Neural basis of utility estimation.
The allocation of behavior among competing activities and goal objects depends on the payoffs they provide. Payoff is evaluated among multiple dimensions, including intensity, rate, delay, and kind. Recent findings suggest that by triggering a stream of action potentials in myelinated, medial forebrain bundle axons, rewarding electrical brain stimulation delivers a meaningful intensity signal to the process that computes payoff.
Shizgal
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Center for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology, Concordia University, 1455 de Maisonneuve Boulevard West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3G 1MB. shizgal@csbn.concordia.ca
D000818:Animals; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D012201:Reward