Bridging across functional models: The OFC as a value-making neural network.

Abstract

Many functions have been attributed to the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) -some classical roles, such as signaling the value of action outcomes, being challenged by more recent ones, such as signaling the position of a trial within a task space. In this paper, we propose a unifying neural network architecture, whose function is to generate a value from a set of attributes attached to a particular object. Our model reverses the logic of perceptual choice models, by considering values as outputs of (and not inputs to) the neural network. In doing so, the model explains why univariate value signals have been observed in both likeability rating and economic choice tasks, while the features associated to a particular task trial can be decoded using multivariate analysis. Moreover, simulations show that a globally positive correlation with subjective value at the population level can coexist with a variety of correlation coefficients at the single-unit level, bridging typical observations made in human neuroimaging and monkey electrophysiology studies of OFC activity. To better explain binary choice, we equipped the neural network with recurrent feedback connections that enable simultaneous coding of values associated to currently-attended and previously-considered objects. Simulations of this augmented model show that virtual lesions produce systematically intransitive preferences, as observed in patients with damage to the OFC. Thus, our neural network model is sufficiently general and flexible to account for a core set of observations and make specific predictions about both OFC activity during value judgment and behavioral consequence of OFC damage.

The Role of the Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex in Preferential Decisions for Own- and Other-Age Faces

“… Ebner et al (2011a) found the contribution of the vmPFC to own-age face processing ( Ebner et al, 2011a ), supporting the previous evidence that the vmPFC shows higher activation when thinking about similar than dissimilar others ( Amodio and Frith, 2006 ; Mitchell et al, 2006 ; Van Overwalle, 2009 ). Given its contribution to various aspects of social cognition, such as emotional empathy, social reputation, moral judgment, and value-based decision making ( Saxe, 2006 ; Forbes and Grafman, 2010 ; Ito et al, 2011 , 2015 ; Delgado et al, 2016 ; Kawasaki et al, 2016 ; Hiser and Koenigs, 2018 ; Yoon et al, 2018 ; Suzuki and O’Doherty, 2020 ; Pessiglione and Daunizeau, 2021 ) as well as its multifaceted anatomical connections ( Rolls and Grabenhorst, 2008 ; Grabenhorst and Rolls, 2011 ; Riga et al, 2014 ), dissociable neural populations would contribute to own-age face recognition and facial preference.…”

“…When people choose a face that they prefer from two alternatives, the subjective value of each face is computed, and these values are compared and preferential choices are made ( Levy and Glimcher, 2011 ). Previous studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have shown that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) computes value signals ( Chib et al, 2009 ; Lebreton et al, 2009 ; Hare et al, 2010 ; Ito et al, 2016 ; Suzuki et al, 2017 ; Suzuki and O’Doherty, 2020 ; Pessiglione and Daunizeau, 2021 ). Specifically, it has been argued that the brain valuation system (BVS), including the vmPFC, parametrically represents subjective values of faces and predicts later preferential choices ( Lebreton et al, 2009 ).…”

A shared brain system forming confidence judgment across cognitive domains

“…The positive association with vmPFC activity is consistent with previous neuroimaging work involving the vmPFC and adjacent perigenual ACC regions in confidence judgments about perceptual responses (Bang and Fleming 2018; Gherman and Philiastides 2018; Rouault and Fleming 2020), about age estimation and likeability rating (Lebreton et al 2015; Lopez-Persem et al 2020), about value-based choices (De Martino et al 2013) and decisions relying on working memory (Morales et al 2018). The vmPFC therefore appears as a key hub for confidence signals, which suggests that being confident may be intrinsically valuable (Lebreton et al 2015; Lee and Daunizeau 2021), since the vmPFC is also central to valuation signals generated during both rating and choice tasks (Lebreton et al 2009; Bartra et al 2013; Clithero and Rangel 2014; Pessiglione and Daunizeau 2021). We have not tested here whether vmPFC activity was affected by the requirement to provide confidence ratings, but it is likely that similar signals would be generated in the absence of explicit reports, as observed in previous work (Lebreton et al 2015; Bobadilla-Suarez et al 2020; Lopez-Persem et al 2020).…”

Consciousness matters: phenomenal experience has functional value

“…How a single value is constructed from a constellation of features is an open issue, debated in both the emotion ( Lindquist et al. 2016 ) and decision-making literature ( Pelletier and Fellows 2021 ; Pessiglione and Daunizeau 2021 ).…”

“…Subjective value in conscious perception might be a scalar quantity, computed from a collection of features, as proposed in the field of decision-making ( Pelletier and Fellows 2021 ; Pessiglione and Daunizeau 2021 ), or it might be also multi-dimensional. Despite all the work carried out on perceptual consciousness, the dimensions of conscious perceptual experience remain largely unknown and open to different conceptualizations ( Bayne et al.…”