Subjectivity of time perception alters choice preference for future rewards through fronto-striatal value signal dynamics

Abstract

Our preference for a reward depends on the time of delay for its delivery. Here we show that changes in the external environment can manipulate the perceived duration of time, which alters the formation of the choice preference through value signals in the cortical and subcortical brain regions. Humans anticipated a real liquid reward delayed by tens of seconds, during which colors of visually presented panels gradually changed. The color-change delay was perceived as shorter than a control color-constant delay. Interestingly, participants with greater perceptual bias of the delay showed stronger preference for rewards with the color-change delay. The ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) and ventral striatum (VS) showed dynamic neural signatures of value components that were modulated by subjectively perceived duration. Crucially, these effects were specifically observed while a future reward was anticipated, and moreover, the vlPFC activity was weaker in participants with greater bias in the duration perception. These results demonstrate that subjective time experience leads to biased choice preference of delayed rewards, which is regulated by dynamic value signals of future rewards and accurate perception of the external world in the vlPFC-VS systems.

Healthy dietary choices involve prefrontal mechanisms associated with long-term reward maximization but not cognitive control

“…2013; Tanaka et al . 2020; Shintaki et al 2022). Voxel-wise correlation coefficients were calculated for the activity maps of the parametric choice effect in the food choice task and 2-back vs. 0-back contrast in the WM task, and corresponding t-maps were created.…”

“…Exploratory correlation analysis of AuC and brain activity maps. To examine whether brain activity during the food and WM tasks was modulated by individuals' degree of self-control, correlational imaging analysis was performed (Jimura et al 2013;Tanaka et al 2020;Shintaki et al 2022). Voxel-wise correlation coefficients were calculated for the activity maps of the parametric choice effect in the food choice task and 2-back vs. 0-back contrast in the WM task, and corresponding tmaps were created.…”