Decisions bias future choices by modifying hippocampal associative memories

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Abstract
Decision making is guided by memories of option values. However, retrieving items from memory renders them malleable. Here, we show that merely retrieving values from memory and making a choice between options is sufficient both to induce changes to stimulus-reward associations in the hippocampus and to bias future decision making. After allowing participants to make repeated choices between reward-conditioned stimuli, in the absence of any outcome, we observed that participants preferred stimuli they had previously chosen, and neglected previously unchosen stimuli, over otherwise identical-valued options. Using functional brain imaging, we show that decisions induced changes to hippocampal representations of stimulus-outcome associations. These changes were correlated with future decision biases. Our results indicate that choice-induced preference changes are partially driven by choice-induced modification of memory representations and suggest that merely making a choice - even without experiencing any outcomes - induces associative plasticity.
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