Ramon Bartolo

Highlights • Stimulus and value information is encoded in the ventral corticostriatal circuit • Action information is primarily encoded in the dorsal corticostriatal circuit • Value information is converted to action information at the time of choice Summary Goal-directed behavior requires identifying objects in the environment that can satisfy internal needs and executing actions to obtain those objects.

Highlights • Choice preferences switch abruptly, rather than gradually, during reversal learning • Quick switches are consistent with Bayesian state inference • Prefrontal neural populations encode choice preference reversal • Uncertainty in the behavior decreases the accuracy of reversal decoding Summary Reinforcement learning allows organisms to predict future outcomes and to update their beliefs about value in the world.

Research Articles, Systems/Circuits Ramon Bartolo, Richard C. Saunders, Andrew R. Mitz and Bruno B. Averbeck Journal of Neuroscience 19 February 2020, 40 (8) 1668-1678; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2072-19.2019 Abstract Understanding the neural code requires understanding how populations of neurons code information. Theoretical models predict that information may be limited by correlated noise in large neural populations.