A South Korean research team has found that a certain area of the brain activates when decisions are being weighed against one another.

The research team led by Professor Jung Min-hwan at Ajou University School Medicine said it found in its behavioral tests of mice that the secondary motor cortex behind the frontal lobe takes part in choosing action. The secondary motor cortex in mice is the equivalent of the supplementary motor cortex in humans.

The team said it is an unprecedented finding and a breakthrough in researching how a person decides what action to take. The research team also expects this finding will contribute to developing treatments of brain disorders in psychiatric patients, including those with schizophrenia and depression.

The finding has been published in "Nature Neuroscience."