8,184 research outputs found
Value Encoding in Single Neurons in the Human Amygdala during Decision Making
A growing consensus suggests that the brain makes simple choices by assigning values to the stimuli under consideration and then comparing these values to make a decision. However, the network involved in computing the values has not yet been fully characterized. Here, we investigated whether the human amygdala plays a role in the computation of stimulus values at the time of decision making. We recorded single neuron activity from the amygdala of awake patients while they made simple purchase decisions over food items. We found 16 amygdala neurons, located primarily in the basolateral nucleus that responded linearly to the values assigned to individual items
Squeezing generation and revivals in a cavity-ion system in contact with a reservoir
We consider a system consisting of a single two-level ion in a harmonic trap,
which is localized inside a non-ideal optical cavity at zero temperature and
subjected to the action of two external lasers. We are able to obtain an
analytical solution for the total density operator of the system and show that
squeezing in the motion of the ion and in the cavity field is generated. We
also show that complete revivals of the states of the motion of the ion and of
the cavity field occur periodically.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure
Fixation patterns in simple choice reflect optimal information sampling
Simple choices (e.g., eating an apple vs. an orange) are made by integrating noisy evidence that is sampled over time and influenced by visual attention; as a result, fluctuations in visual attention can affect choices. But what determines what is fixated and when? To address this question, we model the decision process for simple choice as an information sampling problem, and approximate the optimal sampling policy. We find that it is optimal to sample from options whose value estimates are both high and uncertain. Furthermore, the optimal policy provides a reasonable account of fixations and choices in binary and trinary simple choice, as well as the differences between the two cases. Overall, the results show that the fixation process during simple choice is influenced dynamically by the value estimates computed during the decision process, in a manner consistent with optimal information sampling
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