Generalized encoding of the relative subjective value of cognitive effort in dorsal ACC
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Making choices about whether and when to engage cognitive effort are a common feature of everyday experience, with important consequences for academic, career, and health outcomes. Yet, despite their hypothesized importance, very little is understood about the underlying mechanisms that support this form of human cost-benefit decision-making. To investigate these mechanisms, we used the Cognitive Effort Discounting Paradigm (Cog-ED) during fMRI scanning to precisely quantify the neural encoding of varying cognitive effort demands relative to reward outcomes, within two distinct cognitive domains (working memory, speech comprehension). The findings provide strong evidence that the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) plays a central and selective role in this decision-making process. Trial-by-trial modulations in dACC activation tracked the relative subjective value of the low-effort, low-reward option, with the strongest activity occurring when this was of greater value than the high-effort, high-reward option. In contrast, dACC activity was not modulated by decision difficulty, though such effects were found in other frontoparietal regions. Critically, dACC activity was also strongly correlated across the two decision-making task domains, and further predicted subsequent choice behavior in both. Together, the results suggest that dACC activity modulation reflects a domain-general valuation comparison mechanism, which acts to bias participants away from decisions to engage in cognitive effort, when the perceived subjective costs of such engagement outweigh the reward-related benefits. These findings complement work in other cost domains and species by pointing to a clear role of dACC in representing subjective value differences between choice options during cost-benefit decision-making. Significance StatementDespite the growing popularity of decision-making paradigms to study the neural mechanisms underlying choices to engage in cognitive effort, there is still little consensus about how such decisions are implemented in the human brain. This study used two distinct versions of a cognitive effort decision-making paradigm during fMRI scanning to identify generalized brain mechanisms engaged while participants decided whether to engage in cognitive effort. Importantly, the results provide additional evidence that the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex is a key locus of cognitive effort-based decision-making. Specifically, this brain region signals the difference in relative value across choice options, making it an attractive target for future studies aimed at investigating the altered decision-making observed in populations for which apathy is commonly observed.
Source: Journal of Neuroscience
Institutions: Washington University in St. Louis, Brandeis University
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4401451776