title: Neuronal basis of sequential foraging decisions in a patchy environment.
abstract: Deciding when to leave a depleting resource to exploit another is a fundamental problem for all decision makers. The neuronal mechanisms mediating patch-leaving decisions remain unknown. We found that neurons in primate (Macaca mulatta) dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, an area that is linked to reward monitoring and executive control, encode a decision variable signaling the relative value of leaving a depleting resource for a new one. Neurons fired during each sequential decision to stay in a patch and, for each travel time, these responses reached a fixed threshold for patch-leaving. Longer travel times reduced the gain of neural responses for choosing to stay in a patch and increased the firing rate threshold mandating patch-leaving. These modulations more closely matched behavioral decisions than any single task variable. These findings portend an understanding of the neural basis of foraging decisions and endorse the unification of theoretical and experimental work in ecology and neuroscience.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina, USA. benhayden@gmail.com
authors.forename: Benjamin Y
authors.initials: BY
authors.lastname: Hayden
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Pearson
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Platt
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D004777:Environment; D005106:Exploratory Behavior; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D018737:Hand Strength / Q000502:physiology; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D012201:Reward; D013997:Time Factors