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Abstract
Behavioral flexibility is the hallmark of goal-directed behavior. Whereas a great
deal is known about the neural substrates of behavioral adjustment when it is explicitly
cued by features of the external environment, little is known about how we adapt our
behavior when such changes are made on the basis of uncertain evidence. Using a Bayesian
reinforcement-learning model and fMRI, we show that frontopolar cortex (FPC) tracks
the relative advantage in favor of switching to a foregone alternative when choices
are made voluntarily. Changes in FPC functional connectivity occur when subjects finally
decide to switch to the alternative behavior. Moreover, interindividual variation
in the FPC signal predicts interindividual differences in effectively adapting behavior.
By contrast, ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) encodes the relative value of
the current decision. Collectively, these findings reveal complementary prefrontal
computations essential for promoting short- and long-term behavioral flexibility.