Article
Neurosciences
Zuzanna Z. Balewski, Thomas W. Elston, Eric B. Knudsen, Joni D. Wallis
Summary: During decision-making, neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) switch between representing the value of different options, influencing the encoding of choice response in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). By studying simultaneous recordings from OFC and ACC in nonhuman primates, it was found that ACC neurons encoding the choice response steadily increased their firing rate throughout the decision-making process, with OFC value dynamics affecting the ramping of ACC activity. The interaction between OFC and ACC explains how the more valuable response is selected.
NATURE NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Tianyao Shi, Shufang Feng, Zhonglin Zhou, Fengan Li, Yuan Fu, Wenxia Zhou
Summary: Stress affects decision-making by altering neuronal activity in the anterior insular cortex (AIC) and estrogen in the AIC plays a role in regulating decision-making behavior by modulating synaptic plasticity. In mice, stressed individuals show a preference for risky choices, and female mice have a lower risk preference than males after stress exposure.
FRONTIERS IN CELLULAR NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Yuan-Wei Yao, Kun-Ru Song, Nicolas W. Schuck, Xin Li, Xiao-Yi Fang, Jin-Tao Zhang, Hauke R. Heekeren, Rasmus Bruckner
Summary: This article comprehensively compares effort-based and risky decision-making using a combination of computational modeling, fMRI analyses, and data from two independent studies. The findings suggest that the neural patterns of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) represent subjective value across different decision-making tasks, irrespective of whether the costs involve effort or risk. These findings extend the scope of the neural common currency theory.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Chia-Wei Li, Carol Yeh-Yun Lin, Ting-Ting Chang, Nai-Shing Yen, Danchi Tan
Summary: Managers face risks in explorative decision-making, and those who excel at it have better motivational characteristics. The study found that in the low-performance group, BAS/BIS were associated with brain activation during explorative decision-making, providing implications for management development.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Beizhen Zhang, Janis Ying Ying Kan, Mingpo Yang, Xiaochun Wang, Jiahao Tu, Michael Christopher Dorris
Summary: The study identifies a neural mechanism within the superior colliculus that directly transforms absolute values into categorical choices, which supports highly efficient value-based decision making critical for real-world economic behaviors.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Adrienne N. Santiago, Emily A. Makowicz, Muzi Du, Chiye Aoki
Summary: Chemogenetic activation of a specific subset of pyramidal cells in the mPFC to DS pathway drives running behavior specifically during periods of limited food availability, leading to a causal role of this pathway in the decision to run during food scarcity. Suppression of these cells reduces running response to food restriction, with distinct characteristics observed in mPFC-to-DS cells compared to neighboring non-DS-projecting cells. These findings suggest a potential role for enhancing PFC-to-DS activity in influencing neural circuits under food restriction conditions.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Karen E. Smith, Seth D. Pollak
Summary: This study examines two different approaches to assess how children learn the value of stimuli. The findings reveal that the outcomes vary depending on the approach used, providing new insights into understanding children's value learning.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Atsushi Fujimoto, Elisabeth A. Murray, Peter H. Rudebeck
Summary: Decision-making and representations of arousal are closely related, with an optimal level of bodily arousal facilitating performance. The interactions between these processes at the level of single neurons and neural circuits remain unclear.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Laura K. Shanahan, Surabhi Bhutani, Thorsten Kahnt
Summary: Evidence suggests that internal factors such as hunger and satiety can influence olfactory perceptual decision-making in a food-specific manner. Participants were less likely to perceive meal-matched odors as dominant in the sated state, with fMRI data showing neural changes that reflected these behavioral effects. These findings demonstrate a potential brain mechanism underlying the bias in olfactory perceptual decision-making based on motivational states.
Article
Neurosciences
Julia L. Napoli, Corrie R. Camalier, Anna-Leigh Brown, Jessica Jacobs, Mortimer M. Mishkin, Bruno B. Averbeck
Summary: The study found that in a spatial selective listening task, primary auditory cortex (AC) encoded the cue and target characteristics before the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and the basolateral amygdala (BLA), and also encoded the monkey's choice at an earlier stage. The similarity between AC and dlPFC responses was eliminated during passive sensory stimulation, suggesting that the strong sensory encoding in dlPFC is contextually gated. The study suggests that unlike in the visual domain, the BLA does not appear to be robustly involved in selective spatial processing in this auditory task.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Biology
Lennie Dupont, Valerio Santangelo, Ruben T. Azevedo, Maria Serena Panasiti, Salvatore Maria Aglioti
Summary: Using fMRI data from participants playing a card game involving deceptive or truthful decisions, researchers found that dishonest decisions were associated with increased activity in a cortico-subcortical circuit including the bilateral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), anterior insula (AI), left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, supplementary motor area, and right caudate. Deceptive immoral decisions under reputation risk enhanced activity and functional connectivity between the bilateral ACC and left AI, suggesting the need for heightened emotional processing and cognitive control. Manipulative individuals showed differential involvement of the ACC depending on whether the decision involved self-gain lies or other-gain truths, pointing to the role of cognitive control in going against one's own moral code.
COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biology
Monja Hoven, Gina Brunner, Nina S. de Boer, Anna E. Goudriaan, Damiaan Denys, Ruth J. van Holst, Judy Luigjes, Mael Lebreton
Summary: The human ventromedial prefrontal cortex plays a key role in determining the value and confidence in decision-making, particularly in situations involving monetary rewards. Evidence suggests that the BOLD signal in this region is related to motivational factors, such as incentives and expected values, as well as metacognitive factors, such as confidence judgments. The value of monetary stakes has been found to bias confidence judgments, even for similar levels of difficulty and performance.
COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jeroen Brus, Helena Aebersold, Marcus Grueschow, Rafael Polania
Summary: The study reveals that confidence in value-based decisions is influenced by endogenous attentional effort and downstream noise in the comparison process, rather than by fluctuations in the precision of value encoding.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Psychiatry
Aldo Alberto Conti, Alexander Mario Baldacchino
Summary: The study suggests that tobacco smoking may not impair reward-based decision-making in adolescents, but early-onset smokers display differences in brain structure that may contribute to compulsive tobacco seeking in adulthood.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHIATRY
(2022)
Review
Oncology
Yihua Chen, Nengyuan Hu, Jianming Yang, Tianming Gao
Summary: Pathological anxiety, a difficult neuropsychiatric disease to treat, has been linked to structural changes in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and functional changes in PFC communication with other brain structures. Therapies that affect PFC activity can reverse anxiety-related circuit abnormalities. Rodent models and advanced techniques have provided insights into the neural circuits underlying anxiety and fear, aiding the development of therapies for pathological anxiety.
FRONTIERS OF MEDICINE
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Bolati Wulaer, Kazuo Kunisawa, Kazuhiro Hada, Willy Jaya Suento, Hisayoshi Kubota, Tsubasa Iida, Aika Kosuge, Taku Nagai, Kiyofumi Yamada, Atsumi Nitta, Yasuko Yamamoto, Kuniaki Saito, Akihiro Mouri, Toshitaka Nabeshima
Summary: Deficiency of Shati/Nat8l affects neurogenesis and attentional behavior in mice, possibly through modulation of dopaminergic transmission.
JOURNAL OF NEUROCHEMISTRY
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Kazuhiro Hada, Bolati Wulaer, Taku Nagai, Norimichi Itoh, Masahito Sawahata, Akira Sobue, Hiroyuki Mizoguchi, Daisuke Mori, Itaru Kushima, Toshitaka Nabeshima, Norio Ozaki, Kiyofumi Yamada
Summary: A study showed that mutations in the Arhgap10 gene associated with schizophrenia may lead to neuronal morphological abnormalities in specific brain regions, which could be related to vulnerability of cognition to methamphetamine treatment.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Ayumu Inutsuka, Daisuke Ino, Tatsushi Onaka
Summary: Understanding the functions of neuropeptides in stress response requires investigating their release timing and location, diffusion behavior, and degradation pathways in the brain. Advances in genetically encoded fluorescent sensors and structural information on GPCRs for neuropeptides have significantly enhanced our knowledge of how specific neuronal activity regulates behavior and physiological responses during stress. The development of genetically encoded fluorescent sensors for detection of neurotransmitters using conformational changes induced by ligand binding shows promising potential for future studies in detection of neuropeptides in vivo.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yoko Kato, Harumi Katsumata, Ayumu Inutsuka, Akihiro Yamanaka, Tatsushi Onaka, Shiro Minami, Chitose Orikasa
Summary: The study demonstrates that neurons expressing melanin concentrating hormone (MCH) in the lateral hypothalamic area (LHA) play a crucial role in parental nursing behavior in mammals. Genetic ablation of these neurons leads to impaired maternal nursing and reduced post-birth survival rates. Additionally, chemogenetic and optogenetic stimulation of LHA-MCH neurons induces parental nursing in virgin female and male mice, highlighting the importance of hypothalamic MCH neural relays in reproductive behavior.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Jingzhu Liao, Geyao Dong, Bolati Wulaer, Masahito Sawahata, Hiroyuki Mizoguchi, Daisuke Mori, Norio Ozaki, Toshitaka Nabeshima, Taku Nagai, Kiyofumi Yamada
Summary: The study found that Reln-del mice exhibited delayed learning in visual discrimination and reversal learning tasks, but their behavioral flexibility remained unaffected.
