Anatomy and Disorders of Decision-Making

This article review current neurobiological models of decision-making. The dominant framework is based on a two-stage model, where the first stage (valuation) produces the values of available actions and goods, and the second stage (choice) effectuate the choice by selecting the option with the highest value. Human and non-human primate neurobiological data suggest that these operations are executed in the ventral (valuation) and dorsal (choice) parts of the prefrontal cortex, and are functionally organized by the cortico-striatal loops. Neuro-psychiatric disorders often disrupt the decision-making processes, creating stereo-typical patterns of pathological decisions which could be used in the clinic for diagnostic purposes.