Subliminal risk influences subjective value in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex

Abstract The relationship between conscious awareness and decisions has been heavily debated. Here we investigated whether subliminal probabilities are integrated with conscious rewards to form subjective value (SV) representations in the anterior ventral striatum (aVS) and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Participants played an incentivized competitive game with risky choice to accumulate points across trials in a behavioral and fMRI experiment. The game was a modified attentional-blink paradigm that rendered a probability cue unseen (indicating a 100% or 0% chance to win a risky reward). Following the probability cue, participants chose between a safe (1 point with certainty) or risky option (>1 or 0 points depending on probability cue). The risky reward was either 2 or 5 points, varying across trials. In some trials the probability cue was absent (replaced by a random distractor) and the probability to win the risky reward was 50%. When probability cues were unseen, they did not influence choice, as value-maximizing choice (d’) was not greater than chance, but they did influence reaction time in both experiments. Consistent with SV integration, the BOLD signal in aVS and vmPFC was higher for both conscious rewards (high > low) and subliminal probabilities (high > low) and could not be explained by subliminal salience (cue present > absent). Moreover, multivariate pattern similarity between conscious rewards and subliminal probabilities in vmPFC suggest integration into an abstract value representation. Additionally, we found brain-wide subliminal probability and salience effects. Taken together, these results suggest that conscious awareness is not necessary for probability to be integrated with conscious rewards to form an abstract “common currency” SV representation in vmPFC. Additionally, brain-wide subliminal probability and salience effects suggests information can have “global access” without conscious awareness. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.