Neural Correlates of Decisions and Their Outcomes in the Ventral Premotor Cortex

Pardo-Vázquez, José L.; Leborán, Víctor; Acuña, Carlos

doi:10.1523/jneurosci.3396-08.2008

Cited by 52 publications

(112 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…14 Differential neuronal responses after correct and error trials have been described in the The neuronal responses described in dmPFC of rats are very similar to the ones we 22 found, in the present work, in monkey's PMv.…”

supporting

confidence: 85%

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Using experience to improve: How errors shape behavior and brain activity in monkeys

Pardo-Vázquez

Acuña

2017

Preprint

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1Previous works have shown that neurons from the ventral premotor cortex (PMv) 2 represent several elements of perceptual decisions. One of the most striking findings 3 was that, after the outcome of the choice is known, neurons from PMv encode all the 4 information necessary for evaluating the decision process. These results prompted us to 5 suggest that this cortical area could be involved in shaping future behavior. In this work, 6 we have characterized neuronal activity and behavioral performance as a function of the 7 outcome of the previous trial. We found that the outcome of the immediately previous 8 trial (n-1) significantly changes, in the current trial (n), the activity of single cells and 9 behavioral performance. The outcome of trial n-2, however, does not affect either 10 behavior or neuronal activity. Moreover, the outcome of difficult trials had a greater 11 impact on performance and recruited more PMv neurons than the outcome of easy trials. 12These results give strong support to our suggestion that PMv neurons evaluate the 13 decision process and use this information to modify future behavior.14 All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.(which was not peer-reviewed) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

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confidence: 85%

“…Therefore, while the outcome of trial n-1 had a significant impact on the activity of 22 PMv neurons and behavioral accuracy and engagement, the outcome of trial n-2 had a 23 much smaller effect on the neuronal activity and no significant effect on behavioral 24 performance.…”

mentioning

confidence: 91%

Using experience to improve: How errors shape behavior and brain activity in monkeys

Pardo-Vázquez

Acuña

2017

Preprint

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“…Thus, VPC seems well suited to evaluate sensory events and convert them into a decision or motor report. Consistent with this interpretation, during somatosensory (14) and visual (30) discrimination tasks, the activity of VPC neurons reflects the transformation of sensory information into a perceptual decision. But, whether VPC is involved in a perceptual decision based on sound discrimination is unknown.…”

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confidence: 60%

Neural encoding of auditory discrimination in ventral premotor cortex

Lemus

Hernandez

Romo

2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Monkeys have the capacity to accurately discriminate the difference between two acoustic flutter stimuli. In this task, monkeys must compare information about the second stimulus to the memory trace of the first stimulus, and must postpone the decision report until a sensory cue triggers the beginning of the decision motor report. The neuronal processes associated with the different components of this task have been investigated in the primary auditory cortex (A1); but, A1 seems exclusively associated with the sensory and not with the working memory and decision components of this task. Here, we show that ventral premotor cortex (VPC) neurons reflect in their activities the current and remembered acoustic stimulus, their comparison, and the result of the animal's decision report. These results provide evidence that the neural dynamics of VPC is involved in the processing steps that link sensation and decision-making during auditory discrimination.monkeys ͉ sensory ͉ working memory ͉ decision making A n important research theme in neuroscience is to understand how in the brain a sensory representation transforms into a behavioral decision (1-3). The contribution of sensory cortices in this cognitive operation has been investigated before, but the results suggest that they are primarily associated with stimulus encoding (4-9). In contrast, those cortical areas that receive inputs from sensory and memory circuits, and send outputs to the motor circuits appear well suited for elaborating perceptual decisions (10-16). For example, the ventral premotor cortex (VPC) receives projections from sensory areas of the parietal and temporal lobes (17-19) and association areas of the prefrontal cortex (20), and it sends projections to motor areas of the frontal lobe (18), subcortical structures (21) and spinal cord (22,23). It has also been shown that VPC neurons possess both sensory (24, 25) and motor fields (26), and encode complex sensorimotor actions (27-29). Thus, VPC seems well suited to evaluate sensory events and convert them into a decision or motor report. Consistent with this interpretation, during somatosensory (14) and visual (30) discrimination tasks, the activity of VPC neurons reflects the transformation of sensory information into a perceptual decision. But, whether VPC is involved in a perceptual decision based on sound discrimination is unknown.We addressed this problem by recording the activity of single neurons in VPC while trained monkeys discriminated the difference in rate of two acoustic flutter stimuli (range of 4-40 Hz) (9). The sensation of acoustic flutter is produced by slow repetitions of an acoustic stimulus. The rate of the acoustic flutter is determined by the interval between each pulse (each pulse lasts 20 ms at 1 KHz) in the stimulus trains (9). In the acoustic flutter discrimination task, monkeys report whether the second stimulus rate (f2) is higher or lower than the first stimulus rate (f1). This cognitive operation requires that subjects compare information of f2 with a stored trace of ...

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“…22) seem to represent the reward value. In contrast, reward-related signals in lateral prefrontal cortex, the frontal eye fields, and premotor cortex suggest that these areas use reward for motivational purposes or for allocation of attentional resources (19)(20)(21)24).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Mirror neurons encode the subjective value of an observed action

Caggiano

Fogassi²,

Rizzolatti³

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Objects grasped by an agent have a value not only for the acting agent, but also for an individual observing the grasping act. The value that the observer attributes to the object that is grasped can be pivotal for selecting a possible behavioral response. Mirror neurons in area F5 of the monkey premotor cortex have been suggested to play a crucial role in the understanding of action goals. However, it has not been addressed if these neurons are also involved in representing the value of the grasped object. Here we report that observation-related neuronal responses of F5 mirror neurons are indeed modulated by the value that the monkey associates with the grasped object. These findings suggest that during action observation F5 mirror neurons have access to key information needed to shape the behavioral responses of the observer.macaque monkey | ventral premotor cortex | reward | social interaction

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Neural Correlates of Decisions and Their Outcomes in the Ventral Premotor Cortex

Cited by 52 publications

References 67 publications

Using experience to improve: How errors shape behavior and brain activity in monkeys

Using experience to improve: How errors shape behavior and brain activity in monkeys

Neural encoding of auditory discrimination in ventral premotor cortex

Mirror neurons encode the subjective value of an observed action

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