Authors
Joanne C Van Slooten, Sara Jahfari, Tomas Knapen, Jan Theeuwes
Publication date
2018/4/16
Journal
bioRxiv
Pages
302166
Publisher
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Description
Pupil responses have been used to track cognitive processes during decision-making. Studies have shown that in these cases the pupil reflects the joint activation of many cortical and subcortical brain regions, also those traditionally implicated in value-based learning. However, how the pupil tracks value-based decisions and reinforcement learning is unknown. We combined a reinforcement learning task with a computational model to study pupil responses during value-based decisions, and decision evaluations. We found that the pupil closely tracks reinforcement learning both across trials and participants. Prior to choice, the pupil dilated as a function of trial-by-trial fluctuations in value beliefs. After feedback, early dilation scaled with value uncertainty, whereas later constriction scaled with reward prediction errors. Our computational approach systematically implicates the pupil in value-based decisions, and the subsequent processing of violated value beliefs, ttese dissociable influences provide an exciting possibility to non-invasively study ongoing reinforcement learning in the pupil.
Total citations
2018201920202021202220232024311
Scholar articles
JC Van Slooten, S Jahfari, T Knapen, J Theeuwes - bioRxiv, 2018