National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 35(114), 2017
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Significance Learning about multiple features of a choice option is crucial for optimal decision making. How such multiattribute learning is realized remains unclear. Using functional MRI, we show that the brain exploits separate mesolimbic and mesocortical networks to simultaneously learn about reward and effort attributes. We show a double dissociation, evident in the expression of effort learning signals in dorsomedial prefrontal and reward learning in ventral striatal areas, with this dissociation being spatially mirrored in dopaminergic midbrain. At the time of choice, these segregated signals are integrated in ventral striatum. These findings highlight how the brain parses parallel learning demands.