Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42062280›Full record

ArticleNature communications2026

Resolving mesoscale brainstem-prefrontal-striatal pathways underlying decisions upon salient events using submillimeter-resolution fMRI.

Yuhui Chai, Joshua Oon Soo Goh, Bradley P Sutton

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Yuhui Chai *Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA. yuhui@illinois.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1523-3117
Joshua Oon Soo Goh *Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan. joshuagoh@ntu.edu.tw.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7808-5452
Bradley P SuttonBeckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8443-0408

Funding

Unlocking whole brain, layer-specific functional connectivity with 3D VAPER fMRIR03EB034324 · NIBIB · UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN · PI CHAI, YUHUI · 2023 to 2024
$159k
NIBIB NIH HHS R03 EB034324U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) R03EB034324
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Value-based decision-making engages brain-wide motivational, cognitive, and motor processes. Yet, information integration and gating that culminate in immediate decisions upon salient events likely occur within small neural nuclei and cortical layers at the mesoscale not resolved with conventional human neuroimaging. Using submillimeter-resolution 7 T functional MRI with acquisition-matched anatomical references and a lottery choice task incorporating salient superhigh stakes, we dissociated mesoscale operations spanning a brainstem-prefrontal-striatal pathway during choice and outcome processing. The locus coeruleus, caudate, and prefrontal cortex showed enhanced activity during superhigh-stake choices, while the substantia nigra/ventral tegmental area and nucleus accumbens additionally distinguished gains from losses. In contrast, gray-matter bridges between caudate and putamen were associated with faster responses. Laminar analyses revealed deeper prefrontal layers predominating during choice selection and superficial layers during outcome evaluation. Here, we show a mesoscale framework integrating brainstem modulation, striatal gating, and laminar cortical computation in human decision-making upon salient events.

Indexed as

Brain StemCorpus StriatumDecision MakingMagnetic Resonance ImagingPrefrontal CortexAdultBrain MappingChoice BehaviorFemaleHumansMaleNeural PathwaysYoung Adult

Identifiers

PMID42062280
PMCPMC13338228

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.