A Critical Role for Human Ventromedial Frontal Lobe in Value Comparison of Complex Objects Based on Attribute Configuration

Abstract

In making decisions, we often choose from among options with multiple value-relevant attributes. Neuroeconomic models propose that the value associated with each attribute is integrated in a global value for each option. However, some evidence from patients with ventromedial frontal lobe (VMF) damage argues against a very general role for this region in value integration, suggesting instead that it contributes critically to a specific value inference or comparison process. Here, we tested value-based decision-making involving artificial multiattribute objects in humans with focal damage to the VMF (N ϭ 12) compared with a healthy group matched for age and education (N ϭ 24) and with a group with frontal lobe damage sparing the VMF (N ϭ 12). In a "configural" condition, overall object value was predicted by the conjunction of two attributes, while in an "elemental" condition, object value could be assessed by combining the independent values of individual attributes. Patients with VMF damage were impaired in making choices when value was uniquely predicted by the configuration of attributes, but intact when choosing based on elemental attribute values. This is evidence that the VMF is critical for inferring the value of whole objects in a multiattribute choice. These findings have implications for models of value-based choice and add to emerging views of how this region may interact with medial temporal lobe systems involved in configural object processing and relational memory. Significance StatementNeuroeconomic models propose that the ventromedial frontal lobe (VMF) supports multiattribute decisions by integrating the values of attributes. However, researchers have been uncertain about the underlying mechanisms for this process. Patients with VMF damage made multiattribute choices under two conditions: in one, attribute values could be summed to guide choice; in the other, value was predicted by the conjunction of attributes. VMF damage impaired only the latter. This argues that the VMF is critical for inferring value from configural information to guide multiattribute object choice. This region may be key for judging the emergent "value of the forest," rather than for integrating the individual "value of each tree."

Aesthetic preference for art emerges from a weighted integration over hierarchically structured visual features in the brain

“…Further evidence supports attribute-based computations in prefrontal cortex (PFC), such as the distinction between whether a food is judged to be tasty or healthy, 19 or even in judgments about the value of clothing, 20 as well as the value of multi-attribute artificial stimuli (e.g., the movement and the color of dots) in humans and macaques. [21][22][23] However, it is not clear if the same feature-based strategy used by the brain to derive value for items suited to a functional decomposition 24 is also applied when performing the rather esoteric function of determining the aesthetic value of visual art. In previous work on feature integration, the features are natural and obvious properties of a stimulus such as a food's fat content.…”

Hierarchical Network Model Excitatory-Inhibitory Tone Shapes Alternative Strategies for Different Degrees of Uncertainty in Multi-Attribute Decisions

“…They found that distinct areas were independently specific for each attribute, and that a third area showed activity correlated with the combined signals from the earlier areas. The importance of later-areas for the integration of value signals was demonstrated by (Pelletier and Fellows 2019) in patients with damage to the OFC and vmPFC. They found that these patients were able to make decisions based on single attributes (the form of elements in an object versus the configuration of elements) no different from controls.…”

Individual Differences in Hippocampal Volume as a Function of BMI and Reward Sensitivity

“…In these studies, BMI was negatively related to the gray matter (GM) volume in the right lateral and medial orbitofrontal cortex (Medic et al, 2016;Vainik et al, 2018). Neuropsychological studies with brain lesioned patients have reported that lesions in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex lead to deficits in the integration of information (Pelletier and Fellows, 2019) and that lesions in the right ventrolateral cortex lead to problems in inhibitory control (Aron et al, 2004). Thus, these BMI results reinforce the idea of deficits in executive functions and inhibitory control as mechanisms leading to overweight at an early age (Alonso-Alonso and Pascual-Leone, 2007).…”