Specialized areas for value updating and goal selection in the primate orbitofrontal cortex
- National Institutes of Health, United States
Abstract
The macaque orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is essential for selecting goals based on current, updated values of expected reward outcomes. As monkeys consume a given type of reward to satiety, its value diminishes, and OFC damage impairs the ability to shift goal choices away from devalued outcomes. To examine the contributions of OFC's components to goal selection, we reversibly inactivated either its anterior (area 11) or posterior (area 13) parts. We found that neurons in area 13 must be active during the selective satiation procedure to enable the updating of outcome valuations. After this updating has occurred, however, area 13 is not needed to select goals based on this knowledge. In contrast, neurons in area 11 do not need to be active during the value-updating process. Instead, inactivation of this area during choices causes an impairment. These findings demonstrate selective and complementary specializations within the OFC.
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Animal experimentation: All research was carried out in strict adherence to the laws and regulations of the U.S. Animal Welfare Act (USDA, 1990) and Public Health Service Policies (PHS, 2002), as well as nongovernmental recommendations of the National Research Council as published in the ILAR 'Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals'. All procedures were reviewed and approved by the National Institute of Mental Health Animal Care and Use Committee.
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This is an open-access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.
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Specialized areas for value updating and goal selection in the primate orbitofrontal cortex
eLife 4:e11695.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.11695
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When navigating environments with changing rules, human brain circuits flexibly adapt how and where we retain information to help us achieve our immediate goals.
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