TY - JOUR
T1 - Common sense in choice
T2 - The effect of sensory modality on neural value representations
AU - Shuster, Anastasia
AU - Levy, Dino J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Shuster and Levy.
PY - 2018/3/1
Y1 - 2018/3/1
N2 - Although it is well established that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) represents value using a common currency across categories of rewards, it is unknown whether the vmPFC represents value irrespective of the sensory modality in which alternatives are presented. In the current study, male and female human subjects completed a decision-making task while their neural activity was recorded using functional magnetic resonance imaging. On each trial, subjects chose between a safe alternative and a lottery, which was presented visually or aurally. A univariate conjunction analysis revealed that the anterior portion of the vmPFC tracks subjective value (SV) irrespective of the sensory modality. Using a novel cross-modality multivariate classifier, we were able to decode auditory value based on visual trials and vice versa. In addition, we found that the visual and auditory sensory cortices, which were identified using functional localizers, are also sensitive to the value of stimuli, albeit in a modality-specific manner. Whereas both primary and higher-order auditory cortices represented auditory SV (aSV), only a higher-order visual area represented visual SV (vSV). These findings expand our understanding of the common currency network of the brain and shed a new light on the interplay between sensory and value information processing.
AB - Although it is well established that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) represents value using a common currency across categories of rewards, it is unknown whether the vmPFC represents value irrespective of the sensory modality in which alternatives are presented. In the current study, male and female human subjects completed a decision-making task while their neural activity was recorded using functional magnetic resonance imaging. On each trial, subjects chose between a safe alternative and a lottery, which was presented visually or aurally. A univariate conjunction analysis revealed that the anterior portion of the vmPFC tracks subjective value (SV) irrespective of the sensory modality. Using a novel cross-modality multivariate classifier, we were able to decode auditory value based on visual trials and vice versa. In addition, we found that the visual and auditory sensory cortices, which were identified using functional localizers, are also sensitive to the value of stimuli, albeit in a modality-specific manner. Whereas both primary and higher-order auditory cortices represented auditory SV (aSV), only a higher-order visual area represented visual SV (vSV). These findings expand our understanding of the common currency network of the brain and shed a new light on the interplay between sensory and value information processing.
KW - Decision making
KW - Sensory systems
KW - Value
KW - fMRI
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85046433973&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1523/ENEURO.0346-17.2018
DO - 10.1523/ENEURO.0346-17.2018
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AN - SCOPUS:85046433973
SN - 2373-2822
VL - 5
JO - eNeuro
JF - eNeuro
IS - 2
M1 - e0346-17.2018
ER -