Losses resulting from deliberate exploration trigger beta oscillations in frontal cortex

Abstract: We examined the neural signature of directed exploration by contrasting MEG beta(16-30 Hz) power changes between disadvantageous and advantageous choices in the two-choice probabilistic reward task. Both types of choices were made when our participants learned the probabilistic contingency between choices and their outcomes, i.e., acquired the inner model of choice value. Therefore, rare disadvantageous choices might serve exploratory, environment-probing purposes. The study brought two main findings. Firstly,… Show more