IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v10y2019i1d10.1038_s41467-019-08922-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evidence for model-based encoding of Pavlovian contingencies in the human brain

Author

Listed:
  • Wolfgang M. Pauli

    (California Institute of Technology
    California Institute of Technology
    Artificial Intelligence Platform, Microsoft)

  • Giovanni Gentile

    (California Institute of Technology
    California Institute of Technology)

  • Sven Collette

    (California Institute of Technology
    California Institute of Technology)

  • Julian M. Tyszka

    (California Institute of Technology)

  • John P. O’Doherty

    (California Institute of Technology
    California Institute of Technology)

Abstract

Prominent accounts of Pavlovian conditioning successfully approximate the frequency and intensity of conditioned responses under the assumption that learning is exclusively model-free; that animals do not develop a cognitive map of events. However, these model-free approximations fall short of comprehensively capturing learning and behavior in Pavlovian conditioning. We therefore performed multivoxel pattern analysis of high-resolution functional MRI data in human participants to test for the encoding of stimulus-stimulus associations that could support model-based computations during Pavlovian conditioning. We found that dissociable sub-regions of the striatum encode predictions of stimulus-stimulus associations and predictive value, in a manner that is directly related to learning performance. Activity patterns in the orbitofrontal cortex were also found to be related to stimulus-stimulus as well as value encoding. These results suggest that the brain encodes model-based representations during Pavlovian conditioning, and that these representations are utilized in the service of behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Wolfgang M. Pauli & Giovanni Gentile & Sven Collette & Julian M. Tyszka & John P. O’Doherty, 2019. "Evidence for model-based encoding of Pavlovian contingencies in the human brain," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-08922-7
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-08922-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-08922-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-019-08922-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Qingfang Liu & Yao Zhao & Sumedha Attanti & Joel L. Voss & Geoffrey Schoenbaum & Thorsten Kahnt, 2024. "Midbrain signaling of identity prediction errors depends on orbitofrontal cortex networks," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    2. Eva R. Pool & Wolfgang M. Pauli & Logan Cross & John P. O’Doherty, 2023. "Neural substrates of parallel devaluation-sensitive and devaluation-insensitive Pavlovian learning in humans," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-17, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-08922-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.