Full dopamine coding of basic economic subjective value: Utility and weighted probability.

Behavioral choices of uncertain rewards suggest that agents construct subjective reward value by combining the basic value components of utility and weighted probability. Despite the general acceptance of this evaluation mechanism for explaining economic choice, knowledge about its neuronal implementation is fractionated and remains essentially unknown. We investigate, in monkeys, whether reward signals in dopamine neurons represent subjective reward value based on these two fundamental value components. At the population level, the dopamine signal reliably represents the axiomatically defined integration of utility and weighted probability into subjective value in a way that closely matches animal-specific choice behavior. In particular, we find a crucial contribution of subjectively weighted probability to the dopamine signal of subjective reward value. These data demonstrate a neuronal implementation of subjective value constructed from the two most basic subjective reward components.

• Publication year

  2026

• Venue

  Cell Reports

• Publication date

  2026-02-01

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1016/j.celrep.2026.116943PMID 41655209
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Dopamine neurons encode trial-by-trial subjective reward value in an auction-like task

  2024cited by this paper
• Dynamic coding and sequential integration of multiple reward attributes by primate amygdala neurons

  2024cited by this paper
• A dopamine mechanism for reward maximization

  2024cited by this paper
• Reliable population code for subjective economic value from heterogeneous neuronal signals in primate orbitofrontal cortex.

  2023cited by this paper
• Risky choice: Probability weighting explains independence axiom violations in monkeys

  2022cited by this paper
• Primate anterior insular cortex represents economic decision variables proposed by prospect theory

  2022cited by this paper
• Asymmetric and adaptive reward coding via normalized reinforcement learning

  2021cited by this paper
• A neuronal prospect theory model in the brain reward circuitry

  2021cited by this paper
• Decision-making: from neuroscience to neuroeconomics—an overview

  2021cited by this paper
• Adaptation of utility functions to reward distribution in rhesus monkeys

  2020cited by this paper
• Nonhuman Primates Satisfy Utility Maximization in Compliance with the Continuity Axiom of Expected Utility Theory

  2020cited by this paper
• The bounded rationality of probability distortion

  2019cited by this paper
• Probability Distortion Depends on Choice Sequence in Rhesus Monkeys

  2019cited by this paper
• Efficient coding of subjective value

  2018cited by this paper
• Economic Choices Reveal Probability Distortion in Macaque Monkeys

  2015cited by this paper
• Dopamine Reward Prediction Error Responses Reflect Marginal Utility

  2014cited by this paper
• Dopamine prediction error responses integrate subjective value from different reward dimensions

  2014cited by this paper
• Thirty Years of Prospect Theory in Economics: A Review and Assessment

  2012cited by this paper
• Prospect Theory as Efficient Perceptual Distortion

  2012cited by this paper
• Understanding dopamine and reinforcement learning: The dopamine reward prediction error hypothesis

  2011cited by this paper
• Coding of reward risk by orbitofrontal neurons is mostly distinct from coding of reward value.

  2010cited by this paper
• Influence of Reward Delays on Responses of Dopamine Neurons

  2008cited by this paper
• Risk-sensitive neurons in macaque posterior cingulate cortex

  2005cited by this paper
• Time Discounting and Time Preference: A Critical Review

  2002cited by this paper
• Developments in Non-expected Utility Theory: The Hunt for a Descriptive Theory of Choice under Risk

  2000cited by this paper
• On the shape of the probability weighting function.

  1999cited by this paper
• A Neural Substrate of Prediction and Reward

  1997cited by this paper
• Advances in prospect theory: Cumulative representation of uncertainty

  1992cited by this paper
• Tests of 'fanning out' of indifference curves: Results from animal and human experiments

  1990cited by this paper
• An experimental test of several generalized utility theories

  1989cited by this paper
• Recent developments in modelling preferences under risk

  1987cited by this paper
• Decision-Making in the Presence of Risk

  1987cited by this paper
• Sensory-specific and motivation-specific satiety for the sight and taste of food and water in man.

  1983cited by this paper
• Le comportement de l'homme rationnel devant le risque : critique des postulats et axiomes de l'ecole americaine

  1953cited by this paper
• You have printed the following article : Prospect Theory : An Analysis of Decision under Risk

  year unknowncited by this paper

• No citing papers are available for this paper.