Topic: economic decision-making

Converging evidence suggests that we make decisions by comparing the value of the options in front of us, but how are these values represented in the brain? Many models assume that the representational geometry of value is linear, and this shape could be important for generating rational economic decisions. However, in part due to historical focus on noisy single neurons, rather than neural populations, the linearity hypothesis has not been rigorously tested. Here, we examined the representational geometry of value in populations of neurons recorded in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC

Economic decision-making theories typically assume rationality, where choices are driven by the subjective value (utility) of options independently of context. The Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives (IIA) axiom formalizes this premise, stating that decisions between two options should not be influenced by the presence or quality of additional options. While violations of IIA have been documented across species, gaps in our understanding about the cognitive and neural mechanisms of the effects of context on economic decisions still exist. To close these gaps, we developed a new freely-movi

Appropriate risk evaluation is essential for survival in complex, uncertain environments. Confronted with choosing between certain (safe) and uncertain (risky) options, animals show strong preference for either option consistently across extended time periods. How such risk preference is encoded in the brain remains elusive. A candidate region is the lateral habenula (LHb), which is prominently involved in various value-guided behaviors. Here, using a balanced two-alternative choice task and longitudinal two-photon calcium imaging, we find LHb neurons with risk-preference-selective activity re