DePass, M. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2023

A biologically plausible decision-making model based on interacting cortical columns

We present a novel decision-making model with two populations. Each population is composed of Regularly Spiking (excitatory) and Fast Spiking (inhibitory) cells in cortical layer 2/3. Each population votes for one of the two visual alternatives shown on a monitor in human and macaque experiments. The model is biophysically plausible since it is based on long-range cortico-cortical connections between the layer 2/3 populations. These connections are excitatory. They contact both Regularly Spiking and Fast Spiking cells. This long-range excitation is conflicted by an inhibition based on local connections within the populations. This configuration introduces a competition between the layer 2/3 populations, sufficient for making a decision to choose between two alternatives shown on the monitor. We integrate the model with a reward-driven learning mechanism. This allows the model to learn the optimal strategy maximizing the cumulative reward in the long term. We test the model on two decision-making tasks applied on human and macaque. This model elaborates certain biophysical details which were not considered by simpler phenomenological models proposed for similar decision-making tasks. Finally, the model can be embedded in a brain simulator such as The Virtual Brain to study decision-making in terms of large-scale brain dynamics.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2023

A Theoretical Formalization of Consequence-Based Decision-Making

Learning to make adaptive decisions depends on exploring options, experiencing their consequence, and reassessing ones strategy for the future. Although several studies have analyzed various aspects of value-based decision-making, most of them have focused on decisions in which gratification is cued and immediate. By contrast, how the brain gauges delayed consequence for decision-making remains poorly understood. To investigate this, we designed a decision-making task in which each decision altered future options. The task was organized in groups of consecutively dependent trials, and the participants were instructed to maximize the cumulative reward value within each group. In the absence of any explicit performance feedback, the participants had to test and internally assess specific criteria to make decisions. This task was designed to specifically study how the assessment of consequence forms and influences decisions as learning progresses. We analyzed behavior results to characterize individual differences in reaction times, decision strategies, and learning rates. We formalized this operation mathematically by means of a multi-layered decision-making model. By using a mean-field approximation, the first layer of the model described the dynamics of two populations of neurons which characterized the binary decision-making process. The other two layers modulated the decision-making policy by dynamically adapting an oversight learning mechanism. The model was validated by fitting each individual participants behavior and it faithfully predicted non-trivial patterns of decision-making, regardless of performance level. These findings provided an explanation to how delayed consequence may be computed and incorporated into the neural dynamics of decision-making, and to how learning occurs in the absence of explicit feedback.

neuroscience↗