Anticipation, imagination and information seeking via mid-brain, hippocampal, and prefrontal interactions

Humans and other animals seek information about uncertain and delayed appetitive outcomes. We used fMRI to examine the components of a recent model of information seeking in which it arises from the way that prediction errors boost savouring - the subjective utility generated by the anticipation of delayed future rewards. We found that three regions orchestrate anticipatory pleasure. We show ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) tracks the value of anticipation; regions of the midbrain often associated with dopaminergic neuromodulation respond to the prediction errors that are suggested as enhancing anticipation, while the sustained activity in hippocampus provides for functional coupling between these regions. This coordinating role for hippocampus is consistent with its known role in the vivid imagination of future outcomes. Our findings throw new light on the neural underpinnings of how anticipation influences decision-making, while also unifying a range of phenomena associated with risk and time-delay preference