ArticleScience advances2020
The value of what's to come: Neural mechanisms coupling prediction error and the utility of anticipation.
Article in Science advances, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed.
- Hippocampal-cingulate dynamics in the human brain link reinforcement-learning and memory.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Representations of the intrinsic value of information in mouse orbitofrontal cortex.Nature neuroscience · 2026Article
- How Uncertainty Affects Children's Exploration and Exploitation in Statistical Learning.Developmental science · 2026Article
- cpm: A python library for theory-driven modelling in computational psychiatry.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Why do we seek information about the future? On the origins of subjective value without instrumental value.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Article
- Addressing Altered Anticipation as a Transdiagnostic Target Through Computational Psychiatry.Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging · 2025Review
- To know or not to know? Curiosity and the value of prospective information in animals.Learning & behavior · 2025Review
- Striatal-hippocampal functional connectivity contributes to real-life positive anticipatory experiences and subjective well-being.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2024Article
- Temporal context effects on suboptimal choice.Psychonomic bulletin & review · 2024Article
- Rats' performance in a suboptimal choice procedure implemented in a natural-foraging analogue.Animal cognition · 2024Article
- The Role of the Medial Prefrontal Cortex in Spatial Margin of Safety Calculations.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2024Article
- State-dependent connectivity in auditory-reward networks predicts peak pleasure experiences to music.PLoS biology · 2024Article
- The effect of noninstrumental information on reward learning.Memory & cognition · 2024Article
- A special role for anterior cingulate cortex, but not orbitofrontal cortex or basolateral amygdala, in choices involving information.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2024Article
- A multi-stage anticipated surprise model with dynamic expectation for economic decision-making.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- A neural mechanism for conserved value computations integrating information and rewards.Nature neuroscience · 2024Article
- Perceived financial well-being and its association with frontostriatal functional connectivity, real-life anticipatory experiences, and everyday happiness.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- The non-unitary nature of information preference.Psychonomic bulletin & review · 2023Article
- The availability of non-instrumental information increases risky decision-making.Psychonomic bulletin & review · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Having something to look forward to is a keystone of well-being. Anticipation of future reward, such as an upcoming vacation, can often be more gratifying than the experience itself. Theories suggest the utility of anticipation underpins various behaviors, ranging from beneficial information-seeking to harmful addiction. However, how neural systems compute anticipatory utility remains unclear. We analyzed the brain activity of human participants as they performed a task involving choosing whether to receive information predictive of future pleasant outcomes. Using a computational model, we show three brain regions orchestrate anticipatory utility. Specifically, ventromedial prefrontal cortex tracks the value of anticipatory utility, dopaminergic midbrain correlates with information that enhances anticipation, while sustained hippocampal activity mediates a functional coupling between these regions. Our findings suggest a previously unidentified neural underpinning for anticipation's influence over decision-making and unify a range of phenomena associated with risk and time-delay preference.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.