Neuronal basis of sequential foraging decisions in a patchy environment.
Published online
Journal Article
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.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Hayden, BY; Pearson, JM; Platt, ML
Published Date
- June 5, 2011
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 14 / 7
Start / End Page
- 933 - 939
PubMed ID
- 21642973
Pubmed Central ID
- 21642973
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1546-1726
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1038/nn.2856
Language
- eng
Conference Location
- United States