The explore-exploit dilemma occurs anytime we must choose between exploring unknown options for information and exploiting known resources for reward. Previous work suggests that people use two different strategies to solve the explore-exploit dilemma: directed exploration, driven by information seeking, and random exploration, driven by decision noise. Here, we show that these two strategies rely on different neural systems. Using transcranial magnetic stimulation to inhibit the right frontopolar cortex, we were able to selectively inhibit directed exploration while leaving random exploration intact. This suggests a causal role for right frontopolar cortex in directed, but not random, exploration and that directed and random exploration rely on (at least partially) dissociable neural systems.

每当我们必须在探索未知的信息选项与利用已知的资源进行奖励之间做出选择时，就会发生“探索-利用”困境。先前的工作表明，人们使用两种不同的策略来解决探索-利用难题：由信息搜索驱动的定向探索和由决策噪声驱动的随机探索。在这里，我们表明这两种策略依赖于不同的神经系统。使用经颅磁刺激抑制右额叶皮层，我们能够选择性地抑制定向探查，同时保持完整的随机探查。这表明右前额叶皮层在定向探索而非随机探索中具有因果作用，而定向探索和随机探索依赖于（至少部分地）可分离的神经系统。