DYNAMICS OF DECISION-MAKING IN THE PREFRONTAL CORTEX UNDER OPPOSED EMOTIONAL STATES​

Emotional states critically shape decision-making by enabling adaptive responses to environmental challenges. Disruptions of this process, as observed in mood disorders, pathological anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder, often lead to maladaptive behavior. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is central to these functions: ventral PFC subdivisions primarily regulate emotions, whereas dorsal regions support decision-making and executive control. Despite this functional organization, how the PFC encodes emotional value and integrates it into decisions remains poorly understood.
To address this question, we used Neuropixels recordings to examine PFC neuronal activity in mice performing a virtual reality decision-making task. Mice were trained to approach a visual stimulus when it predicted reward in one context, but to avoid the same stimulus when it predicted punishment in another context. This paradigm allowed us to isolate the influence of contextual emotional value on decisions involving identical sensory input.
At the population level, identical behavioral choices emerged from distinct PFC circuit dynamics depending on contextual valence. At the single-neuron level, individual neurons multiplexed choice and valence information using a graded firing-rate code that distinguished four conditions: left or right choices in appetitive versus aversive contexts. Finally, when contextual cue was rendered ambiguous, mice generalized toward either a positive or negative valence state and relied on this internal state to guide decisions.
Together, these findings demonstrate a dynamic, valence-specific encoding of choice in prefrontal circuits, highlighting the PFC’s role in integrating emotional value into decision-making and providing insight into how disruptions of these mechanisms may contribute to psychiatric disorders.