Dissociating valuation and saliency signals during decision-making

A Litt, H Plassmann, B Shiv, A Rangel - Cerebral cortex, 2011 - academic.oup.com
Cerebral cortex, 2011academic.oup.com
There is a growing consensus that the brain computes value and saliency-like signals at the
time of decision-making. Value signals are essential for making choices. Saliency signals
are related to motivation, attention, and arousal. Unfortunately, an unequivocal
characterization of the areas involved in these 2 distinct sets of processes is made difficult by
the fact that, in most experiments, both types of signals are highly correlated. We dissociated
value and saliency signals using a novel human functional magnetic resonance imaging …
Abstract
There is a growing consensus that the brain computes value and saliency-like signals at the time of decision-making. Value signals are essential for making choices. Saliency signals are related to motivation, attention, and arousal. Unfortunately, an unequivocal characterization of the areas involved in these 2 distinct sets of processes is made difficult by the fact that, in most experiments, both types of signals are highly correlated. We dissociated value and saliency signals using a novel human functional magnetic resonance imaging decision-making task. Activity in the medial orbitofrontal, rostral anterior cingulate, and posterior cingulate cortices was modulated by value but not saliency. The opposite was true for dorsal anterior cingulate, supplementary motor area, insula, and the precentral and fusiform gyri. Only the ventral striatum and the cuneus were modulated by both value and saliency.
Oxford University Press