Cognitive regulation during decision making shifts behavioral control between ventromedial and dorsolateral prefrontal value systems
Open accessAbstract
Cognitive regulation is often used to influence behavioral outcomes. However, the computational and neurobiological mechanisms by which it affects behavior remain unknown. We studied this issue using an fMRI task in which human participants used cognitive regulation to upregulate and downregulate their cravings for foods at the time of choice. We found that activity in both ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) correlated with value. We also found evidence that two distinct regulatory mechanisms were at work: value modulation, which operates by changing the values assigned to foods in vmPFC and dlPFC at the time of choice, and behavioral control modulation, which operates by changing the relative influence of the vmPFC and dlPFC value signals on the action selection process used to make choices. In particular, during downregulation, activation decreased in the value-sensitive region of dlPFC (indicating value modulation) but not in vmPFC, and the relative contribution of the two value signals to behavior shifted toward the dlPFC (indicating behavioral control modulation). The opposite pattern was observed during upregulation: activation increased in vmPFC but not dlPFC, and the relative contribution to behavior shifted toward the vmPFC. Finally, ventrolateral PFC and posterior parietal cortex were more active during both upregulation and downregulation, and were functionally connected with vmPFC and dlPFC during cognitive regulation, which suggests that they help to implement the changes to the decision-making circuitry generated by cognitive regulation.
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Both NAc and vmPFC have been shown to be important predictors of changes in appetitive and self-regulatory behaviors in the real world.
“both regions have been shown to be important predictors of changes in appetitive and self-regulatory behaviors in the real world [45],[80],[81]”
From Distinct Brain Systems Mediate the Effects of Nociceptive Input and Self-Regulation on Pain (2015) · cites this paper as [45]
One potential explanation for the DLPFC negative result is that DLPFC might only be involved in tasks involving the evaluation of sufficiently abstract stimuli or self-regulation.
“One potential explanation for this negative result is that DLPFC might only be involved in tasks involving the evaluation of sufficiently abstract stimuli or self-regulation (Hutcherson et al., 2012), which are relatively uncommon in the existing literature.”
From Informatic parcellation of the network involved in the computation of subjective value (2014) · cites this paper as Hutcherson et al., 2012
More patient behavior may come from control processes that shift attention away from immediate rewards or emphasize future goals.
“more patient behavior may result from control processes that bias attention away from immediate rewards and/or emphasize the importance of future goals (24, 25).”
From Adolescent impatience decreases with increased frontostriatal connectivity (2015) · cites this paper as [25]
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- Authors
- Hutcherson, C. A., Plassmann, H., Gross, J. J., & Rangel, A.
- Affiliations
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- INSEAD (FR)
- Stanford University (US)
- Venue
- The Journal of Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Society for Neuroscience
- Published
- 2012-09-26
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 39
- Pages
- 13543-13554
- ISSN
- 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
- 1529-2401
- PMC
- PMC3689006
- OpenAlex
- W1985867909
- Cited by
- 227
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 8.20
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (0926544, 0850840, 0851408)
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (R01AA018736)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › General Decision Sciences › Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
- Keywords
- cognitive regulation, decision-making, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, food cravings, behavioral control, action selection, functional connectivity, posterior parietal cortex, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, food choice
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Attention, Brain Mapping, Cognition, Decision Making, Female, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Neuropsychological Tests, Oxygen, Reaction Time, Regression Analysis, Prefrontal Cortex, Young Adult
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