ArticleNature communications2026
Complementary and opponent value signals in the human brain support choosing the best and avoiding the worst.
Article in Nature communications, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
15 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Whether the brain encodes the subjective value of pleasant and unpleasant situations via a single integrated circuit or through distinct pathways remains unresolved. How such signals guide choice across contexts also remains unclear. To address these questions, we recorded intracerebral activity from participants who rated pleasant and unpleasant scenarios and then made binary choices across domains and frames. Ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) broadband gamma activity (BGA, 50-150 Hz) tracked the value of pleasant items during rating and choice, correlating positively with the most pleasant item irrespective of choice frame. Similarly, anterior insula (aIns) BGA tracked the value of unpleasant items during rating and choice, correlating negatively with the most unpleasant item irrespective of choice frame. Relative value signals in the vmPFC and aIns diverged most strongly when item domain and choice frame conflicted. These findings reveal complementary neural systems for pleasant and unpleasant valuation and their role in value-based choices.
Indexed as
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.