Brain mechanism of foraging: Reward-dependent synaptic plasticity versus neural integration of values.

ABSTRACT: During foraging behavior, action values are persistently encoded in neural activity and updated depending on the history of choice outcomes. What is the neural mechanism for action value maintenance and updating? Here, we explore two contrasting network models: synaptic learning of action value versus neural integration. We show that both models can reproduce extant experimental data, but they yield distinct predictions about the underlying biological neural circuits. In particular, the neural integrator model but not the synaptic model requires that reward signals are mediated by neural pools selective for action alternatives and their projections are aligned with linear attractor axes in the valuation system. We demonstrate experimentally observable neural dynamical signatures and feasib

SUBMITTER: Pereira-Obilinovic U 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10998608 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature