https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7281426028

회의 ID: 728 142 6028 (password: cnir)

Title: Gaze-dependent evaluation and memory reactivation of visible and invisible offers in orbitofrontal cortex

Abstract: During economic choice, we often consider options in sequence, looking at or thinking about them in alternation, until we commit to one. Nonetheless, neuroeconomics typically ignores the dynamics of deliberation. We trained macaques to perform a value-based decision-making task where two risky offers were presented in sequence at different locations of the visual field, each followed by a delay epoch where offers were invisible. Animals look at the offers in sequence, as expected, and during the delay epochs, the locations where the visual offers were formerly presented were also gazed. Surprisingly, longer fixation to an empty location increases the probability of choosing the offer that was presented there, even after controlling for the offer’s values. We show that activity in orbitofrontal (OFC) cortex reflects the value of an offer is gazed to, but also when its empty space is gazed. In particular, the value of the first offer is reactivated when animals gaze to its empty location in the last delay epoch. This reactivation reflects reevaluation, as activity fluctuations correlate with choice. Our results suggest that look-at-nothing gazing triggers the reactivation of a previously seen offer for further reevaluation to form a decision, revealing novel aspects of deliberation.