Estimating the value of alternative options is a key process in decision-making. Human functional magnetic resonance imaging and monkey electrophysiology studies have identified brain regions, such as the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and lateral orbitofrontal cortex (lOFC), composing a value system. In the present study, in an effort to bridge across species and techniques, we investigated the neural representation of value ratings in 36 people with epilepsy, using intracranial electroencephalography. We found that subjective value was positively reflected in both vmPFC and lOFC high-frequency activity, plus several other brain regions, including the hippocampus. We then demonstrated that subjective value could be decoded (1) in pre-stimulus activity, (2) for various categories of items, (3) even during a distractive task and (4) as both linear and quadratic signals (encoding both value and confidence). Thus, our findings specify key functional properties of neural value signals (anticipation, generality, automaticity, quadraticity), which might provide insights into human irrational choice behaviors.

中文翻译：

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人脑评估系统的四个核心特性在颅内信号中得到证明。

估计备选方案的价值是决策的关键过程。人类功能磁共振成像和猴子电生理研究已经确定了组成价值系统的大脑区域，例如腹侧前额叶皮层（vmPFC）和侧眶额叶皮层（10FC）。在本研究中，为了跨物种和技术的桥梁，我们使用颅内脑电图研究了36位癫痫患者的价值等级的神经表征。我们发现vmPFC和10FC高频活动以及包括海马在内的其他几个大脑区域都积极地反映了主观价值。然后，我们证明了主观价值可以在刺激前的活动中进行解码（1），对于各种类别的商品，（3）即使在分散注意力的任务中，（4）同时作为线性和二次信号（对值和置信度进行编码）。因此，我们的发现指定了神经价值信号的关键功能特性（预期，普遍性，自动性，二次性），这可能为人类非理性选择行为提供见识。