A Neural Circuit for Economic Decisions

Jan

2026

3:00 pm – 4:00 pm

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2025-26 Neuroscience Seminar Series

Description

Dr. Cmillo Padoa-Schioppa is a professor of Neuroscience at the Washington University School of Medicine.

Economic choice entails representing and comparing the subjective values of individual offers. Neuronal activity in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is causally involved in these operations. Furthermore, while animals choose between goods, different groups of cells in OFC represent pre-decision variables (offer values) and post-decision variables (chosen good, chosen value). These findings suggest that the cell groups identified in OFC are the building blocks of a neural circuit in which economic decisions are formed. However, the anatomical organization of this circuit, and thus the decision mechanisms, remain poorly understood. To examine this issue, we record from large populations of OFC neurons while monkeys perform a juice choice task. We then use network inference analysis to estimate the pairwise connectivity, and we compute a reduced network where nodes correspond to encoded variables. This reduced network has a discernible structure and is highly reproducible. Montecarlo simulations confirm the presence of attractor dynamics.

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Hosted by Dr. Thomas Elston

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