Real-life choices often require that we draw inferences about the value of options based on structured, schematic knowledge about their utility for our current goals. Other times, value information may be retrieved directly from a specific prior experience with an option. In an fMRI experiment, we investigated the neural systems involved in retrieving and assessing information from different memory sources to support value-based choice. Participants completed a task in which items could be conferred positive or negative value based on schematic associations (i.e., schema value) or learned directly from experience via deterministic feedback (i.e., experienced value). We found that ventromedial pFC (vmPFC) activity correlated with the influence of both experience- and schema-based values on participants' decisions. Connectivity between the vmPFC and middle temporal cortex also tracked the inferred value of items based on schematic associations on the first presentation of ingredients, before any feedback. In contrast, the striatum responded to participants' willingness to bet on ingredients as a function of the unsigned strength of their memory for those options' values. These results argue that the striatum and vmPFC play distinct roles in memory-based value judgment and decision-making. Specifically, the vmPFC assesses the value of options based on information inferred from schematic knowledge and retrieved from prior direct experience, whereas the striatum controls a decision to act on options based on memory strength.

现实生活中的选择通常要求我们基于结构化的、图解的知识来推断它们对我们当前目标的效用的价值。其他时候，价值信息可以直接从特定的先前经验中检索到一个选项。在 fMRI 实验中，我们研究了涉及从不同记忆源检索和评估信息以支持基于价值的选择的神经系统。参与者完成了一项任务，其中可以根据图式关联（即模式值）为项目赋予正值或负值，或者通过确定性反馈直接从经验中学习（即经验值）。我们发现腹内侧 pFC (vmPFC) 活动与基于经验和基于模式的价值观对参与者决策的影响相关。在任何反馈之前，vmPFC 和中颞叶皮层之间的连接还根据第一次呈现成分的示意图关联跟踪项目的推断值。相比之下，纹状体对参与者对成分下注的意愿做出反应，这是他们对这些选项价值的无符号记忆强度的函数。这些结果表明纹状体和 vmPFC 在基于记忆的价值判断和决策中扮演着不同的角色。具体来说，vmPFC 根据从原理图知识推断出的信息并从先前的直接经验中检索到的信息来评估选项的价值，而纹状体则根据记忆强度控制对选项采取行动的决定。