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A corticothalamic circuit trades off speed for safety during decision-making under motivational conflict

Eun A Choi, Medina Husić, E. Zayra Millan, Philip Jean Richard dit Bressel, Gavan P. McNally
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.11.21.469477
Eun A Choi
1School of Psychology, UNSW Sydney, 2052, Australia
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Medina Husić
1School of Psychology, UNSW Sydney, 2052, Australia
2Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience Group, SILS Center for Neuroscience, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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E. Zayra Millan
1School of Psychology, UNSW Sydney, 2052, Australia
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Philip Jean Richard dit Bressel
1School of Psychology, UNSW Sydney, 2052, Australia
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Gavan P. McNally
1School of Psychology, UNSW Sydney, 2052, Australia
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  • For correspondence: g.mcnally@unsw.edu.au
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Summary

Decisions to act while pursuing goals in the presence of danger must be made quickly but safely. Premature decisions risk injury or death whereas postponing decisions risk goal loss. Here we show how mice resolve these competing demands. Using microstructural behavioral analyses, we identified the spatiotemporal dynamics of approach-avoidance decisions under motivational conflict. Then we used cognitive modelling to show that these dynamics reflect the speeded decision-making mechanisms used by humans and non-human primates, with mice trading off decision speed for safety of choice when danger loomed. Using calcium imaging and functional circuit analyses, we show that this speed-safety trade off occurs because increases in paraventricular thalamus (PVT) activity increase decision caution, thereby increasing approach-avoid decision times in the presence of danger. Our findings demonstrate that a discrete brain circuit involving the PVT and its prefrontal cortical input dynamically adjusts decision caution during motivational conflict, trading off decision speed for decision safety when danger is close. They identify the corticothalamic pathway as central to cognitive control during decision-making under conflict.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.
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Posted November 22, 2021.
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A corticothalamic circuit trades off speed for safety during decision-making under motivational conflict
Eun A Choi, Medina Husić, E. Zayra Millan, Philip Jean Richard dit Bressel, Gavan P. McNally
bioRxiv 2021.11.21.469477; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.11.21.469477
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A corticothalamic circuit trades off speed for safety during decision-making under motivational conflict
Eun A Choi, Medina Husić, E. Zayra Millan, Philip Jean Richard dit Bressel, Gavan P. McNally
bioRxiv 2021.11.21.469477; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.11.21.469477

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