# Neuronal Basis of Persistence

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · 2020 · $346,500

## Abstract

Abstract
 Traditional approaches to understanding the neural bases of choice and control involve discrete choice
tasks. In these tasks, decision-makers make categorical decisions at a single point in time. While such tasks
have led to invaluable insights, they are poorly suited to shed light on one of the key elements of natural
decisions, their continuous nature. Continuous decisions are especially interesting as a laboratory tool for
studying the neural basis of persistence, which is a key ingredient of drug abstinence and which is difficult to
capture with discrete decision-making tasks. Understanding the neural basis of continuous decisions is critical
for developing an understanding of the neural circuitry of decision-making. Using discrete choice tasks,
neuroscience has made great strides in understanding choice and control, and has begun to pin down the role
of a key brain structure, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC). Activity of single neurons in this region
encodes multiple variables associated with aspects of discrete decisions and also with monitoring the
outcomes of those decisions and adjusting behavior appropriately afterward. Aberrant activity in the dACC is
also associated with the progression of diseases associated with poor self-control and persistence, such as
addiction. These facts suggest strongly that the dACC plays a pivotal role in continuous decisions as well. Our
central hypothesis is that both monitoring and decision processes in continuous decision-making are
implemented, at least in part, by dACC. One critical barrier to studying continuous decisions is the lack of
readily usable laboratory tasks that are trainable in model animals, reliably performable for hundreds of trials,
that elicit persistence, and that motivate continuous adjustment. Our lab has recently developed a guided
pursuit task for rhesus macaques. In this task, subjects use a joystick to control an avatar on a computer
screen. Using this avatar, they pursue virtual fleeing prey and avoid pursuing predators (in other words, it is a
kind of simplified Pac-man). Our proposed research program will answer the following key questions: How
does the dACC track movements of agents in guided pursuit? What are the behavioral and neural bases of
future state prediction in guided pursuit? What are the neural bases of changes of mind in continuous
decisions?

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9972237
- **Project number:** 2R01DA038615-06
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
- **Principal Investigator:** BENJAMIN Y HAYDEN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $346,500
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2015-02-01 → 2025-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9972237

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9972237, Neuronal Basis of Persistence (2R01DA038615-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9972237. Licensed CC0.

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