Biology subjects

Elston, T. W.

Publications and source records attributed to Elston, T. W..

5 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Feature-based valuation and its impairment in people with compulsive and addictive symptoms

Effective decision-making requires evaluating options based on relevant features while reducing attention to those that are not. However, how attention prioritizes one source of information over another during value-based decisions remains unknown. Across 7 experiments, we show that irrelevant features both constructively and destructively interfered with how values are assigned to choice options. When relevant and irrelevant features agreed, choice accuracy and speed were facilitated; when they conflicted, accuracy decreased and choices slowed in proportion to the value of the irrelevant feature. We modeled this interference as a weighted sum of relevant and irrelevant feature values. This model explained individual differences in choice behavior and, critically, tracked psychiatric symptom severity related to substance abuse and obsessive-compulsive disorder. This suggests that these symptoms may, in part, reflect an impaired ability to weigh relevant against irrelevant information when assigning value to choice options - a process we term feature-based valuation.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

Selective engagement of the primate orbitofrontal cortex during value-based but not perceptual decisions

A fundamental question in neuroscience is whether the brain uses specialized sub-systems for different types of decisions or relies on a unified decision-making network. The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) provides an ideal test case for this question: it has a well-established role in value-based decisions but it remains unknown whether this reflects functional specialization or participation in a broader, general decision network. To distinguish between these possibilities, we used Neuropixels to monitor large ensembles of OFC neurons as a monkey performed both value-based and perceptual decision tasks. Consistent with prior reports, OFC was robustly engaged during value-based decisions. In contrast, OFC was minimally engaged during perceptual decisions, with no significant encoding of task parameters at either the single neuron or population level. This highlights the functional specialization of the OFC for value-based decisions and suggests that the different cognitive demands underlying different types of decisions recruit distinct neural circuits.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

Frontostriatal dynamics of cognitive control

A central tenet of cognitive psychology is the existence of two distinct modes of processing: the fast, automatic system and the slow, deliberative system 1,2. The prefrontal cortex is thought to control the balance between these two systems, allowing automatic processing where possible, but stepping in when deliberative processes are required, such as in novel, uncertain, or conflicting situations 3-6. Despite the central importance of this idea in cognitive neuroscience, there is little understanding of how this control process is implemented. We used Neuropixel recordings in rhesus macaques to decode neural activity and reveal the cognitive processes in prefrontal cortex and striatum during automatic and deliberative decisions. During automatic decisions, the chosen option was decoded simultaneously from both areas. During deliberative choices, the prefrontal cortex serially considered multiple options while neither could be decoded from the striatum. This suppression occurred via an increase in alpha band coherence between the two structures and scaled with the volatility of prefrontal representations. Our findings reveal a specific neural mechanism that may explain how frontostriatal circuits implement cognitive control and provide a novel mechanism by which to treat disorders of behavioral control.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2023

Context-dependent decision-making in the primate hippocampal-prefrontal circuit

What is good in one scenario might be bad in another. Despite the ubiquity of such contextual reasoning in everyday choice, how the brain flexibly utilizes different valuation schemes across contexts remains unknown. We addressed this question by monitoring neural activity from the hippocampus (HPC) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) of two monkeys performing a state-dependent choice task. We found that HPC neurons encoded state information as it became available and then, at the time of choice, relayed this information to OFC via theta synchronization. During choice, OFC represented value in a state-dependent manner: many OFC neurons uniquely coded for value in only one state but not the other. This suggests a functional dissociation whereby HPC encodes contextual information that is broadcast to OFC via theta synchronization to select a state-appropriate value subcircuit, thus allowing for contextual reasoning in value-based choice.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2017

Adaptive motivational signalling from the Anterior Cingulate Cortex to the Ventral Tegmental Area

Information gained during goal pursuit motivates adaptive behaviour. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) supports adaptive behaviour, but how ACC signals are translated into motivational signals remains unclear. Rats implanted in the ACC and ventral tegmental area (VTA), a dopaminergic brain area implicated in motivation, were trained to run laps around a rectangular track for a fixed reward, where each lap varied in physical effort (a 30cm climbable barrier). Partial directed coherence analysis of local field potentials revealed that ACC theta (4-12 Hz) activity increased as rats entered the barrier-containing region of the maze on trials when the barrier was absent, and predicted similar changes in VTA theta. This did not occur on effortful, barrier-present trials. These data suggest that ACC provides a top-down modulating signal which can influence the motivation with which to pursue a reward, and which may be, in our task, a neural correlate of relief.

neuroscience↗