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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Nature Communications

Anterior cingulate neurons perform parallel processing of fixated and peripheral information to guide information sampling and choice

  • James L. Butler1
  • Timothy Müller1
  • Sebastijan Veselič1,2
  • W. M. Nishantha Malalasekera1
  • Timothy E.J. Behrens3,4
  • Laurence Tudor Hunt3,5,4
  • Steven Wayne Kennerley1
5 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Clinical and Movement Neurosciences, University College London, London, WCN 3BG, United Kingdom
  2. 2Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3AR, UK
  3. 3Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford OX 7JX, United Kingdom
  4. 4Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
  5. 5Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, UCL, London W1T 4JG, UK
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Abstract

We use our eyes to evaluate objects around us. Models of economic choice emphasise the impact of sequential fixation on valuation and choice, with prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) encoding values of fixated items. Yet whether these regions also evaluate non-fixated peripheral information to guide choice remains unknown. Here we show that in a decision-making task involving four simultaneously presented cues, rhesus macaques use peripheral information to guide information sampling and choice, and that ACC neurons encode this peripheral information. This served two distinct purposes: subjects were more likely to fixate valuable peripheral cues, and more likely to choose valuable options whose cues were never even fixated. ACC, orbitofrontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and ventromedial prefrontal cortex neurons all encoded cue value as they were fixated. ACC was unique, however, in also conducting parallel processing of peripheral cues, including cues never fixated, to guide information sampling and choice.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{butler2026anterior,
  title = {{Anterior cingulate neurons perform parallel processing of fixated and peripheral information to guide information sampling and choice}},
  author = {James L. Butler and Timothy Müller and Sebastijan Veselič and W. M. Nishantha Malalasekera and Timothy E.J. Behrens and Laurence Tudor Hunt and Steven Wayne Kennerley},
  journal = {Nature Communications},
  year = {2026},
  month = nov,
  doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-78945-4},
  url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-78945-4},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Anterior cingulate neurons perform parallel processing of fixated and peripheral information to guide information sampling and choice
AU  - James L. Butler
AU  - Timothy Müller
AU  - Sebastijan Veselič
AU  - W. M. Nishantha Malalasekera
AU  - Timothy E.J. Behrens
AU  - Laurence Tudor Hunt
AU  - Steven Wayne Kennerley
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/11/02
JO  - Nature Communications
DO  - 10.1038/s41467-026-78945-4
UR  - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-78945-4
AB  - We use our eyes to evaluate objects around us. Models of economic choice emphasise the impact of sequential fixation on valuation and choice, with prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) encoding values of fixated items. Yet whether these regions also evaluate non-fixated peripheral information to guide choice remains unknown. Here we show that in a decision-making task involving four simultaneously presented cues, rhesus macaques use peripheral information to guide information sampling and choice, and that ACC neurons encode this peripheral information. This served two distinct purposes: subjects were more likely to fixate valuable peripheral cues, and more likely to choose valuable options whose cues were never even fixated. ACC, orbitofrontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and ventromedial prefrontal cortex neurons all encoded cue value as they were fixated. ACC was unique, however, in also conducting parallel processing of peripheral cues, including cues never fixated, to guide information sampling and choice.
SN  - 2041-1723
ER  -