Does the medial orbitofrontal cortex have a role in social valuation?
It has been claimed that social behaviour changes after lesions of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). However, lesions in humans are rarely restricted to a well defined cortical area. Although vmPFC lesions usually include medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC), they typically also affect subgenual and/or perigenual anterior cingulate cortex. The purpose of the current study is to investigate the role of mOFC in social valuation and decision-making. We tested four macaque monkeys prior to and after focal lesions of mOFC. Comparison of the animals' pre- and postoperative performance revealed that, unlike lesions of anterior cingulate gyrus (ACCg), lesions of mOFC did not induce alterations in social valuation. MOFC lesions did, however, induce mild impairments in a probabilistic two-choice decision task, which were not seen after ACCg lesions. In summary, the double dissociation between the patterns of impairment suggest that vmPFC involvement in both decision-making and social valuation may be mediated by distinct subregions centred on mOFC and ACCg respectively.
Noonan
M P
MP
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, OX1 3UD, UK. maryann.noonan@psy.ox.ac.uk
Sallet
J
J
Rudebeck
P H
PH
Buckley
M J
MJ
Rushworth
M F
MF
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology*; D012919:Social Behavior