How the brain integrates costs and benefits during decision making

When we make decisions, the benefits of an option often need to be weighed against accompanying costs. Little is known, however, about the neural systems underlying such cost–benefit computations. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging and choice modeling, we show that decision making based on cost–benefit comparison can be explained as a stochastic accumulation of cost– benefit difference. Model-driven functional MRI shows that ventromedial and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex compare costs and benefits by computing the difference between neural signatures of anticipated benefits and costs from the ventral striatum and amygdala, respectively. Moreover, changes in blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal in the bilateral middle intraparietal sulcus reflect the accumulation of the difference signal from ventromedial prefrontal cortex. In sum, we show that a neurophysiological mechanism previously established for perceptual decision making, that is, the difference-based accumulation of evidence, is fundamental also in value-based decisions. The brain, thus, weighs costs against benefits by combining neural benefit and cost signals into a single, differencebased neural representation of net value, which is accumulated over time until the individual decides to accept or reject an option.

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By Ulrike Bastena, Guido Bieleb, Hauke R. Heekeren and Christian J. Fiebacha

Department of Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt, D-60325 Frankfurt, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Human Development, D-14195 Berlin, Germany; Department of Education and Psychology, Cluster of Excellence “Languages of Emotion”, and Dahlem Institute for Neuroimaging of Emotion (D.I.N.E.), Freie Universität, Berlin, D-14195 Berlin, Germany; Center for the Study of Human Cognition, University of Oslo, N-0136 Oslo, Norway; Bernstein Center for Computational Neurosciences, Heidelberg/Mannheim, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany; and f Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behavior, Radboud University Nijmegen, 6525 HR, Nijmegen, The Netherlands Edited by Leslie G. Ungerleider, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, and approved November 3, 2010 (received for review July 20, 2009