Data & Code for "Distinct representations of economic variables across region and projections of the frontal cortex" by Majumdar, Ashcroft, Fritsche et al, Neuron 2025

Economic decision-making requires evaluating information about available options, such as their expected value and economic risk. Previous studies have shown that frontal cortical neurons encode these variables, but how this encoding is structured across different frontal regions and projection pathways remains unclear. We developed a decision-making task for head-fixed mice in which we varied the expected value and risk associated with reward-predicting stimuli. Using large-scale electrophysiology, two-photon imaging and projection-specific optotagging across multiple frontal regions, we identified distinct spatial gradients for these variables, with stronger expected value coding in dorsal regions and stronger risk coding in medial regions. We then demonstrated that this encoding further depends on neuronal projections: frontal neurons projecting to the dorsomedial striatum and claustrum differentially encoded economic variables. Our findings illustrate that frontal cortical representation of economic variables is jointly determined by spatial organization and downstream connectivity of neurons, revealing a structured, multi-scale code for economic variables.

经济决策需要对各类可选方案的相关信息进行评估，例如其期望值（expected value）与经济风险。既往研究表明，额叶皮层神经元（frontal cortical neurons）可编码这类变量，但这类编码在不同额叶脑区与投射通路中的组织方式仍不明确。我们开发了适配头部固定小鼠（head-fixed mice）的决策任务，该任务中可调控与奖赏预测刺激（reward-predicting stimuli）相关的期望值与风险水平。通过跨多个额叶脑区的大规模电生理记录（large-scale electrophysiology）、双光子成像（two-photon imaging）与投射特异性光标记（projection-specific optotagging）技术，我们发现这类变量存在显著的空间梯度分布：背侧脑区（dorsal regions）对期望值的编码更强，而内侧脑区（medial regions）对风险的编码更为显著。随后我们证实，这类编码还依赖神经元的投射特性：投射至背内侧纹状体（dorsomedial striatum）与屏状核（claustrum）的额叶神经元，对经济变量的编码存在显著差异。本研究结果表明，额叶皮层对经济变量的表征由神经元的空间排布与下游连接共同决定，揭示了经济变量的结构化、多尺度编码机制。