1. Orbitofrontal Cortex and Its Contribution to Decision-Making
Group 5
Alicia Iafonaro
Alyona Koneva
Barbara Kim
Isaac Del Rio

2. The Model of Decision Making Within the PFC
First, sensory, affective, and motivational information enter the OFC
Next, the OFC encodes the value of an outcome
Then, the lateral PFC constructs a way to obtain the outcome
At the same time, the MPFC evaluates the effort involved (likelihood of success, cost v. benefit analysis.

3. Model of PFC Decision Making
PFC includes the OFC
PFC holds sensory info in working memory and uses that info to change activity in other areas of behavior
LPFC encodes sensory, behavior and context of behavior responses
Orbitofrontal Cortex

4. OFC – LPFC—MPFC INTERACTION
OFC takes in sensory, affective and motivational info and calculates/encodes value of an outcome – but not how to get there
LPFC makes a plan to reach goal, prioritizes, and predicts outcome
MPFC evaluates value of outcome and plan, calculates – “Is this worth doing?”

5. Example of a working OFC
MARIJUANA
OLFACTORY CORTEX
SMELL OF
MARIJUANA SMOKE
AMYGDALA
SMELLS GOOD
HYPOTHALAMUS
FEEL GOOD
OFC INTEGRATES INFORMATION, DERIVES VALUE OF POTENTIAL REWARD OUTCOMES
DLPFC CONSTRUCTS PLAN TO OBTAIN REWARD
I WALK AWAY, DON’T SMOKE,
AND KEEP MY JOB AND STAY OUT OF JAIL
MPFC
EVALUATES EFFORT
WALKING AWAY IS NOT THAT HARD
IF IT DOESN’T WORK, I WILL TRY DIFFERENT PLAN
OFC:
POTENTIAL OUTCOMES
1 - I SMOKE A JOINT AND FEEL RELAXED
2 - I SMOKE A JOINT AND LOSE MY MOTIVATION TO DO ANYTHING AND GET FIRED BECAUSE I DIDN’T GET A PROJECT IN TODAY
3 - I SMOKE A JOINT AND GET ARRESTED
POTENTIAL REWARD OUTCOME 2/3 OF THESE OUTCOMES AREN‘T GOOD
BEHAVIORAL RESPONSE
HE WALKS AWAY

6. How does OFC interact with other brain regions?
Holding information about the outcome in working memory can be useful for performance.
Working memory is used in solving stimulus-reward reversal tasks.
Lesions to the OFC affects learning of reward-reversal learning and cause perseveration.
Monkeys with OFC lesions can’t adopt the “win-stay, lose-shift” strategy.
The “win-stay, lose-shift” strategy requires that monkeys hold info about the outcome in working memory .

7. Disorders associated with OFC dysfunction
OFC that is not functioning properly can results in compulsive disorders like:
Drug use
Pathological gambling
Eating Disorders
OCD
These disorders might result from lack of top-down control, not being able to plan for the future and failing to bias behavior away from immediate rewards towards better long-term outcomes.

8. Does the model fit existing knowledge?
It is a pretty good fit – as far as it goes.
However, the OFC is composed of many different sub-areas.
As technology advances, our understanding of the brain becomes more complex
We expect that future research will help to delineate which sub-areas of the OFC are responsible for different types of processing.