A causal role for the right frontal eye fields in value comparison

eLife

Ian Krajbich¹  Christian C Ruff²  Ernst Fehr²  Andres Mitsumasu²  Rafael Polania³ 

[1]Departments of Psychology, Economics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, United States

[2]Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics, Department of Economics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

[3]Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics, Department of Economics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

[4]Decision Neuroscience Lab, Depterment of Heatlh Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

关键词: attention;    eye tracking;    brain stimulation;    drift diffusion model;    decision making;    frontal eye fields;    Human;   

DOI  :  10.7554/eLife.67477

来源: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd

【 摘 要 】

Recent studies have suggested close functional links between overt visual attention and decision making. This suggests that the corresponding mechanisms may interface in brain regions known to be crucial for guiding visual attention – such as the frontal eye field (FEF). Here, we combined brain stimulation, eye tracking, and computational approaches to explore this possibility. We show that inhibitory transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the right FEF has a causal impact on decision making, reducing the effect of gaze dwell time on choice while also increasing reaction times. We computationally characterize this putative mechanism by using the attentional drift diffusion model (aDDM), which reveals that FEF inhibition reduces the relative discounting of the non-fixated option in the comparison process. Our findings establish an important causal role of the right FEF in choice, elucidate the underlying mechanism, and provide support for one of the key causal hypotheses associated with the aDDM.

【 授权许可】

CC BY