# THE ROLE OF PREFRONTAL REGIONS IN ECONOMIC CHOICE AND CHOICE-GUIDED BEHAVIOR

> **NIH NIH R01** · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $354,375

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Mental and neurological disorders such as frontotemporal dementia and drug addiction can be characterized
as patients making “poor choices.” Specifically affected are choices based on subjective preferences, also
referred to as "economic choices". Thus to better understand the origins of these disorders and to pave the
way for treatments, it is critical to understand the neural underpinnings of this behavior. Economic choices are
thought to involve two mental stages – values are assigned to the available options and a decision is made by
comparing values. Evidence from clinical data, lesion studies, functional imaging and neurophysiology links
economic decisions to the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). In particular, work in my lab examined the activity of OFC
neurons in monkeys choosing between different juices. We thus identified three populations intimately related
to the decision: offer value cells encoding the value of individual juices; chosen value cells encoding the value
of the chosen juice; and chosen juice cells encoding the identity of the chosen juice independent of quantity.
Notably, these groups of cells capture both the input (offer value) and the output (chosen juice, chosen value)
of the decision process, suggesting that decisions might be generated within OFC. The overarching goal of this
proposal is to shed light onto the organization and mechanisms of this neural circuit. Using a combination of
behavioral, computational and neurophysiology techniques, we will pursue two Specific Aims. Aim 1 focuses
on choices under sequential offers. The vast majority of previous studies examined choices between goods
offered simultaneously. Exp.1 will establish whether current notions generalize to choices under sequential
offers, which are arguably more relevant to real-life decisions. Furthermore, by dissociating value computation
from value comparison, Exp.1 will address outstanding questions on the decision circuit. Aim 2 focuses on the
fundamental question of causality. Despite the enormous advances of recent years, our understanding of the
mechanisms underlying economic decisions remains tentative. This is primarily because causal links between
OFC activity and decisions have not yet been established. In principle, such links may be demonstrated using
electrical stimulation to bias choices in a predictable way, but the absence of columnar organization in OFC
makes this approach more difficult. To obviate this issue, we designed three experimental protocols. In Exp.2,
monkeys will perform choices under sequential offers. By injecting current during one of the offers, we will bias
the animal's decision. Exp.3 and Exp.4 will focus on specific groups of cells. The experiments will take
advantage of phenomena recently discovered in my lab, namely the range adaptation of offer value cells
(Exp.3), the predictive activity of chosen juice cells and choice hysteresis (Exp.4).
The first cycle of this grant has generated multiple breakthroughs...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9963161
- **Project number:** 5R01DA032758-08
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Camillo Padoa-Schioppa
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $354,375
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2012-09-30 → 2023-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9963161

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9963161, THE ROLE OF PREFRONTAL REGIONS IN ECONOMIC CHOICE AND CHOICE-GUIDED BEHAVIOR (5R01DA032758-08). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9963161. Licensed CC0.

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