Topic: decision-value

The question of how animals make decisions and adapt their behavior in a dynamic environment – known as behavioral flexibility – is crucial for survival. It requires a balance between exploiting acquired knowledge (exploitation) and exploring potentially better alternatives (exploration). Despite its significance, the intricate computational and neural mechanisms that underpin these processes remain unclear. To address this question, we designed a task in which head-fixed mice acquire and reverse self-initiated lever-pressing preferences in the absence of instructive external cues. We combined