ArticlePLoS computational biology2019
Categorical encoding of decision variables in orbitofrontal cortex.
Article in PLoS computational biology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed.
- Laminar architecture of a decision circuit in the mouse orbitofrontal cortex.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Article
- The Laminar Organization of a Decision Circuit in Orbitofrontal Cortex is Agnostic to the Variable Encoding Scheme.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Pre-existing and emergent cortical neuronal assembly sequences during learning.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Orbitofrontal cortex computes gaze-dependent comparisons between attributes rather than integrated values.PLoS biology · 2025Article
- Rarely categorical, always high-dimensional: how the neural code changes along the cortical hierarchy.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- The representation of decision variables in orbitofrontal cortex is longitudinally stable.Cell reports · 2024Article
- Abstraction of Reward Context Facilitates Relative Reward Coding in Neural Populations of the Macaque Anterior Cingulate Cortex.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2023Article
- Cognition and the single neuron: How cell types construct the dynamic computations of frontal cortex.Current opinion in neurobiology · 2022Review
- Recent Advances at the Interface of Neuroscience and Artificial Neural Networks.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2022Review
- Neuronal origins of reduced accuracy and biases in economic choices under sequential offers.eLife · 2022Article
- Economic Choices under Simultaneous or Sequential Offers Rely on the Same Neural Circuit.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2022Article
- Multi-scale neural decoding and analysis.Journal of neural engineering · 2021Review
- Value and choice as separable and stable representations in orbitofrontal cortex.Nature communications · 2020Article
- Representation of foreseeable choice outcomes in orbitofrontal cortex triplet-wise interactions.PLoS computational biology · 2020Article
- Article
- Neuronal Activity in the Primate Amygdala during Economic Choice.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
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Abstract
A fundamental and recurrent question in systems neuroscience is that of assessing what variables are encoded by a given population of neurons. Such assessments are often challenging because neurons in one brain area may encode multiple variables, and because neuronal representations might be categorical or non-categorical. These issues are particularly pertinent to the representation of decision variables in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)-an area implicated in economic choices. Here we present a new algorithm to assess whether a neuronal representation is categorical or non-categorical, and to identify the encoded variables if the representation is indeed categorical. The algorithm is based on two clustering procedures, one variable-independent and the other variable-based. The two partitions are then compared through adjusted mutual information. The present algorithm overcomes limitations of previous approaches and is widely applicable. We tested the algorithm on synthetic data and then used it to examine neuronal data recorded in the primate OFC during economic decisions. Confirming previous assessments, we found the neuronal representation in OFC to be categorical in nature. We also found that neurons in this area encode the value of individual offers, the binary choice outcome and the chosen value. In other words, during economic choice, neurons in the primate OFC encode decision variables in a categorical way.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.