title: The orbitofrontal cortex, predicted value, and choice.
abstract: Considerable evidence suggests that choice between goal-directed actions depends on two incentive processes encoding the reward value of the goal or outcome and the predicted value of an action based on outcome-related stimuli. Although incentive theories generally assume that these processes are mediated by a common associative mechanism, a number of recent findings suggest that they are dissociable; the reward value of an action is derived from consummatory experience with the outcome itself, whereas the predicted value of an action is based on the presence of outcome-associated stimuli from which estimates of the likelihood of an outcome are derived. Importantly, the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in rodents appears to mediate the effect of outcome-related stimuli on choice; OFC lesions disrupt the influence of Pavlovian stimuli on choice in tests of outcome-specific Pavlovian-instrumental transfer. However, the influence of outcome-related stimuli on choice involves a larger circuit including the OFC, the ventral striatum, and the amygdala. How these structures interact, however, is not yet fully understood and is an important question for future research.
authors.affiliation: Brain & Mind Research Institute, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia. bernard.balleine@sydney.edu.au
authors.forename: Bernard W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Balleine
authors.forename: Beatrice K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Leung
authors.forename: Sean B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Ostlund
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003657:Decision Making; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D010828:Physiology, Comparative / Q000379:methods; D012201:Reward; D012945:Social Values