title: Orbitofrontal neurons infer the value and identity of predicted outcomes.
abstract: The best way to respond flexibly to changes in the environment is to anticipate them. Such anticipation often benefits us if we can infer that a change has occurred, before we have actually experienced the effects of that change. Here we test for neural correlates of this process by recording single-unit activity in the orbitofrontal cortex in rats performing a choice task in which the available rewards changed across blocks of trials. Consistent with the proposal that orbitofrontal cortex signals inferred information, firing changes at the start of each new block as if predicting the not-yet-experienced reward. This change occurs whether the new reward is different in number of drops, requiring signalling of a new value, or in flavour, requiring signalling of a new sensory feature. These results show that orbitofrontal neurons provide a behaviourally relevant signal that reflects inferences about both value-relevant and value-neutral information about impending outcomes.
authors.affiliation: 1] National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program, Cellular Neurobiology Research Branch, Behavioral Neurophysiology Research Section, 251 Bayview Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland 21224, USA [2].
authors.forename: Thomas A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Stalnaker
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland, School of Medicine, 20 Penn Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201, USA [2].
authors.forename: Nisha K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Cooch
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland, School of Medicine, 20 Penn Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201, USA.
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: McDannald
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland, School of Medicine, 20 Penn Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201, USA.
authors.forename: Tzu-Lan
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland, School of Medicine, 20 Penn Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201, USA.
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wied
authors.affiliation: 1] National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program, Cellular Neurobiology Research Branch, Behavioral Neurophysiology Research Section, 251 Bayview Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland 21224, USA [2] Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland, School of Medicine, 20 Penn Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201, USA [3] Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA.
authors.forename: Geoffrey
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schoenbaum
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D059031:Anticipation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D002755:Choice Behavior; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D012201:Reward