Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

When an organism receives a reward, it is crucial to know which of many candidate actions caused this reward. However, recent work suggests that learning is possible even when this most fundamental assumption is not met. We used novel reward-guided learning paradigms in two fMRI studies to show that humans deploy separable learning mechanisms that operate in parallel. While behavior was dominated by precise contingent learning, it also revealed hallmarks of noncontingent learning strategies. These learning mechanisms were separable behaviorally and neurally. Lateral orbitofrontal cortex supported contingent learning and reflected contingencies between outcomes and their causal choices. Amygdala responses around reward times related to statistical patterns of learning. Time-based heuristic mechanisms were related to activity in sensorimotor corticostriatal circuitry. Our data point to the existence of several learning mechanisms in the human brain, of which only one relies on applying known rules about the causal structure of the task.

Original publication

DOI

10.1016/j.neuron.2016.02.018

Type

Journal article

Journal

Neuron

Publication Date

06/04/2016

Volume

90

Pages

177 - 190

Keywords

Adult, Amygdala, Brain, Brain Mapping, Cerebral Cortex, Choice Behavior, Female, Functional Neuroimaging, Heuristics, Humans, Learning, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Mesencephalon, Neural Pathways, Prefrontal Cortex, Reward, Ventral Striatum, Young Adult