Primate Amygdala Neurons Simulate Decision Processes of Social Partners.
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Publication Date
2019-05Journal Title
Cell
ISSN
0092-8674
Publisher
Cell Press
Volume
177
Issue
4
Pages
986-998.e15
Language
eng
Type
Article
This Version
AM
Physical Medium
Print-Electronic
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Grabenhorst, F., Báez-Mendoza, R., Genest, W., Deco, G., & Schultz, W. (2019). Primate Amygdala Neurons Simulate Decision Processes of Social Partners.. Cell, 177 (4), 986-998.e15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2019.02.042
Abstract
By observing their social partners, primates learn about reward values of objects. Here we show that monkeys’ amygdala neurons derive object values from observation and use these values to simulate a partner monkey’s decision process. While monkeys alternated making reward-based choices, amygdala neurons encoded object-specific values learned from observation. Dynamic activities converted these values to representations of the recorded monkey’s own choices. Surprisingly, the same activity patterns unfolded spontaneously before partner’s choices in separate neurons, as if these neurons simulated the partner’s decision-making. These ‘simulation neurons’ encoded signatures of mutual-inhibitory decision computation, including value comparisons and value-to-choice conversions, resulting in accurate predictions of partner’s choices. Population decoding identified differential contributions of amygdala subnuclei. Biophysical modelling of amygdala circuits showed that simulation neurons emerge naturally from convergence between object-value neurons and self-other neurons. By simulating decision computations during observation, these neurons could allow primates to reconstruct their social partners’ mental states.
Keywords
Amygdala, Neurons, Animals, Macaca mulatta, Behavior, Animal, Interpersonal Relations, Learning, Reward, Decision Making, Choice Behavior, Male
Sponsorship
Wellcome Trust (095495/Z/11/Z)
European Research Council (293549)
Wellcome Trust (206207/Z/17/Z)
Wellcome Trust (204811/Z/16/Z)
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2019.02.042
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/290174
Rights
Licence:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/