Ventrolateral prefrontal cortex in macaques guides decisions in different learning contexts.

ABSTRACT: Flexibly adjusting our behavioral strategies based on the environmental context is critical to maximize rewards. Ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) has been implicated in both learning and decision-making for probabilistic rewards, although how context influences these processes remains unclear. We collected functional neuroimaging data while rhesus macaques performed a probabilistic learning task in two contexts: one with novel and another with familiar visual stimuli. We found that activity in vlPFC encoded rewards irrespective of the context but encoded behavioral strategies that depend on reward outcome (win-stay/lose-shift) preferentially in novel contexts. Functional connectivity between vlPFC and anterior cingulate cortex varied with behavioral strategy in novel learning blocks

SUBMITTER: Fujimoto A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11429923 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature