Neural correlates of decision making with explicit information about probabilities and incentives in elderly healthy subjects

Abstract

Recent functional neuroimaging and lesion studies demonstrate the involvement of the orbitofrontal/ventromedial prefrontal cortex as a key structure in decision making processes. This region seems to be particularly crucial when contingencies between options and consequences are unknown but have to be learned by the use of feedback following previous decisions (decision making under ambiguity). However, little is known about the neural correlates of decision making under risk conditions in which information about probabilities and potential outcomes is given. In the present study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) responses in 12 subjects during a decision making task. This task provided explicit information about probabilities and associated potential incentives. The responses were compared to BOLD signals in a control condition without information about incentives. In contrast to previous decision making studies, we completely removed the outcome phase following a decision to exclude the potential influence of feedback previously received on current decisions. The results indicate that the integration of information about probabilities and incentives leads to activations within the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the posterior parietal lobe, the anterior cingulate and the right lingual gyrus. We assume that this pattern of activation is due to the involvement of executive functions, conflict detection mechanisms and arithmetic operations during the deliberation phase of decisional processes that are based on explicit information.

Behavioral contagion during learning about another agent’s risk-preferences acts on the neural representation of decision-risk

“…The outcome of each choice was not revealed (37), ensuring that an outcome was not immediately anticipated and that valuations were not influenced by the history of previous outcomes (see (38,39) for the discrimination of instructed and learned value information). According to our literature survey (Table S4), only a few studies used such a design, and they reported neural activity related to decision-risk in diverse regions including caudate and insula (37,(40)(41)(42)(43). The present study provides additional evidence that caudate tracks decision-risk.…”

The angular gyrus and visuospatial attention in decision-making under risk

“…Our results provide new insights into the functional significance of IPC activations observed in neuroimaging studies Berns et al, 2008;Ernst et al, 2004;Labudda et al, 2008;Studer et al, 2012;Symmonds et al, 2011;Vickery and Jiang, 2009), and suggest that the AG is crucially involved in the guidance of attention to relevant decision information in the visual environment. We note that the IPC consists of multiple cytoarchitectonic subdivisions (e.g.…”

“…Previous neuroimaging studies found that the AG is activated during decision-making (Ernst et al, 2004;Labudda et al, 2008;Vickery and Jiang, 2009) and moreover, showed that hemodynamic responses in this area during the choice process reflect the probability Berns et al, 2008;Studer et al, 2012) and variance (Symmonds et al, 2011) of potential outcomes. The AG is also thought to be a key area for visuospatial attention.…”

Further evidence of a dissociation between decision-making under ambiguity and decision-making under risk in obsessive–compulsive disorder

“…In a previous study of individuals with ventromedial prefrontal lesions, poor IGT performance was also influenced by reversal learning (Fellows and Farah, 2005). On the other hand, gains and losses in the GDT are based on explicit rules and apparent winning probabilities (decision-making under risk), which are associated with executive function (Brand et al, 2007a(Brand et al, , 2005a(Brand et al, , 2005b(Brand et al, , 2007b(Brand et al, , 2008b and activation of several brain regions, such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, posterior parietal lobe, anterior cingulate cortex, and right lingual gyrus (Labudda et al, 2008).…”