RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 A corticothalamic circuit trades off speed for safety during decision-making under motivational conflict
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2021.11.21.469477
DO 10.1101/2021.11.21.469477
A1 Eun A Choi
A1 Medina Husić
A1 E. Zayra Millan
A1 Philip Jean Richard dit Bressel
A1 Gavan P. McNally
YR 2021
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/11/22/2021.11.21.469477.abstract
AB 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 StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.