Gaze differences in configural and elemental evaluation during multi-attribute decision-making.

Introduction: While many everyday choices are between multi-attribute options, how attribute values are integrated to allow such choices remains unclear. Recent findings suggest a distinction between elemental (attribute-by-attribute) and configural (holistic) evaluation of multi-attribute options, with different neural substrates. Here, we asked if there are behavioral or gaze pattern differences between these putatively distinct modes of multi-attribute decision-making. Methods: Thirty-nine healthy men and women learned the monetary values of novel multi-attribute pseudo-objects (fribbles) and then made choices between pairs of these objects while eye movements were tracked. Value was associated with individual attributes in the elemental condition, and with unique combinations of attributes in the configural condition. Choice, reaction time, gaze fixation time on options and individual attributes, and within- and between-option gaze transitions were recorded. Results: There were systematic behavioral differences between elemental and configural conditions. Elemental trials had longer reaction times and more between-option transitions, while configural trials had more within-option transitions. The effect of last fixation on choice was more pronounced in the configural condition. Discussion: We observed differences in gaze patterns and the influence of last fixation location on choice in multi-attribute value-based choices depending on how value is associated with those attributes. This adds support for the claim that multi-attribute option values may emerge either elementally or holistically, reminiscent of similar distinctions in multi-attribute object recognition. This may be important to consider in neuroeconomics research that involve visually-presented complex objects.

A Preferential Role for Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex in Assessing "the Value of the Whole" in Multiattribute Object Evaluation.

Everyday decision-making commonly involves assigning values to complex objects with multiple value-relevant attributes. Drawing on object recognition theories, we hypothesized two routes to multiattribute evaluation: assessing the value of the whole object based on holistic attribute configuration or summing individual attribute values. In two samples of healthy human male and female participants undergoing eye tracking and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while evaluating novel pseudo objects, we found evidence for both forms of evaluation. Fixations to and transitions between attributes differed systematically when the value of pseudo objects was associated with individual attributes or attribute configurations. Ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and perirhinal cortex were engaged when configural processing was required. These results converge with our recent findings that individuals with vmPFC lesions were impaired in decisions requiring configural evaluation but not when evaluating the sum of the parts. This suggests that multiattribute decision-making engages distinct evaluation mechanisms relying on partially dissociable neural substrates, depending on the relationship between attributes and value.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Decision neuroscience has only recently begun to address how multiple choice-relevant attributes are brought together during evaluation and choice among complex options. Object recognition research makes a crucial distinction between individual attribute and holistic/configural object processing, but how the brain evaluates attributes and whole objects remains unclear. Using fMRI and eye tracking, we found that the vmPFC and the perirhinal cortex contribute to value estimation specifically when value was related to whole objects, that is, predicted by the unique configuration of attributes and not when value was predicted by the sum of individual attribute values. This perspective on the interactions between subjective value and object processing mechanisms provides a novel bridge between the study of object recognition and reward-guided decision-making.

Viewing orbitofrontal cortex contributions to decision-making through the lens of object recognition.

Decision neuroscience research has consistently implicated orbitofrontal and adjacent ventromedial prefrontal cortex in value-based decision-making. These areas are thought to reflect subjective value, a generic indicator of the personal motivational relevance of different options that allows them to be compared on a common scale. There are a number of unanswered questions arising from this model. We review findings from studies in patients with focal damage to the ventral frontal lobe that led us to reconsider how decision options are evaluated, applying perspectives from research on object recognition in the ventral visual stream. While decision-making is often approached from an abstract economic perspective in the lab, most of our everyday decisions, whether about food, goods, or people, are between directly perceived complex objects made up of multiple value-predictive attributes. It is not clear how multiple attributes are integrated to produce a global value estimate. We know the objects themselves are represented in the ventral visual stream at different levels of complexity, ranging from individual features to unique combinations of such features, but what about the values of those objects? Here, we suggest distinctions between configural and elemental evaluation echoing distinctions in visual processing. We discuss evidence that orbitofrontal-ventromedial prefrontal cortex is not required for all value-based decisions, but rather is specifically critical for recognizing value when it is predicted by configural relationships between attributes. We also consider how this perspective connects with emerging views of orbitofrontal cortex as an abstract cognitive map, and the debate on whether subjective value is a neurobiologically meaningful construct. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Value Neglect: A Critical Role for Ventromedial Frontal Lobe in Learning the Value of Spatial Locations.

