Decisions bias future choices by modifying hippocampal associative memories

Lennart Luettgau (), Claus Tempelmann, Luca Franziska Kaiser and Gerhard Jocham
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Lennart Luettgau: Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
Claus Tempelmann: Otto-von-Guericke University
Luca Franziska Kaiser: Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
Gerhard Jocham: Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract Decision-making is guided by memories of option values. However, retrieving items from memory renders them malleable. Here, we show that merely retrieving values from memory and making a choice between options is sufficient both to induce changes to stimulus-reward associations in the hippocampus and to bias future decision-making. After allowing participants to make repeated choices between reward-conditioned stimuli, in the absence of any outcome, we observe that participants prefer stimuli they have previously chosen, and neglect previously unchosen stimuli, over otherwise identical-valued options. Using functional brain imaging, we show that decisions induce changes to hippocampal representations of stimulus-outcome associations. These changes are correlated with future decision biases. Our results indicate that choice-induced preference changes are partially driven by choice-induced modification of memory representations and suggest that merely making a choice - even without experiencing any outcomes - induces associative plasticity.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17192-7

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