Choice from non-choice: predicting consumer preferences from blood oxygenation level-dependent signals obtained during passive viewing

Abstract

Decision-making is often viewed as a two-stage process, where subjective values are first assigned to each option and then the option of the highest value is selected. Converging evidence suggests that these subjective values are represented in the striatum and medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). A separate line of evidence suggests that activation in the same areas represents the values of rewards even when choice is not required, as in classical conditioning tasks. However, it is unclear whether the same neural mechanism is engaged in both cases. To address this question we measured brain activation with functional magnetic resonance imaging while human subjects passively viewed individual consumer goods. We then sampled activation from predefined regions of interest and used it to predict subsequent choices between the same items made outside of the scanner. Our results show that activation in the striatum and MPFC in the absence of choice predicts subsequent choices, suggesting that these brain areas represent value in a similar manner whether or not choice is required.

Figure 1.

Localization of value-related areas with a functional localizer task: experimental design and activation in a win vs loss contrast.

Figure 2.

Localization of value-related areas with a functional localizer task in three example subjects (S1, S2, S3). Areas in the MPFC and the striatum that were significantly more active for wins than for losses in the functional localizer task were used as ROIs in the main experiment.

Figure 3.

Experimental design for the goods task. a, Passive viewing of items in the scanner (top). To maintain subjects' alertness, on a few random trials they were asked to choose between the item and a varied sum of money (bottom). These trials were not included in the analysis. b, Outside of the scanner, subjects were asked to make pairwise choices between the same items that were presented to them in the scanner.

Figure 4.

Examples of single-subject scatter plots of activation in the MPFC (top) and striatum (bottom) ROIs defined by the functional localizer task for each of the 20 goods compared to the preference ranking of those goods obtained from choices made outside of the scanner.

Figure 5.

Choice predictions based on activation from the predefined ROIs. Items were ranked according to the amplitude of the BOLD response they gave rise to, and percentages of correct predictions were calculated separately for each ordinal distance. Error bars, binomial SEM across all choices.