Encoding predictive reward value in human amygdala
and orbitofrontal cortex
by
Gottfried JA, O'Doherty J, Dolan RJ.
Functional Imaging Laboratory,
Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience,
12 Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK.
j.gottfried@fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk
Science. 2003 Aug 22;301(5636):1104-7.

ABSTRACT

Adaptive behavior is optimized in organisms that maintain flexible representations of the value of sensory-predictive cues. To identify central representations of predictive reward value in humans, we used reinforcer devaluation while measuring neural activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging. We presented two arbitrary visual stimuli, both before and after olfactory devaluation, in a paradigm of appetitive conditioning. In amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex, responses evoked by a predictive target stimulus were decreased after devaluation, whereas responses to the nondevalued stimulus were maintained. Thus, differential activity in amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex encodes the current value of reward representations accessible to predictive cues.

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