Download "Mechanisms underlying cortical activity during value-guided choice"

When choosing between two options, correlates of their value are represented in neural activity throughout the brain.
Whether these representations reflect activity that is fundamental to the computational process of value comparison, as opposed
to other computations covarying with value, is unknown. We investigated activity in a biophysically plausible network model that
transforms inputs relating to value into categorical choices. A set of characteristic time-varying signals emerged that reflect
value comparison. We tested these model predictions using magnetoencephalography data recorded from human subjects
performing value-guided decisions. Parietal and prefrontal signals matched closely with model predictions. These results provide
a mechanistic explanation of neural signals recorded during value-guided choice and a means of distinguishing computational
roles of different cortical regions whose activity covaries with value.