Circuitry for Economic Choice

Economic choice involves a mental and neural competition between values of options. My lab is interested in understanding the neural mechanisms of this competition process. To study this problem, we use single unit recordings in the brains of rhesus macaques performing complex decision-making tasks. We show that inputs reflecting the value of each option compete for control of the activity of individual neurons. Value-related inputs appear to have opposing influences on target neurons; we propose that this competition is sufficient to implement an economic choice process. Regions in which this competition is observed include the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, ventral striatum, and anterior cingulate cortex. We also find that competitive processes can be regulated by exogenous factors like curiosity and long-term goals (self-control), and by endogenous factors like conflict. We propose that greater understanding of the mechanisms of evaluation and comparison can provide insight into how these factors influence choice at both the psychological and neural levels.