Economic Choices under Simultaneous or Sequential Offers Rely on the Same Neural Circuit

Abstract

A series of studies in which monkeys chose between two juices offered in variable amounts identified in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) different groups of neurons encoding the value of individual options (offer value), the binary choice outcome (chosen juice) and the chosen value. These variables capture both the input and the output of the choice process, suggesting that the cell groups identified in OFC constitute the building blocks of a decision circuit. Several lines of evidence support this hypothesis. However, in previous experiments offers were presented simultaneously, raising the question of whether current notions generalize to when goods are presented or are examined in sequence. Recently, Ballesta and Padoa-Schioppa (2019) examined OFC activity under sequential offers. An analysis of neuronal responses across time windows revealed that a small number of cell groups encoded specific sequences of variables. These sequences appeared analogous to the variables identified under simultaneous offers, but the correspondence remained tentative. Thus in the present study we examined the relation between cell groups found under sequential versus simultaneous offers. We recorded from the OFC while monkeys chose between different juices. Trials with simultaneous and sequential offers were randomly interleaved in each session. We classified cells in each choice modality and we examined the relation between the two classifications. We found a strong correspondence; in other words, the cell groups measured under simultaneous offers and under sequential offers were one and the same. This result indicates that economic choices under simultaneous or sequential offers rely on the same neural circuit.

Dissociable neuronal modules in the orbitofrontal cortex representing single and multi-attribute choice tasks

“…This result demonstrates that OFC neurons are capable of adapting their encoding identity across two blocks of trials so that the same circuit can be utilized for economic choice under different task contexts. The same implication was drawn from a recent study in which the same neural circuit seemed to support economic choices with different temporal task structures (Shi et al, 2022). Results from our current study suggest that there is likely a dedicated mapping between economic choice and the underlying neuronal circuit.…”