title: Neurons in the Primate Medial Basal Forebrain Signal Combined Information about Reward Uncertainty, Value, and Punishment Anticipation.
abstract: It has been suggested that the basal forebrain (BF) exerts strong influences on the formation of memory and behavior. However, what information is used for the memory-behavior formation is unclear. We found that a population of neurons in the medial BF (medial septum and diagonal band of Broca) of macaque monkeys encodes a unique combination of information: reward uncertainty, expected reward value, anticipation of punishment, and unexpected reward and punishment. The results were obtained while the monkeys were expecting (often with uncertainty) a rewarding or punishing outcome during a Pavlovian procedure, or unexpectedly received an outcome outside the procedure. In vivo anterograde tracing using manganese-enhanced MRI suggested that the major recipient of these signals is the intermediate hippocampal formation. Based on these findings, we hypothesize that the medial BF identifies various contexts and outcomes that are critical for memory processing in the hippocampal formation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Washington University, School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research, National Eye Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, and ilya.monosov@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ilya E
authors.initials: IE
authors.lastname: Monosov
authors.affiliation: Section on Cognitive Neurophysiology and Imaging, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, Neurophysiology Imaging Facility, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Eye Institute, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.
authors.forename: David A
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1345-6360
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Leopold
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research, National Eye Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, and.
authors.forename: Okihide
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2458-7187
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hikosaka
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001070:Appetitive Behavior; D001362:Avoidance Learning; D066187:Basal Forebrain / Q000166:cytology*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D011336:Probability; D011678:Punishment; D012201:Reward; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D035501:Uncertainty
keywords: basal forebrain; electrophysiology; emotion; learning; memory; motivation