Neuronal Activity in the Gustatory Cortex during Economic Choice

Abstract

An economic choice entails computing and comparing the values of individual offers. Offer values are represented in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)—an area that participates in value comparison—but it is unknown where offer values are computed in the first place. One possibility is that this computation takes place in OFC. Alternatively, offer values might be computed upstream of OFC. For choices between edible goods, a primary candidate is the gustatory region of the anterior insula (gustatory cortex, GC). Here we recorded from the GC of male rhesus monkeys choosing between different juice types. As a population, neurons in GC represented the flavor, the quantity, and the subjective value of the juice chosen by the animal. These variables were represented by distinct groups of cells and with different time courses. Specifically, chosen value signals emerged shortly after offer presentation, while neurons encoding the chosen juice and the chosen quantity peaked after juice delivery. Surprisingly, neurons in GC did not represent individual offer values in a systematic way. In a computational sense, the variables encoded in GC follow the process of value comparison. Thus our results argue against the hypothesis that offer values are computed in GC. At the same time, signals representing the subjective value of the expected reward indicate that responses in GC are not purely sensory. Thus neuronal responses in GC appear consummatory in nature.