Should I stay or should I go?A neural system responsible for foraging decisions

在日常生活中，我们不断面临着决定是继续保持我们当前的行为还是转向新的行动方针。例如，我应该保留我的旧车，它的效用不断下降，还是我应该投资买一辆新车？这一决定取决于与旧汽车在一起的主观损失，新车的成本，以及市场上有什么汽车，以及其他变量。尽管这些留下或离开的决定很重要，但大多数对决策的神经基础的研究都集中在基于感知或价值信息的选择上。在这个建议中所描述的项目的目标是调查的神经元的基础上留下或离开的决定在一个范例的灵感来自一个经典的觅食理论从神经行为学-边际价值定理（MVT）。在觅食框架中分析决策的研究一致地报告觅食行为可以由MVT提出的决策规则充分描述。在神经元水平上，一些成像研究，以及单单位记录和病变的研究，指出前额叶皮层（前扣带皮层，ACC）的一部分参与觅食的决定。然而，缺乏对理论、电生理（相关）和失活（因果）数据的全面理解。为了提供如此全面的数据，我将研究觅食决策的行为和神经机制，其指导目标有三：第一，识别觅食决策背后的行为算法，即用计算建模方法描述动物在决定是继续当前选项还是离开时所使用的决策规则;第二，研究ACC中神经元的放电模式，并测试这种活动是否预测行为;第三，为了测试在觅食过程中ACC中的这些神经元活动模式是否是通过抑制神经元活动来产生最佳觅食行为所必需的，活动在ACC和观察对行为的影响。

In everyday life, we are continuously confronted with the decision of whether to stay engaged with our current behavior or switch to a new course of action. For example, should I keep my old car, whose utility continuously decreases, or should I invest money to buy a new one? This decision depends on the subjective loss of staying with the old car, the cost of a new one, and what cars are available on the market, among other variables. Despite the importance of these stay-or-leave decisions, most studies into the neuronal basis of decision making have focused on choices based on either perceptual or value information. The objective of the project described in this proposal is to investigate the neuronal basis of stay-or-leave decisions in a paradigm inspired by a classic foraging theory from neuroethology– the Marginal Value Theorem (MVT). Studies analyzing decision making in a foraging framework consistently report that foraging behavior can be adequately described by the decision rule proposed by the MVT. On a neuronal level, several imaging studies, as well as single unit recordings and lesion studies, point to an involvement of a part of the prefrontal cortex (anterior cingulate cortex, ACC) in foraging decisions. However, a comprehensive understanding linking theoretical, electrophysiological (correlative) and inactivation (causal) data is missing. To provide such comprehensive data, I will investigate the behavioral and neuronal mechanisms of foraging decisions guided by three aims: First, to identify the behavioral algorithm underlying foraging decisions, i.e. describe with a computational modelling approach the decision rule animals use when deciding whether to stay with the current option or leave; second, to investigate neuronal firing patterns in ACC and test if this activity predicts behavior; and third, to test if these neuronal activity patterns in the ACC during foraging are necessary to produce optimal foraging behavior by inhibiting neuronal activity in ACC and observing the impact on behavior.