title: The neuropsychology of ventral prefrontal cortex: decision-making and reversal learning.
abstract: Converging evidence from human lesion, animal lesion, and human functional neuroimaging studies implicates overlapping neural circuitry in ventral prefrontal cortex in decision-making and reversal learning. The ascending 5-HT and dopamine neurotransmitter systems have a modulatory role in both processes. There is accumulating evidence that measures of decision-making and reversal learning may be useful as functional markers of ventral prefrontal cortex integrity in psychiatric and neurological disorders. Whilst existing measures of decision-making may have superior sensitivity, reversal learning may offer superior selectivity, particularly within prefrontal cortex. Effective decision-making on existing measures requires the ability to adapt behaviour on the basis of changes in emotional significance, and this may underlie the shared neural circuitry with reversal learning.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK. lc260@cam.ac.uk
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cools
authors.forename: T W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Robbins
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001925:Brain Damage, Chronic / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009484:Neuropsychology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012193:Reversal Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D012701:Serotonin / Q000502:physiology; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed
chemical_list: D012701:Serotonin