We make complex decisions using both fast judgments and slower, more deliberative reasoning. For example, during value-based decision-making, animals make rapid value-guided orienting eye movements after stimulus presentation that bias the upcoming decision. The neural mechanisms underlying these processes remain unclear. To address this, we recorded from the caudate nucleus and orbitofrontal cortex while animals made value-guided decisions. Using population-level decoding, we found a rapid, phasic signal in caudate that predicted the choice response and closely aligned with animals’ initial orienting eye movements. In contrast, the dynamics in orbitofrontal cortex were more consistent with a deliberative system serially representing the value of each available option. The phasic caudate value signal and the deliberative orbitofrontal value signal were largely independent from each other, consistent with value-guided orienting and value-guided decision-making being independent processes.

我们使用快速判断和更慢、更审慎的推理来做出复杂的决定。例如，在基于价值的决策过程中，动物在刺激呈现后会做出快速的价值引导定向眼球运动，从而影响即将做出的决策。这些过程背后的神经机制仍不清楚。为了解决这个问题，我们记录了动物做出价值引导决策时的尾状核和眶额皮层。通过群体水平的解码，我们在尾状核中发现了一种快速的阶段性信号，该信号可以预测选择反应，并且与动物的初始定向眼球运动密切相关。相比之下，眶额皮层的动态与连续代表每个可用选项的价值的审议系统更加一致。