Abstract
Previous work showed that economic decisions can be made independently of spatial contingencies. However, when goods available for choice bear different action costs, the decision necessarily reflects aspects of the action. One possibility is that “stimulus values” are combined with the corresponding action costs in a motor representation, and decisions are then made in actions space. Alternatively, action costs could be integrated with other determinants of value in a non-spatial representation. If so, decisions under variable action costs could take place in goods space. Here, we recorded from orbitofrontal cortex while monkeys chose between different juices offered in variable amounts. We manipulated action costs by varying the saccade amplitude, and we dissociated in time and space offer presentation from action planning. Neurons encoding the binary choice outcome did so well before the presentation of saccade targets, indicating that decisions were made in goods space.
Highlights
Previous work showed that economic decisions can be made independently of spatial contingencies
One possibility is that the brain first computes the “stimulus value” in a non-spatial representation, and combines the stimulus value with the corresponding action cost in a spatial representation
Neurons encoding the subjective value were first observed in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) of monkeys choosing between different juices offered in variable amounts
Summary
Previous work showed that economic decisions can be made independently of spatial contingencies. Action costs might be integrated with other determinants of value in a non-spatial representation In this scheme, decisions under variable action costs could be good-based[3]. More recent data suggest that, under proper circumstances, the reference frame in OFC can be based on a specific trait of the offer such as its informativeness[15] (see Discussion) Taken together, these results suggest that the reference frame in which good identities and values are encoded in OFC may be malleable and adapt to the characteristics of the choice task. The spatio-temporal dissociation between the offers and the presentation of action targets was crucial because it ensured that the neural activity encoding the choice outcome did not reflect a computation taking place in actions space. We sought to undertake a similar approach while manipulating the action costs
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