Abstract
Reinforcement learning studies in rodents and primates demonstrate that goal-directed and habitual choice behaviors are mediated through different fronto-striatal systems, but the evidence is less clear in humans. In this study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were collected whilst participants (n = 20) performed a conditional associative learning task in which blocks of novel conditional stimuli (CS) required a deliberate choice, and blocks of familiar CS required an intuitive choice. Using standard subtraction analysis for fMRI event-related designs, activation shifted from the dorso-fronto-parietal network, which involves dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) for deliberate choice of novel CS, to ventro-medial frontal (VMPFC) and anterior cingulate cortex for intuitive choice of familiar CS. Supporting this finding, psycho-physiological interaction (PPI) analysis, using the peak active areas within the PFC for novel and familiar CS as seed regions, showed functional coupling between caudate and DLPFC when processing novel CS and VMPFC when processing familiar CS. These findings demonstrate separable systems for deliberate and intuitive processing, which is in keeping with rodent and primate reinforcement learning studies, although in humans they operate in a dynamic, possibly synergistic, manner particularly at the level of the striatum.
Highlights
A large body of functional imaging research has explored the neural mechanisms involved in value-based decision making
(p > 0.05) after adjustment for multiple comparisons. This indicates that no further learning-related changes occurred in response times, which applies to both the familiar pairs during the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) session in the main experiment and session 4, which was outside the scanner (Figure 2)
Of particular note is the high levels of activation throughout the striatum, medial frontal regions and orbito-frontal cortex (OFC), cingulate cortex, hippocampus, lateral parietal cortices, precuneus, and Sci
Summary
A large body of functional imaging research has explored the neural mechanisms involved in value-based decision making (for reviews see [1,2,3,4]). Intuitive decision making occurs once the contingencies between CS, R, and O are well-learnt, such that probabilities of outcomes and their value become integrated dimensions of the CS and are, available at the point of stimulus perception (stimulus-elicited) [14,15,16,17,18] It remains unclear whether deliberate and intuitive decision making involve separate cognitive processes [19] or a common set of rule-based cognitive processes, with a shift toward more efficient associative processing during intuitive decision making [20,21,22]
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