Interaction of Decision-making and Action Planning in the Human Brain. (360G-Wellcome-086120_Z_08_Z)

The current project aims at a more detailed understanding of how the brain translates decisions into actions. Traditionally, decision-making and action planning are considered (and studied) as separate processes that occur largely independently, with brain processes leading to a decision required to precede those involved in planning the resulting action [1,2]. Recent evidence suggests that in a large number of cases, decision-making occurs in an action-dependent way, sharing common neural resources with action selection [3-6]. For example, decision-related neural signals can be observed in areas traditionally assigned to ?motor processes? (e.g. superior colliculus: [7]; frontal eye field: [8]; premotor cortex: [9]. In the human brain, the interplay between decision-making and action planning remains to be determined. In particular, it remains is unclear (1) whether different systems subserve decisions that are related or unrelated to specific actions [10], and (2) how different decision variables influence and enter the motor system when the decision is linked to a particular action. The proposal addresses these timely questions, using a combination of non-invasive neuroimaging, electrophysiological recording, and neurostimulation techniques in healthy human adults.