There are More Neural Circuits for Inference Making than was Previously Thought

    Since the dawn of time, organisms have been making snap decisions based on what can be inferred from the environment around them. Humans are no exception, as our world is constantly changing around us. New Research has been done to see how we make those decisions based on what we can infer. In "Neural circuits for inference-based decision-making," Wang and Kahnt examine which areas of the brain could be used for inference during the use of learning associations. There are three areas that they found that play a role in inference making; the orbitofrontal cortex, the hippocampus, and the amygdala. Orbitofrontal cortex to hippocampus circuits seem to be used for inferring value of outcomes. Wang and kahnt's research has given us a glimpse into what parts of our brain make snap decisions when involving inferences.

    In "A cortical circuit mechanism for structural knowledge-based flexible sensorimotor decision-making." researchers Xin et al., suggested that there is another area of the brain involved in inference making. They suggested that the auditory cortex has been proven to encode information involving stimulus categorization. Xin et al. made use of two-photon imaging to find the area of the auditory cortex that is responsible for stimulus categorization. This area receives projections from the orbitofrontal region previously talked about. These projections played an important role specifically in stimulus re-categorization, which allows for behavioral flexibility when it comes to inferring. This area does not seem to play a role in discriminating between stimuli though.

    The finding of another area in the brain that has an impact on our inferencing abilities has a couple of possible implications. One of these implications is that all of our senses have circuits that allow for stimulus categorization. This would help us keep all of the stimuli straight inside of our heads. Another of these implications is that organisms evolved to have multiple circuits for inferencing so that we can have other ways of processing incase one gets damaged. This would also help us process information faster. This would make sense, as sometimes the ability to infer means the difference between life and death for us. The possibility of the existence of other neural circuits being used for inference making should be looked at more in the future. Who knows, we might be able to speed up our inference making even more.

Works Cited

Liu, Y., Xin, Y., & Xu, N.-long. (n.d.). A cortical circuit mechanism for structural knowledge-based flexible sensorimotor decision-making. Cell.com. Retrieved October 22, 2021, from https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(21)00280-4?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0896627321002804%3Fshowall%3Dtrue. 

Wang, F., & Kahnt, T. (2021). Neural circuits for inference-based decision-making. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 41, 10–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.02.004