Adaptive circuit dynamics across human cortex during evidence accumulation in changing environments

Journal:
Nature Neuroscience
Published:
DOI:
10.1038/s41593-021-00839-z
Affiliations:
8
Authors:
5
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Research Highlight

Adaptive brain circuitry underpins decision making

© SEBASTIAN KAULITZKI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty Images

Decision making in response to ever-changing and unpredictable visual cues requires the brain to take an adaptive approach to information processing.

A neuroimaging study conducted on people performing a perceptual choice tasks has highlighted the adaptive nature of evidence accumulation in the brain.

A team led by University of Hamburg researchers has identified signatures of this adaptive processing in the decision-related dynamics of the parietal and frontal regions of the brain — which are known to be involved in action planning — with feedback signalling to the visual centres of the sensory cortex.

These circuit mechanisms help explain an essential cognitive function that is often disrupted in mental health disorders marked by pervasive bad decision making. A better understanding of how the brain integrates sensory information in an adaptive fashion could thus help to reduce the burden of psychiatric disease.

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References

  1. Nature Neuroscience 24, 987–997 (2021). doi: 10.1038/s41593-021-00839-z
Institutions Authors Share
University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), UHH, Germany
2.250000
 0.45
The University of Dublin, Ireland
0.500000
 0.10
University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE), Germany
0.500000
 0.10
August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS), Spain
0.500000
 0.10
Centre de Recerca Matemàtica (CRM), Spain
0.500000
 0.10
University of Amsterdam (UvA), Netherlands
0.500000
 0.10
Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin (BCCN), Germany
0.250000
 0.05