# Characterizing the role of fronto-striatal connectivity in value-based decision-making

> **NIH NIH K99** · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $169,037

## Abstract

Project Summary
Value-based decision-making is the process of evaluating options in the environment to inform the best course
of action. Abundant behavioral evidence demonstrates that value-based decision-making is impaired in
addiction. An improved understanding of how value-based decisions are computed and executed by defined
cell types is critical to identifying and ultimately treating the circuit disturbances that underlie maladaptive
decision-making in addiction. To date, the vast majority of studies examining the neural correlates of value-
based decision-making have been conducted in behaving primates. While primates are capable of performing
complex cognitive tasks, we currently lack primate-compatible tools for recording and manipulating the activity
of precisely defined populations of neurons. This has placed limitations on how much primate studies can tell
us about the role of anatomically and genetically defined cell types in value-based decision-making. This
proposal overcomes this obstacle by developing a new task to study value-based decision-making in rats. Rats
are capable of performing complex cognitive tasks, but they are also amenable to modern techniques for
recording and manipulating the activity of defined cell types. Preliminary data demonstrate that rats are
capable of making appropriate value-based decisions, and demonstrate that value-based decision-making is
critically dependent on activity in the orbitofrontal cortex. The goal of this proposal is to characterize how
neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex interact with downstream neural circuits to mediate value-based
decision-making. In the K99 mentored phase, the candidate will optogenetically inhibit orbitofrontal axon
terminals in distinct brain areas in animals making value-based decisions to identify the critical output pathway
through which choices computed in the orbitofrontal cortex are implemented. Preliminary efforts reveal that the
projection from the orbitofrontal cortex to the dorsal striatum is likely the key output pathway through which
value-based decisions are mediated. The candidate will then ask how information is transformed as it is
transmitted from the orbitofrontal cortex to the dorsal striatum by combining optogenetic inhibition of axon
terminals with in vivo extracellular electrophysiological recordings in rats performing the value-based decision-
making task. The proposed K99 research will not only determine how neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex
interact with downstream neural circuits to mediate choice, but will also provide the candidate with critical
training in in vivo electrophysiology and dimensionality reduction techniques for analysing big data in world-
class labs at Stanford University. In the R00 independent phase, the applicant will apply this training to ask
how different decision-related parameters map onto distinct cell types in the dorsal striatum. Collectively, the
proposed research will provide some of the first insights into...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9950513
- **Project number:** 1K99DA050662-01
- **Recipient organization:** STANFORD UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** FELICITY GORE
- **Activity code:** K99 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $169,037
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-05-01 → 2022-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9950513

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9950513, Characterizing the role of fronto-striatal connectivity in value-based decision-making (1K99DA050662-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9950513. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*