Parietal neurons encode expected gains in instrumental information
Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: 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.
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G1217335416, Vision Sciences Training Grant, G2648776141, G2870537342, G2997298412, Core Facilities for Vision Research, Instrument development & fabrication for vision research, G5369565479, Attentional control by uncertainty and reward: parietal and frontal mechanisms, G6553065130, G9000207262, G9000344768
OpenAlex ID: W2604729858