Whether you are a gazelle bounding to the richest tract of grassland or a return customer heading to the freshest farm stand at a crowded market, the ability to learn the value of spatial locations is important in adaptive behavior. The ventromedial frontal lobe (VMF) is implicated in value-based decisions between objects and in flexibly learning to choose between objects based on feedback. However, it is unclear if this region plays a material-general role in reward learning. Here, we tested whether VMF is necessary for learning the value of spatial locations. People with VMF damage were compared with healthy participants and a control group with frontal damage sparing VMF in an incentivized spatial search task. Participants chose among spatial targets distributed among distractors, rewarded with an expected value that varied along the right-left axis of the screen. People with VMF damage showed a weaker tendency to reap reward in contralesional hemispace. In some individuals, this impairment could be dissociated from the ability to make value-based decisions between objects, assessed separately. This is the first evidence that the VMF is critically involved in reward-guided spatial search and offers a novel perspective on the relationships between value, spatial attention, and decision-making.

A Critical Role for Human Ventromedial Frontal Lobe in Value Comparison of Complex Objects Based on Attribute Configuration.

In making decisions, we often choose from among options with multiple value-relevant attributes. Neuroeconomic models propose that the value associated with each attribute is integrated in a global value for each option. However, some evidence from patients with ventromedial frontal lobe (VMF) damage argues against a very general role for this region in value integration, suggesting instead that it contributes critically to a specific value inference or comparison process. Here, we tested value-based decision-making involving artificial multiattribute objects in humans with focal damage to the VMF (N = 12) compared with a healthy group matched for age and education (N = 24) and with a group with frontal lobe damage sparing the VMF (N = 12). In a "configural" condition, overall object value was predicted by the conjunction of two attributes, while in an "elemental" condition, object value could be assessed by combining the independent values of individual attributes. Patients with VMF damage were impaired in making choices when value was uniquely predicted by the configuration of attributes, but intact when choosing based on elemental attribute values. This is evidence that the VMF is critical for inferring the value of whole objects in a multiattribute choice. These findings have implications for models of value-based choice and add to emerging views of how this region may interact with medial temporal lobe systems involved in configural object processing and relational memory.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Neuroeconomic models propose that the ventromedial frontal lobe (VMF) supports multiattribute decisions by integrating the values of attributes. However, researchers have been uncertain about the underlying mechanisms for this process. Patients with VMF damage made multiattribute choices under two conditions: in one, attribute values could be summed to guide choice; in the other, value was predicted by the conjunction of attributes. VMF damage impaired only the latter. This argues that the VMF is critical for inferring value from configural information to guide multiattribute object choice. This region may be key for judging the emergent "value of the forest," rather than for integrating the individual "value of each tree."

Is ventromedial prefrontal cortex critical for behavior change without external reinforcement?

Cue-approach training (CAT) is a novel paradigm that has been shown to induce preference changes towards items without external reinforcements. In the task, the mere association of a neutral cue and a speeded button response has been shown to induce a behavioral choice preference change lasting for months. This paradigm includes several phases: after the training of individual items, behavior change is manifested in binary choices of items with similar initial values. Neuroimaging data have implicated the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in the choice phase of this task. However, the neural mechanisms underlying the preference changes induced by training remain unclear. Here, we asked whether the ventromedial frontal lobe (VMF) is critical for the non-reinforced preference change induced by CAT. For this purpose, 11 participants with focal lesions involving the VMF and 30 healthy age-matched controls performed the CAT. The VMF group was similar to the healthy age-matched control group in the ranking and training phases. As a group, the healthy age-matched controls exhibited a training-induced behavior change, while the VMF group did not. However, on an individual level analysis we found that some of the VMF participants showed a significant preference shift. Thus, we find mixed evidence for the role of VMF in this paradigm. This is another step towards defining the mechanisms underlying the novel form of behavioral change that occurs with CAT.