Neuroscience
Balkanizing the primate orbitofrontal cortex: distinct subregions for comparing and contrasting values
Annals of the New York Academy of Science. 2011 Dec; 1239(1): 1-13
Rudebeck PH, Murray EA
Abstract
The primate orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is often treated as a single entity, but architectonic and connectional neuroanatomy indicate that it has distinguishable parts. Nevertheless, few studies have attempted to dissociate the functions of its subregions. Here we review findings from recent neuropsychological and neurophysiological studies that do so. The lateral OFC seems to be important for learning, representing, and updating specific object-reward associations. The medial OFC seems to be important for value comparisons and choosing among objects on that basis. Rather than viewing this dissociation of function in terms of learning versus choosing, however, we suggest that it reflects the distinction between contrasts and comparisons: differences versus similarities. Making use of high-dimensional representations that arise from the convergence of several sensory modalities, the lateral OFC encodes contrasts among outcomes. The medial OFC reduces these contrasting representations of value to a single dimension, a common currency, in order to compare alternative choices.
PMID: 22145870 [PubMed - in process]
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Neuroscience
Neuropsychology Abstract of the Day: Orbitofrontal Cortex
Balkanizing the primate orbitofrontal cortex: distinct subregions for comparing and contrasting values
Annals of the New York Academy of Science. 2011 Dec; 1239(1): 1-13
Rudebeck PH, Murray EA
Abstract
The primate orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is often treated as a single entity, but architectonic and connectional neuroanatomy indicate that it has distinguishable parts. Nevertheless, few studies have attempted to dissociate the functions of its subregions. Here we review findings from recent neuropsychological and neurophysiological studies that do so. The lateral OFC seems to be important for learning, representing, and updating specific object-reward associations. The medial OFC seems to be important for value comparisons and choosing among objects on that basis. Rather than viewing this dissociation of function in terms of learning versus choosing, however, we suggest that it reflects the distinction between contrasts and comparisons: differences versus similarities. Making use of high-dimensional representations that arise from the convergence of several sensory modalities, the lateral OFC encodes contrasts among outcomes. The medial OFC reduces these contrasting representations of value to a single dimension, a common currency, in order to compare alternative choices.
PMID: 22145870 [PubMed - in process]
- Employment Opportunity As A Professional Fmri Subject
Apply now! Or at least, that's the implication of this BBC story about the latest neuroimaging paper (Fliessbach et al., 2007) in Science: Men motivated by 'superior wage' [NOTE: so I guess women aren't, eh? we don't know, since they...
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Schematic representation of the two streams of visual processing in human cerebral cortex (taken from Goodale & Westwood, 2004). There is no pattern, yet there is The configuration lies within --Single Gun Theory, I Am What I See How does the brain categorize...
- Neuropsychology Abstract Of The Day: Real And Fictive Outcomes
Fischer, A.G. & Ullsperger, M. (2013). Real and fictive outcomes are processed differently but converge on a common adaptive mechanism. Neuron, 79, 1243-1255. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2013.07.006. The ability to learn not only from experienced but also...
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Haramati S, Soroker N, Dudai Y, & Levy DA. The posterior parietal cortex in recognition memory: A neuropsychological study. Neuropsychologia. 2007 Nov 29 [Epub ahead of print] Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, P.O. Box 26, Rehovot...
- Numerical-spatial Cognitive Interactions Of The Parietal Lobe
The functions and dysfunctions of the parietal lobes are often the most difficult of the four cerebral lobes for a student to understand when learning about brain-behavior relations. This month's issue of Nature Reviews Neuroscience includes free...