Adolphs

doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5468-11.2012

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Anterior prefrontal cortex contributes to action selection through tracking of recent reward trends

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Anterior prefrontal cortex contributes to action selection through tracking of recent reward trends

Christopher K Kovach, Nathaniel D Daw, David Rudrauf, Daniel Tranel, John P O'Doherty and Ralph Adolphs

The Journal of neuroscience, Vol.32(25), pp.8434-8442

06/20/2012

DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5468-11.2012

PMCID: PMC3425366

PMID: 22723683

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Abstract

The functions of prefrontal cortex remain enigmatic, especially for its anterior sectors, putatively ranging from planning to self-initiated behavior, social cognition, task switching, and memory. A predominant current theory regarding the most anterior sector, the frontopolar cortex (FPC), is that it is involved in exploring alternative courses of action, but the detailed causal mechanisms remain unknown. Here we investigated this issue using the lesion method, together with a novel model-based analysis. Eight patients with anterior prefrontal brain lesions including the FPC performed a four-armed bandit task known from neuroimaging studies to activate the FPC. Model-based analyses of learning demonstrated a selective deficit in the ability to extrapolate the most recent trend, despite an intact general ability to learn from past rewards. Whereas both brain-damaged and healthy controls used comparisons between the two most recent choice outcomes to infer trends that influenced their decision about the next choice, the group with anterior prefrontal lesions showed a complete absence of this component and instead based their choice entirely on the cumulative reward history. Given that the FPC is thought to be the most evolutionarily recent expansion of primate prefrontal cortex, we suggest that its function may reflect uniquely human adaptations to select and update models of reward contingency in dynamic environments.

Brain Damage, Chronic - psychology

Humans

Middle Aged

Male

Psychomotor Performance - physiology

Prefrontal Cortex - pathology

Exploratory Behavior - physiology

Neurosurgical Procedures

Computer Simulation

Female

Functional Laterality - physiology

Brain Damage, Chronic - pathology

Sex Characteristics

Intelligence Tests

Neuropsychological Tests

Learning - physiology

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Algorithms

Analysis of Variance

Image Processing, Computer-Assisted

Prefrontal Cortex - injuries

Decision Making - physiology

Models, Neurological

Reward

Prefrontal Cortex - physiology

Details

Title: Subtitle: Anterior prefrontal cortex contributes to action selection through tracking of recent reward trends
Creators: Christopher K Kovach - Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA. christopher-kovach@uiowa.edu
Nathaniel D Daw
David Rudrauf
Daniel Tranel
John P O'Doherty
Ralph Adolphs
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: The Journal of neuroscience, Vol.32(25), pp.8434-8442
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5468-11.2012
PMID: 22723683
PMCID: PMC3425366
NLM abbreviation: J Neurosci
ISSN: 0270-6474
eISSN: 1529-2401
Publisher: United States
Grant note: P50 NS019632 / NINDS NIH HHS M01 RR000059 / NCRR NIH HHS DA022549 / NIDA NIH HHS MH080721 / NIMH NIH HHS R01 DA022549 / NIDA NIH HHS P50 NS19632 / NINDS NIH HHS R01 MH080721 / NIMH NIH HHS
Language: English
Date published: 06/20/2012
Academic Unit: Neurology; Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute; Neurosurgery
Record Identifier: 9984002321102771

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