2 Jul 2020
Signal dynamics of midbrain dopamine neurons during economic decision-making in monkeys
Key Points:
- 1. Discovery of previously unknown mechanism in which dopamine neurons support rational decision making.
- 2. Activity dynamics of dopamine neurons translates "value information" of an option into a "selection command" of whether or not to select an option.
- 3. This conversion process was completed faster in dopamine neurons than in the frontal lobe, which was previously thought to be the center of decision making. This indicates that evolutionarily conserved midbrain dopamine neurons are an important neural base supporting rational decision making.
