Association with Uncertainty Monitoring, Not Value Comparison in Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex during ValueeBased Decisions

Abstract

Value comparison is the key process of value‐based decision‐making. Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) have been suggested to be critically involved in value comparison, as their activities are correlated with the absolute value difference (AVD) of options. However, value‐based decision‐making is usually accompanied by uncertainty with the decisions; consequently, the metacognitive process of uncertainty monitoring is automatically elicited. We found that the vmPFC activity associated with AVD might be caused by negative regulation from dACC and its association network, which were indeed correlated with decision uncertainty (DUC), involved in uncertainty monitoring. Instead, we found that intra‐parietal sulcus (IPS) and medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) were associated with signed option value difference (OVD), suggesting involvement in value comparison. Thus, our findings suggest that the activities of dACC and vmPFC, as well as their association networks, correlating with AVD, may be irrelevant to value comparison, but associated with decision uncertainty monitoring.