Observational learning computations in neurons of the human anterior cingulate cortex.
When learning from direct experience, neurons in the primate brain have been shown to encode a teaching signal used by algorithms in artificial intelligence: the reward prediction error (PE)-the difference between how rewarding an event is, and how rewarding it was expected to be. However, in humans and other species learning often takes place by observing other individuals. Here, we show that, when humans observe other players in a card game, neurons in their rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) encode both the expected value of an observed choice, and the PE after the outcome was revealed. Notably, during the same task neurons recorded in the amygdala (AMY) and the rostromedial prefrontal cortex (rmPFC) do not exhibit this type of encoding. Our results suggest that humans learn by observing others, at least in part through the encoding of observational PEs in single neurons in the rACC.
Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.|Computation and Neural Systems, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.|Division of Neurosurgery and Neuropsychiatric Institute, University of California (UCLA), Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.|Center for Neuroprosthetics, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Campus Biotech H4, Chemin des Mines 9, 1202 Genève, Switzerland.
Michael R
MR
Hill
Computation and Neural Systems, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.|Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.|Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK.
Erie D
ED
Boorman
Division of Neurosurgery and Neuropsychiatric Institute, University of California (UCLA), Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.|Functional Neurosurgery Unit, Tel-Aviv Medical Centre and Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel.
Itzhak
I
Fried
D000328:Adult; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D019370:Observation