Alexander Skowron, Julian Q Kosciessa, Robert C Lorenz, Ralph Hertwig, Wouter van den Bos, Douglas D Garrett
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
To make optimal decisions, intelligent agents must learn latent environmental states from discrete observations. Bayesian frameworks argue that integration of evidence over time allows us to refine our state belief by reducing uncertainty about alternate possibilities. How is this increasing belief precision during learning reflected in the brain? We propose that temporal neural variability should scale with the degree of reduction of uncertainty during learning. In a sample of 47 healthy adults, we found that BOLD signal variability (SDBOLD, as measured across independent learning trials) indeed compressed with successive exposure to decision-related evidence. Crucially, more accurate participants expressed greater SDBOLD compression primarily in default mode network regions, possibly reflecting the increasing precision of their latent state belief during more efficient learning. Further, computational modeling of behavior suggested that more accurate subjects held a more unbiased (flatter) prior belief over possible states that allowed for larger uncertainty reduction during learning, which was directly reflected in SDBOLD changes. Our results provide first evidence that neural variability compresses with increasing belief precision during effective learning, proposing a flexible mechanism for how we come to learn the probabilistic nature of the world around us.
期刊介绍:
Cerebral Cortex publishes papers on the development, organization, plasticity, and function of the cerebral cortex, including the hippocampus. Studies with clear relevance to the cerebral cortex, such as the thalamocortical relationship or cortico-subcortical interactions, are also included.
The journal is multidisciplinary and covers the large variety of modern neurobiological and neuropsychological techniques, including anatomy, biochemistry, molecular neurobiology, electrophysiology, behavior, artificial intelligence, and theoretical modeling. In addition to research articles, special features such as brief reviews, book reviews, and commentaries are included.