{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,29]],"date-time":"2026-09-29T15:24:38Z","timestamp":1790695478471,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":75,"publisher":"Society for Neuroscience","issue":"43","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2016,4,28]],"date-time":"2016-04-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1461801600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":183,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["J. Neurosci."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2015,10,28]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Optimal behavior requires striking a balance between exploiting tried-and-true options or exploring new possibilities. Neuroimaging studies have identified different brain regions in humans where neural activity is correlated with exploratory or exploitative behavior, but it is unclear whether this activity directly implements these choices or simply reflects a byproduct of the behavior. Moreover, it remains unknown whether arbitrating between exploration and exploitation can be influenced with exogenous methods, such as brain stimulation. In our study, we addressed these questions by selectively upregulating and downregulating neuronal excitability with anodal or cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation over right frontopolar cortex during a reward-learning task. This caused participants to make slower, more exploratory or faster, more exploitative decisions, respectively. Bayesian computational modeling revealed that stimulation affected how much participants took both expected and obtained rewards into account when choosing to exploit or explore: Cathodal stimulation resulted in an increased focus on the option expected to yield the highest payout, whereas anodal stimulation led to choices that were less influenced by anticipated payoff magnitudes and were more driven by recent negative reward prediction errors. These findings suggest that exploration is triggered by a neural mechanism that is sensitive to prior less-than-expected choice outcomes and thus pushes people to seek out alternative courses of action. Together, our findings establish a parsimonious neurobiological mechanism that causes exploration and exploitation, and they provide new insights into the choice features used by this mechanism to direct decision-making.<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT<\/jats:bold>We often must choose whether to try something new (exploration) or stick with a proven strategy (exploitation). Balancing this trade-off is important for survival and growth across species because, without exploration, we would perseverate with the same strategies and never discover better options. Which brain mechanisms are responsible for our ability to make these decisions? We show that applying different types of noninvasive brain stimulation over frontopolar cortex causes participants to explore more or less in uncertain environments. These changes in exploration reflect how much participants focus on expected payoffs and on memory of recent disappointments. Thus, our results characterize a neural mechanism that systematically incorporates anticipated rewards and past experiences to trigger exploration of alternative courses of action.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1523\/jneurosci.2322-15.2015","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2015,10,28]],"date-time":"2015-10-28T18:22:21Z","timestamp":1446056541000},"page":"14544-14556","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":101,"title":["Transcranial Stimulation over Frontopolar Cortex Elucidates the Choice Attributes and Neural Mechanisms Used to Resolve Exploration\u2013Exploitation Trade-Offs"],"prefix":"10.1523","volume":"35","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6000-4386","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anjali","family":"Raja 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