Theories of instrumental learning are centred on understanding how success and failure are
used to improve future decisions. These theories highlight a central role for reward …

Damage to prefrontal cortex (PFC) impairs decision-making, but the underlying value
computations that might cause such impairments remain unclear. Here we report that value …

MIDBRAIN dopamine systems are crucially involved in motivational processes underlying
the learning and execution of goal-directed behaviour1–5. Dopamine neurons in monkeys …

Functional imaging studies in recent years have confirmed the involvement of orbitofrontal
cortex (OFC) in human reward processing and have suggested that OFC responses are …

Every day people make new choices between alternatives that they have never directly
experienced. Yet, such decisions are often made rapidly and confidently. Here, we show that …

The cortex organizes sensory information to enable discrimination and generalization,,–. As
systematic representations of chemical odour space have not yet been described in the …

Despite widespread neural activity related to reward values, signals related to upcoming
choice have not been clearly identified in the rodent brain. Here we examined neuronal …

Competitive interactions have a vital role in the ecology of most animal species,–and
powerfully influence the behaviour of groups,. To succeed, individuals must exert effort …

The amygdala is a key structure of the brain's reward system. Existing theories view its role
in decision-making as restricted to an early valuation stage that provides input to decision …

Rapid advances have recently been made in understanding how value-based decision-
making processes are implemented in the brain. We integrate neuroeconomic and …