Economic and Social Modulations of Innate Decision-Making in Mice Exposed to Visual Threats

Abstract

When confronted by predators, animals make innate decisions with rapid reaction times--a trait shaped by natural selection to maximize survival. However, rapid reactions are effective only when grounded in accurate judgments and appropriate choices, which often require cognitive control. To address how such choices are shaped, we developed a behavioral paradigm to investigate how threat intensity, reward value, and social hierarchy shape decision-making in foraging mice exposed to overhead visual threats. Using a machine learning-based approach, we classified defensive responses into four distinct decision types. Mice showed rapid habituation to repeated looming threats, with substantial inter-individual variability in the rate of habituation. Across both early and late phases of habituation, threat intensity emerged as the primary determinant of decision-making, strongly biasing behavior toward escape. In contrast, the influence of reward value was context-dependent and became evident primarily in the late phase: under low-threat conditions, higher reward value suppressed defensive responses, consistent with value-based decision theory; whereas under high-threat conditions, higher reward value promoted escape, potentially reflecting heightened vigilance. Innate decision-making was further modulated by social hierarchy, with dominant mice showing greater vigilance and a stronger bias toward risk-averse behaviors, while subordinates were more reward-driven. To understand the underlying decision-making process, we developed a drift-diffusion leaky integrator model that successfully captures how threat intensity, reward value, and vigilance interact to shape defensive decisions. Together, these findings reveal how economic and social factors modulate innate decisions and provide a computational framework for understanding the interplay between instinctive reactions and cognitive control.