The orbitofrontal cartographer

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew P H Gardner ◽  
Geoffrey Schoenbaum
Keyword(s):  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Cognitive Map ◽  
Credit Assignment ◽  
General Consensus ◽  
Future Events ◽  
Causal Structures ◽  
Precise Content ◽  
Successes And Failures

Theories of orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) function have evolved substantially over the last few decades. There is now a general consensus that the OFC is important for predicting aspects of future events and for using these predictions to guide behavior. Yet the precise content of these predictions and the degree to which OFC contributes to agency contingent upon them has become contentious, with several plausible theories advocating different answers to these questions. In this review we will focus on three of these ideas - the economic value, credit assignment, and cognitive map hypotheses – describing both their successes and failures. We will propose that these failures hint at a more nuanced role for the OFC in supporting the proposed functions when an underlying model or map of the causal structures in the environment must be constructed or updated.

scholarly journals Reward-specific satiety affects subjective value signals in orbitofrontal cortex during multicomponent economic choice

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (30) ◽  
pp. e2022650118
Author(s):  
Alexandre Pastor-Bernier ◽  
Arkadiusz Stasiak ◽  
Wolfram Schultz
Keyword(s):  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Revealed Preference ◽  
Value Change ◽  
Neuronal Coding ◽  
Preference Theory ◽  
Subjective Value ◽  
Reward Value ◽  
Value Loss ◽  
Reward Functions

Sensitivity to satiety constitutes a basic requirement for neuronal coding of subjective reward value. Satiety from natural ongoing consumption affects reward functions in learning and approach behavior. More specifically, satiety reduces the subjective economic value of individual rewards during choice between options that typically contain multiple reward components. The unconfounded assessment of economic reward value requires tests at choice indifference between two options, which is difficult to achieve with sated rewards. By conceptualizing choices between options with multiple reward components (“bundles”), Revealed Preference Theory may offer a solution. Despite satiety, choices against an unaltered reference bundle may remain indifferent when the reduced value of a sated bundle reward is compensated by larger amounts of an unsated reward of the same bundle, and then the value loss of the sated reward is indicated by the amount of the added unsated reward. Here, we show psychophysically titrated choice indifference in monkeys between bundles of differently sated rewards. Neuronal chosen value signals in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) followed closely the subjective value change within recording periods of individual neurons. A neuronal classifier distinguishing the bundles and predicting choice substantiated the subjective value change. The choice between conventional single rewards confirmed the neuronal changes seen with two-reward bundles. Thus, reward-specific satiety reduces subjective reward value signals in OFC. With satiety being an important factor of subjective reward value, these results extend the notion of subjective economic reward value coding in OFC neurons.

The case against economic values in the orbitofrontal cortex (or anywhere else in the brain)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Hayden ◽  
Yael Niv
Keyword(s):  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Economic Concept ◽  
Free Process ◽  
Subjective Value ◽  
Epistemic Constraints ◽  
The Brain

Much of traditional neuroeconomics proceeds from the hypothesis that value is reified in the brain, that is, that there are neurons or brain regions whose responses serve the discrete purpose of encoding value. This hypothesis is supported by the finding that the activity of many neurons covaries with subjective value as estimated in specific tasks and has led to the idea that the primary function of the orbitofrontal cortex is to compute and signal economic value. Here we consider an alternative: that economic value, in the cardinal, common-currency sense, is not represented in the brain and used for choice by default. This idea is motivated by consideration of the economic concept of value, which places important epistemic constraints on our ability to identify its neural basis. It is also motivated by the behavioral economics literature, especially work on heuristics, which proposes value-free process models for much if not all of choice. Finally, it is buoyed by recent neural and behavioral findings regarding how animals and humans learn to choose between options. In light of our hypothesis, we critically reevaluate putative neural evidence for the representation of value and explore an alternative: direct learning of action policies. We delineate how this alternative can provide a robust account of behavior that concords with existing empirical data.

scholarly journals Neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex encode economic value

Nature ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 441 (7090) ◽  
pp. 223-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camillo Padoa-Schioppa ◽  
John A. Assad
Keyword(s):  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Economic Value

scholarly journals Medial and lateral orbitofrontal cortices represent unique components of cognitive maps of task space

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Bradfield ◽  
Genevra Hart
Keyword(s):  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Mental Model ◽  
Cognitive Maps ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Terminal State ◽  
Cognitive Map ◽  
Task Space ◽  
Functional Heterogeneity ◽  
Initial State ◽  
Broad Array

The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) has recently been proposed to function as a cognitive map oftask space: a mental model of the various steps involved in a task. This idea has proven popularbecause it provides a cohesive explanation for a number of disparate findings regarding the OFC’srole in a broad array of tasks. Concurrently, mounting evidence has begun to reveal the functional heterogeneity of OFC subregions, particularly the medial and lateral OFC. How these subregions might uniquely contribute to the OFC’s role as a cognitive map of task space, however, has not been explored. Here we propose that the lateral OFC represents the agent’s initial position within that task map (i.e. initial state), determining which actions are available as a consequence of that position, whereas the medial OFC represents the agent’s desired future position within the task map(i.e. terminal state), influencing which actions are selected to achieve that position. We argue thatthese processes are achieved somewhat independently and somewhat interdependently, and are achieved through similar but non-identical circuitry.

The Jewish Guarantor and Secular Law: Stumbling Blocks and Their Removal

2010 ◽  
pp. 522-542
Author(s):  
Roger Lister
Keyword(s):  
Economic Value ◽  
Contingent Claims ◽  
Contingent Claim ◽  
Net Worth ◽  
Meeting Point ◽  
Future Events ◽  
Uncertain Future

Guarantees are an important interdisciplinary meeting point of economics, accounting, and law. A guarantor becomes liable for the debt of a primary debtor if the primary debtor defaults. This article focuses on the Jewish guarantor and the secular law and also their removal. A contingent claim is a possible obligation that arises from past events and whose existence will be confirmed only by the occurrence of one or more uncertain future events. The guarantee is part of the package of contingent claims that comprise the value of a business’s or an individual’s net worth. This article discusses the economic value of a guarantor and how to go about finding the perfect guarantor and go about investing one’s money. This article traces the existence of usury and the concept of guarantee in Judaism. This article also draws a comparison between Judaic and English laws pertaining to money lending which concludes it.

scholarly journals Orbitofrontal Cortex as a Cognitive Map of Task Space

Neuron ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert C. Wilson ◽  
Yuji K. Takahashi ◽  
Geoffrey Schoenbaum ◽  
Yael Niv
Keyword(s):  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Cognitive Map ◽  
Task Space

scholarly journals The representation of economic value in the orbitofrontal cortex is invariant for changes of menu

2007 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camillo Padoa-Schioppa ◽  
John A Assad
Keyword(s):  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Economic Value
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