TY - JOUR
T1 - Neural Estimates of Imagined Outcomes in the Orbitofrontal Cortex Drive Behavior and Learning
AU - Takahashi, Yuji K.
AU - Chang, Chun Yun
AU - Lucantonio, Federica
AU - Haney, Richard Z.
AU - Berg, Benjamin A.
AU - Yau, Hau Jie
AU - Bonci, Antonello
AU - Schoenbaum, Geoffrey
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by grant numbers K99MH83940 and R01MH080865 and by the Intramural Research Program at the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The authors would like to thank Dr. Karl Deisseroth and the Gene Therapy Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill core for providing viral reagents, and Dr. Garret Stuber for technical advice on their use. The opinions expressed in this article are the authors’ own and do not reflect the views of the NIH/DHHS.
PY - 2013/10/16
Y1 - 2013/10/16
N2 - Imagination, defined as the ability to interpret reality in ways that diverge from past experience, is fundamental to adaptive behavior. This can be seen at asimple level in our capacity to predict novel outcomes in new situations. The ability to anticipate outcomes never before received can also influence learning if those imagined outcomes are not received. The orbitofrontal cortex is a key candidate for where the process of imagining likely outcomes occurs; however, its precise role in generating these estimates and applying them to learning remain open questions. Here we address these questions by showing that single-unit activity in the orbitofrontal cortex reflects novel outcome estimates. The strength of these neural correlates predicted both behavior and learning, learning that was abolished by temporally specific inhibition of orbitofrontal neurons. These results are consistent with the proposal that the orbitofrontal cortex is critical for integrating information to imagine future outcomes
AB - Imagination, defined as the ability to interpret reality in ways that diverge from past experience, is fundamental to adaptive behavior. This can be seen at asimple level in our capacity to predict novel outcomes in new situations. The ability to anticipate outcomes never before received can also influence learning if those imagined outcomes are not received. The orbitofrontal cortex is a key candidate for where the process of imagining likely outcomes occurs; however, its precise role in generating these estimates and applying them to learning remain open questions. Here we address these questions by showing that single-unit activity in the orbitofrontal cortex reflects novel outcome estimates. The strength of these neural correlates predicted both behavior and learning, learning that was abolished by temporally specific inhibition of orbitofrontal neurons. These results are consistent with the proposal that the orbitofrontal cortex is critical for integrating information to imagine future outcomes
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84885704049&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.neuron.2013.08.008
DO - 10.1016/j.neuron.2013.08.008
M3 - Article
C2 - 24139047
AN - SCOPUS:84885704049
SN - 0896-6273
VL - 80
SP - 507
EP - 518
JO - Neuron
JF - Neuron
IS - 2
ER -