A prefrontal network integrates preferences for advance information about uncertain rewards and punishments

Humans and animals can be strongly motivated to seek information to resolve uncertainty about rewards and punishments. In particular, despite its clinical and societal relevance, very little is known about information seeking about punishments. We show that attitudes toward information about punishments and rewards are distinct and separable at both behavioral and neuronal levels. We demonstrate the existence of prefrontal neuronal populations that anticipate opportunities to gain information in a relatively valence-specific manner, separately anticipating information about either punishments or rewards. These neurons are located in anatomically interconnected subregions of anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) in area 12o/47. Unlike ACC, vlPFC also contains a population of neurons that integrate attitudes toward both reward and punishment information, to encode the overall preference for information in a bivalent manner. This cortical network is well suited to mediate information seeking by integrating the desire to resolve uncertainty about multiple, distinct motivational outcomes.

Automated summary

Research has shown that both humans and animals have distinct attitudes when seeking information about rewards and punishments, which can be differentiated at both behavioral and neuronal levels. Prefrontal neurons are able to anticipate information about punishments and rewards separately, while the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex can integrate attitudes towards both types of information in a bivalent manner. This cortical network is well-suited for mediating information seeking by integrating the desire to resolve uncertainty about multiple distinct motivational outcomes.