Parietal neurons encode expected gains in instrumental information
Parietal neurons encode expected gains in instrumental information
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DOI：
10.1073/pnas.1613844114
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发表时间：
2017-04-18
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Gottlieb, Jacqueline
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Foley, Nicholas C.;Kelly, Simon P.;Gottlieb, Jacqueline
在自然行为中，动物可以获得多种信息源，但其中只有少数与学习和行动相关。除了选择适当的行动之外，做出正确的决策还需要选择相关信息的能力，但关于大脑信息采样策略的基本问题仍然存在。最近的研究描述了寻求奖励信息的神经关联，但在信息指导后续行动的情况下，神经元是否以及如何编码工具信息的选择仍然未知。在这里，我们表明，参与动眼神经决策的顶叶皮层神经元在信息采样扫视之前对扫视预计为后续行动带来的不确定性的减少进行编码。这些反应与神经元的视觉和扫视调制以及预期奖励或奖励预测错误的信号不同。因此，即使在信息和奖励增益密切相关的工具环境中，单个细胞也会编码基于信息因素的决策变量，并且可以指导对行动相关线索的主动采样。
In natural behavior, animals have access to multiple sources of information, but only a few of these sources are relevant for learning and actions. Beyond choosing an appropriate action, making good decisions entails the ability to choose the relevant information, but fundamental questions remain about the brain's information sampling policies. Recent studies described the neural correlates of seeking information about a reward, but it remains unknown whether, and how, neurons encode choices of instrumental information, in contexts in which the information guides subsequent actions. Here we show that parietal cortical neurons involved in oculomotor decisions encode, before an information sampling saccade, the reduction in uncertainty that the saccade is expected to bring for a subsequent action. These responses were distinct from the neurons' visual and saccadic modulations and from signals of expected reward or reward prediction errors. Therefore, even in an instrumental context when information and reward gains are closely correlated, individual cells encode decision variables that are based on informational factors and can guide the active sampling of action-relevant cues.