Temporal-orbitofrontal pathway regulates choices across physical reward and visual novelty

Expectation of perceptual novelty shapes our daily decisions and has an impact on how we evaluate primary rewards. To identify the underlying circuitry, we trained subjects to choose between offers associated with varying probabilities of receiving large juice rewards and experiencing novel objects. Anticipated novelty modulated valuation by increasing both choice preference for and motivational value of large rewards. This novelty-reward interaction was reflected in a circuit comprising anterior ventral medial temporal cortex (AVMTC), implicated in detecting and predicting novelty, and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), which receives AVMTC inputs and signals the reward value associated with visual objects. Novelty and reward signals were first detectable in AVMTC. However, OFC neurons' activity more closely reflected subjective preference across the reward-novelty offers in our task. Chemogenetic disruption of AVMTC→OFC altered the impact of expected novelty on reward valuation. These results suggest that the ventral visual system contributes to novelty-reward interactions during valuation through direct projections to prefrontal cortex.