A common neural account for social and non-social decisions

Arabadzhiyska, D. H., Garrod, O. G.B., Fouragnan, E., De Luca, E., Schyns, P. G. and Philiastides, M. (2022) A common neural account for social and non-social decisions. Journal of Neuroscience, 42(48), pp. 9030-9044. (doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0375-22.2022) (PMID:36280264) (PMCID:PMC9732824)

Abstract

To date, social and non-social decisions have been studied largely in isolation. Consequently, the extent to which social and non-social forms of decision uncertainty are integrated using shared neurocomputational resources remains elusive. Here, we address this question using simultaneous EEG-fMRI in healthy human participants (young adults of both sexes) and a task in which decision evidence in social and non-social contexts varies along comparable scales. First, we identify time-resolved build-up of activity in the EEG, akin to a process of evidence accumulation, across both contexts. We then use the endogenous trial-by-trial variability in the slopes of these accumulating signals to construct parametric fMRI predictors. We show that a region of the posterior-medial frontal cortex (pMFC) uniquely explains trial-wise variability in the process of evidence accumulation in both social and non-social contexts. We further demonstrate a task-dependent coupling between the pMFC and regions of the human valuation system in dorso- and ventro-medial prefrontal cortex across both contexts. Finally, we report domain-specific representations in regions known to encode the early decision evidence for each context. These results are suggestive of a domain-general decision-making architecture, whereupon domain-specific information is likely converted into a “common currency” in medial prefrontal cortex and accumulated for the decision in the pMFC.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was supported in part by the European Research Council (865003; MGP) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ES/L012995/1; MGP). EF was supported by a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship (MR/T023007/1).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: De Luca, Dr Emanuele and Philiastides, Professor Marios and Arabadzhiyska, Desislava and Garrod, Dr Oliver and Schyns, Professor Philippe and Fouragnan, Dr Elsa
• Authors: Arabadzhiyska, D. H., Garrod, O. G.B., Fouragnan, E., De Luca, E., Schyns, P. G., and Philiastides, M.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Psychology & Neuroscience
• Journal Name: Journal of Neuroscience
• Publisher: The Society for Neuroscience
• ISSN: 0270-6474
• ISSN (Online): 0270-6474
• Published Online: 24 October 2022
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2022 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Journal of Neuroscience 42(48): 9030-9044
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
170631		Neural correlates of learning and confidence during decision making and their utility in developing "intelligent technologies".	Marios Philiastides	Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)	ES/L012995/1	Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging