Goal Commitment is Supported by VmPFC Through Selective Attention

Overview

Journal Nat Hum Behav

Specialties Psychology
Social Sciences

Date 2024 Apr 17

PMID 38632389

Authors

Eleanor Holton

Jan Grohn

Harry Ward

Sanjay G Manohar

Jill X OReilly

Nils Kolling

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

When striking a balance between commitment to a goal and flexibility in the face of better options, people often demonstrate strong goal perseveration. Here, using functional MRI (n = 30) and lesion patient (n = 26) studies, we argue that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) drives goal commitment linked to changes in goal-directed selective attention. Participants performed an incremental goal pursuit task involving sequential decisions between persisting with a goal versus abandoning progress for better alternative options. Individuals with stronger goal perseveration showed higher goal-directed attention in an interleaved attention task. Increasing goal-directed attention also affected abandonment decisions: while pursuing a goal, people lost their sensitivity to valuable alternative goals while remaining more sensitive to changes in the current goal. In a healthy population, individual differences in both commitment biases and goal-oriented attention were predicted by baseline goal-related activity in the vmPFC. Among lesion patients, vmPFC damage reduced goal commitment, leading to a performance benefit.

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