Abstract
Economic choices entail computing and comparing subjective values. Evidence from primates indicates that this behavior relies on the orbitofrontal cortex. Conversely, previous work in rodents provided conflicting results. Here we present a mouse model of economic choice behavior, and we show that the lateral orbital (LO) area is intimately related to the decision process. In the experiments, mice chose between different juices offered in variable amounts. Choice patterns closely resembled those measured in primates. Optogenetic inactivation of LO dramatically disrupted choices by inducing erratic changes of relative value and by increasing choice variability. Neuronal recordings revealed that different groups of cells encoded the values of individual options, the binary choice outcome and the chosen value. These groups match those previously identified in primates, except that the neuronal representation in mice is spatial (in monkeys it is good-based). Our results lay the foundations for a circuit-level analysis of economic decisions.
Highlights
Economic choice entails computing and comparing the subjective values of different goods
We developed a behavioral paradigm similar to that previously used for monkeys
The task was very similar to that used in monkey studies, as animals chose between different juices offered in variable amounts
Summary
Economic choice entails computing and comparing the subjective values of different goods. These variables capture both the input (offer value) and the output (chosen juice, chosen value) of the choice process, suggesting that the groups of neurons identified in OFC constitute the building blocks of a decision circuit Supporting this hypothesis, trial-by-trial fluctuation in neuronal activity correlates with choice variability (Padoa-Schioppa, 2013), the activity dynamics of neuronal populations in OFC reflects an internal deliberation (Rich and Wallis, 2016), and suitable electrical stimulation of OFC biases or disrupts economic decisions (Ballesta and Padoa-Schioppa, 2019). Primate studies consistently implicate the OFC in the generation of economic decisions
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