The Role of the Human Amygdala in Coding Economic Risk and Ambiguity

这项研究的目的是确定参与基于价值的决策的神经回路。将进行的实验涉及一组独特的受试者--参与者--顽固性癫痫患者，他们接受了长达两周的颅内电极植入，试图利用类似脑电的记录来确定癫痫发作的地点。这些植入物可以直接记录大脑区域的神经活动--在本研究中，该区域被称为杏仁核。受试者将对旨在检验特定决策假设的决策任务做出反应。该项目被组织成三个主要目标：1)记录原始经济变量如奖励概率和大小的神经编码，2)记录风险和模糊性的神经编码，3)确定大脑中特定位置的微刺激对观察到的偏好的影响。由于其相对精确的时间和空间特征，微刺激是建立生理特征神经元和行为表现之间因果关系的一种特别强大的工具。这个项目有可能从根本上影响我们对经济决策是如何做出的理解。

The objective of this research is to identify the neural circuitry involved in value-based decision-making. The experiments to be conducted involve a unique subject group -- participant-patients with intractable epilepsy who have undergone implantation of intracranial electrodes for periods of up to two weeks in attempts to identify the locus of seizures using EEG-like recordings. These implants enable direct recording of neural activity of regions of the brain region - in the present study in the region known as the amygdala. Subjects will respond to decision making tasks designed to test specific hypotheses of decision-making. The project is organized into three major aims: 1) to record the neural coding of primitive economic variables such as reward probability and magnitude, 2) to record the neural coding of risk and ambiguity, and 3) to ascertain the impact of microstimulation of specific locations in the brain on observed preferences. Because of its relatively precise temporal and spatial characteristics, microstimulation is a particularly powerful tool for establishing causal relationships between physiologically characterized neurons and behavioral performance. This project has the potential to fundamentally impact our understanding of how economic decisions are made.