Extended Data Fig. 8: Neural noise links uncertainty to exploration.
From: Rate and noise in human amygdala drive increased exploration in aversive learning
All figures show the correlation between residual values of two variables after accounting for a third one, i.e. the partial correlation. The upper row uses the total uncertainty (TUt) calculated from the model, and the bottom row uses trial number (because uncertainty decreases with trial number, we use it as another validation). (a) Pre-choice CV increases with uncertainty (top) and decreases with trial number (bottom), even after accounting for exploration. Inset: the partial correlation is robust across window size (filled circle: p < 0.05). This suggests that pre-choice CV increases with uncertainty independent of exploration. (b) Exploration increases with pre-choice CV after accounting for uncertainty (top) as well as after accounting for trial number (bottom). Inset: the partial correlation is robust across window size (filled circle: p < 0.05). This suggests that exploration increases with noise independent of uncertainty. (c) Exploration is not correlated with uncertainty (top) and not with trial number (bottom) after accounting for pre-choice CV. The lack of correlation suggests that there is no direct relationship between uncertainty and exploration, and that the CV mediates the two.