BEHAVIOURAL BRAIN RESEARCH
(2022)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yumi Tsuneura, Tsuyoshi Nakai, Hiroyuki Mizoguchi, Kiyofumi Yamada
Summary: Reelin, an important protein for brain development and function, is found to be associated with neuropsychiatric disorders. Supplementing Reelin could improve learning and neuronal dysfunctions in animal models. Therefore, studying the role of Reelin in neuropsychiatric disorders and potential therapeutic approaches is of great significance.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Md Omar Faruk, Daisuke Tsuboi, Yukie Yamahashi, Yasuhiro Funahashi, You-Hsin Lin, Rijwan Uddin Ahammad, Emran Hossen, Mutsuki Amano, Tomoki Nishioka, Anastasios Tzingounis, Kiyofumi Yamada, Taku Nagai, Kozo Kaibuchi
Summary: The nucleus accumbens (NAc) plays crucial roles in emotional behaviors, and muscarinic signaling induces the phosphorylation of KCNQ2 at T217 via PKC activation for aversive learning. Electric foot shock and donepezil can induce this phosphorylation, while an M1R antagonist can suppress this process.
JOURNAL OF NEUROCHEMISTRY
(2022)
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Tetsuo Matsuzaki, Yoshiaki Kato, Hiroyuki Mizoguchi, Kiyofumi Yamada
Summary: This study developed a predictive model for initial vancomycin dosing using machine learning, and compared its performance with experts, another machine learning model, and commonly used dosing software. The results showed that our model had a comparable target attainment rate to experts, and it could assist in decision making for initial dosing in the absence of dose planning consultations.
JOURNAL OF PHARMACOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Cell Biology
Rijwan Uddin Ahammad, Tomoki Nishioka, Junichiro Yoshimoto, Takayuki Kannon, Mutsuki Amano, Yasuhiro Funahashi, Daisuke Tsuboi, Md. Omar Faruk, Yukie Yamahashi, Kiyofumi Yamada, Taku Nagai, Kozo Kaibuchi
Summary: Protein phosphorylation plays a critical role in intracellular signaling pathways and physiological functions in the brain. Dysregulation of these pathways is associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. This study developed an online database to provide information on phosphorylation signals and analyzed related pathways.
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Xinjian Zhang, Daisuke Tsuboi, Yasuhiro Funahashi, Yukie Yamahashi, Kozo Kaibuchi, Taku Nagai
Summary: Dopamine regulates emotional behaviors, including rewarding and aversive behaviors, through the mesolimbic dopaminergic pathway. Protein phosphorylation plays a critical role in intracellular signaling pathways and physiological functions, and dopamine regulates neuronal excitability and synaptic plasticity through phosphorylation of intracellular substrates. Understanding the mechanisms by which dopamine controls emotional behaviors is crucial.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Biology
Ayumu Inutsuka, Sho Maejima, Hiroyuki Mizoguchi, Ryosuke Kaneko, Rei Nomura, Keiko Takanami, Hirotaka Sakamoto, Tatsushi Onaka
Summary: Transgenic animals expressing fluorescent proteins are commonly used to label specific cells and proteins. In this study, a new Cre recombinase dependent on red fluorescent protein (RFP) was created, allowing selective targeting and tracing of RFP-dependent gene expression in the mouse and rat brain.
COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Xinjian Zhang, Kiyoyuki Kitaichi, Akihiro Mouri, Xinzhu Zhou, Toshitaka Nabeshima, Kiyofumi Yamada, Taku Nagai
Summary: Although opioids have clinical benefits as analgesics, their misuse and addiction are on the rise. This study investigated the optimal ratio of an opioid and the opioid receptor antagonist, naloxone, in abuse-deterrent formulations. The conditioned place preference test showed that naloxone effectively inhibited the rewarding effects induced by opioids. The study suggests that the ratio of naloxone with opioids can serve as an index for developing abuse-deterrent formulations.
BIOCHEMICAL AND BIOPHYSICAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
