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Common electrophysiological dynamics of human posterior cingulate cortex engagement during memory and value based decisions

Poster Session A - Saturday, March 7, 2026, 3:00 – 5:00 pm PST, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom
Also presenting in Data Blitz Session 2 - Saturday, March 7, 2026, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm PST, Salon D.

Seth Koslov¹ (), Sofia Dominguez Zesati³, Hernan Rey³, Sameer Sheth², Kathryn Davis¹, Isaac Chen¹, Joseph Kable¹, Benjamin Hayden², Brett Foster¹; ¹University of Pennsylvania, ²Baylor College of Medicine, ³Medical College of Wisconsin

Human neuroimaging routinely implicates distinct subregions of the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) with specific tasks of episodic memory retrieval: while dorsal PCC (dPCC) is responsive during item-recognition decisions, the ventral PCC (vPCC) responds primarily during autobiographical retrieval. Interestingly, dPCC has also been linked to value-based decision-making, suggesting contributions of the region to processes shared by value- and memory-based decisions. However, the timing and behavioral correlates of dPCC involvement in decision-making remain unclear. To address this question, we obtained invasive electrophysiological recordings of local field potentials (LFP) and single-neuron activity from the human PCC during temporally matched risky value- and memory-based decision-making tasks (n = 16). For both tasks, participants earned points by selecting between a fixed low-reward option and a risky high-reward option. For the value-based task, the chance of reward was indicated by a displayed probability, while for the memory-based task, the chance of reward depended on stimulus memory. Across tasks in dPCC, but not vPCC, amplitude of LFP broadband gamma (BBG; 70-150Hz) increased from trial onset through decision feedback. In contrast to LFPs, cluster analysis revealed single-neuron firing in dPCC was more temporally circumscribed, with some neurons selectively responsive during a pre-decision window, whereas others were primarily responsive post-decision. Additionally in dPCC, BBG amplitude, as well as firing rates from post-decision responsive neurons, were elevated following risky compared to safe decisions. These findings indicate a shared role for dPCC in monitoring both value- and memory-based decisions, and suggest that distinct dPCC subpopulations support specific stages of decisional processing.

Topic Area: THINKING: Decision making