Dynamic belief representation and updating through learned attractor-like dynamics in the frontal cortex

Abstract

To act adaptively, animals must infer hidden states of the world from incomplete sensory information and update beliefs as new observations accrue. While dopamine signals are well explained by reinforcement learning models that incorporate belief states, how the brain implements belief-state inference remains unknown. Prior modeling work showed that recurrent neural networks trained to predict value (Value-RNN) develop task-specific, attractor-like dynamics that mirror evolution of beliefs. Here we performed high-density electrophysiological recordings from orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and other brain areas of mice performing two variants of a Pavlovian task that differ in reward probability, which produce different within-trial belief dynamics. We find that OFC population activity exhibits task-specific attractor-like dynamics that mirror the within-trial dynamics in the Value-RNN. These dynamics are absent in motor and olfactory regions, are not explained by behavioral differences, and emerge progressively with learning. Our findings indicate that the brain approximates belief-state inference through learned, task-specific attractor-like dynamics.