Roles of prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia in decision making based on preference

当选择是由内源性偏好决定时，猕猴外侧前额叶皮层单个神经元的活动主要代表指示选择的运动相关信号。神经元集合的活动也代表了被试将要选择的奖励类型，并且与那些由外部线索决定的目标奖励类型的神经元不同。因此，外侧前额叶皮层的神经元根据选择的决定方式改变其活动，并可能为选择适当的行动服务。

Activity of single neurons in the macaque lateral prefrontal cortex mainly represented signals related to movement that indicates the choice when the choice was determined by endogenous preference. Activities of ensemble of the neurons also represent the reward type the subject was about to choose and the neurons differed from those that signaled the target reward type when it was determined by the external cue. Therefore, neurons in the lateral prefrontal cortex changed their activity dependent on the way how the choice to be determined and may serve selection of the appropriate action.