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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 1, 2025

Operant Protocols for Assessing the Cost-benefit Analysis During Reinforced Decision Making by Rodents

Operant Protocols for Assessing the Cost-benefit Analysis During Reinforced Decision Making by Rodents

Published on: September 10, 2018

Value representations in the rodent orbitofrontal cortex drive learning, not choice.

Kevin J Miller^1,2,3, Matthew M Botvinick^2,4, Carlos D Brody^1,5

¹Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, United States.

|August 17, 2022

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Value representations in the brain

Keywords:

decision making electrophysiology learning neuroscience orbitofrontal cortex planning rat reinforcement learning

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Science
Animal Behavior

Background:

Value representations are crucial for decision-making and learning in humans and animals.
Formal models distinguish between value's role in driving choice and supporting learning.
It remains unclear if distinct neural systems underlie these two functions of value representations.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the role of value representations in the rodent orbitofrontal cortex.
To determine if neural representations of expected value directly drive choice behavior.
To explore how value representations interact with learning mechanisms.

Main Methods:

Utilized a novel multi-step task in rats to computationally separate learning from choice.
Employed electrophysiological recordings in the orbitofrontal cortex.
Used optogenetic perturbations to manipulate neural activity.

Main Results:

Orbitofrontal cortex value representations were found not to directly drive choice behavior.
Evidence suggests these representations signal expected reward information.
This information is relayed to a separate learning process that influences choice.

Conclusions:

Neural representations of value in the orbitofrontal cortex may not directly mediate choice.
These representations appear to play a critical role in informing learning processes.
This suggests a dissociation between the neural substrates of value-based choice and learning.