The ventral striatum dissociates information expectation, reward anticipation, and reward receipt

Do dopaminergic reward structures represent the expected utility of information similarly to a reward? Optimal experimental design models from Bayesian decision theory and statistics have proposed a theoretical framework for quantifying the expected value of information that might result from a quer...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2020-06, Vol.117 (26), p.15200-15208
Main Authors: Filimon, Flavia, Nelson, Jonathan D., Sejnowski, Terrence J., Sereno, Martin I., Cottrell, Garrison W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bayesian analysis
Biological Sciences
Brain mapping
Classification
Cortex (temporal)
Decision theory
Design of experiments
Dopamine receptors
Expected utility
Experimental design
Functional magnetic resonance imaging
Information processing
Mathematical models
Neostriatum
Nucleus accumbens
Prefrontal cortex
Reinforcement
Social Sciences
Statistical analysis
Visual tasks
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Summary:Do dopaminergic reward structures represent the expected utility of information similarly to a reward? Optimal experimental design models from Bayesian decision theory and statistics have proposed a theoretical framework for quantifying the expected value of information that might result from a query. In particular, this formulation quantifies the value of information before the answer to that query is known, in situations where payoffs are unknown and the goal is purely epistemic: That is, to increase knowledge about the state of the world. Whether and how such a theoretical quantity is represented in the brain is unknown. Here we use an event-related functional MRI (fMRI) task design to disentangle information expectation, information revelation and categorization outcome anticipation, and response-contingent reward processing in a visual probabilistic categorization task. We identify a neural signature corresponding to the expectation of information, involving the left lateral ventral striatum. Moreover, we show a temporal dissociation in the activation of different reward-related regions, including the nucleus accumbens, medial prefrontal cortex, and orbitofrontal cortex, during information expectation versus reward-related processing.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1911778117