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Primate Amygdala Neurons Simulate Decision Processes of Social Partners.

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Grabenhorst, Fabian  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6455-0648
Báez-Mendoza, Raymundo 
Genest, Wilfried 
Deco, Gustavo 

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 modeling 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.

Description

Keywords

attractor network, autism, decision-making, mirror neuron, observational learning, reward, social cognition, theory of mind, Amygdala, Animals, Behavior, Animal, Choice Behavior, Decision Making, Interpersonal Relations, Learning, Macaca mulatta, Male, Neurons, Reward

Journal Title

Cell

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0092-8674
1097-4172

Volume Title

177

Publisher

Elsevier BV
Sponsorship
Wellcome Trust (095495/Z/11/Z)
European Research Council (293549)
Wellcome Trust (206207/Z/17/Z)
Wellcome Trust (204811/Z/16/Z)