Decision making and the medial prefrontal cortex function in social context

Abstract

Most experimental studies of decision making have specifically examined situations in which one correct answer exists, which is either high- or low-predictable. Low predictability of the outcome, as for instance manipulated by probability or social context, has been described psychologically by the concept of uncertainty. Nevertheless, unlike the cases described above, there are instances of decision making for which there is no correct answer at all. In this manuscript, we present a review and comparison of decision making studies with and without a correct answer with regard to their recruitment of various regions within the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). Our findings demonstrate neural overlap between decision making with a low-predictable correct answer and decision making without a correct answer, especially in the dorsomedial part of the MPFC. The results raise several questions about the concept of uncertainty and the function of the MPFC.