Circuit, Molecular, and Developmental Mechanisms in Decision-Making Behavior

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Background

The ability to understand and flexibly interact with the world around us often referred to as decision-making behavior is essential for everyday functioning. Yet despite the importance of decision-making behavior, we still do not have an adequate understanding of how our brain integrates, organizes, and translates cognitive experiences into behavior. The neural mechanisms underlying decision-making behavior are thought to be shaped during early development, and as such are known to be adversely affected by neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders, as well as by other disruptive influences in early life, such as psychological stress. In order to develop effective therapeutics for dysfunctions of decision-making behavior, it is critical that we first elucidate the circuit, molecular, and developmental mechanisms underlying various cognitive processes, including flexible decision-making and attentional control. This is an area where the integration of findings from animal, human, and computational research approaches is expected to make great progress.

The recent development of novel decision-making-behavioral experimental paradigms, including the use of touch-screen-based systems that allow similar tasks to be performed by humans and experimental animals, have greatly improved the translatability of research into decision-making behavior. These methodological improvements, in combination with advances in genetic and molecular tools in animals, imaging techniques in humans, and computational modeling, are now beginning to elucidate the circuit, molecular, and developmental mechanisms of decision-making behaviors, as well as their dysfunction in neurodevelopmental and psychiatric conditions. Here, our goal is to gather recent findings from multi-disciplinary studies that have helped to improve our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying decision-making and attentional processes in humans, non-human primates, rodents, and other animals. In particular, we hope to present contemporary methodologies that will help to further improve the translatability of animal and computational decision-making-behavioral studies to real-world therapeutic applications in humans, as well as introduce novel theoretical perspectives of the neural origins of healthy and dysfunctional decision-making behavior. Finally, this Topic will highlight the importance of key developmental stages in the establishment of advantageous decision-making behavior, as well as the role of disruptive influences during these early-life stages in the occurrence of decision-making-behavioral impairments.

We welcome all article types addressing this topic. In particular, we encourage articles focusing on the following research areas:

· Novel methodologies for studying decision-making behavior in animals and humans
· Neural circuit mechanisms in flexible decision-making and attentional control
· Brain imaging insights into decision-making behavior in animals and humans
· Computational modeling of decision-making behavior
· Genetic and molecular contributions to healthy and disordered decision-making behavior
· Effects of early life events (including neurodevelopmental disorders and stress) on decision-making behavior
· Modeling of decision-making behavioral dysfunction in animals (including in neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorder animal models)
· Therapeutic approaches to restoring impaired decision-making behavioral function

Keywords: Attention, Cognitive flexibility, Decision-making, Psychiatric disorders, Neural circuits, Neurodevelopment, Psychological stress, Reward learning

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