PDA

View Full Version : Orbitofrontal cortex, decision making and habitual behaviour



Adelaide
11-26-2012, 10:18 PM
Scientists have assumed that the orbitofrontal cortex plays a role in "value-based" decision-making, when a person compares options and weights consequences and rewards to choose best alternative. The Science study shows that this area of the brain is involved in decision-making only when the value must be inferred or computed rapidly or hastily. If the value has been "cached" or pre-computed, like a habit, then the orbitofrontal cortex is not necessary.

The same is true for learning -- if a person infers an outcome but it does not happen, the resulting error can drive learning. The study shows that the orbitofrontal cortex is necessary for the inferred value that is used for this type of learning.

"Our research showed that damage to the orbitofrontal cortex may decrease a person's ability to use prior experience to make good decisions on the fly," says lead author Joshua Jones, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and a research scientist at NIDA, part of the National Institutes of Health. "The person isn't able to consider the whole continuum of the decision -- the mind's map of how choices play out further down the road. Instead, the person is going to regress to habitual behavior, gravitating toward the choice that provides the most value in its immediate reward."

"Drug addiction is marked by severe deficits in judgment and bad decision-making on the part of the addict," says Dr. Jones. "We believe that drugs, particularly cocaine, affect the orbitofrontal cortex. They coerce the system and hijack decision-making."



Brain Area's Role in Learning Identified (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121126142953.htm)

Interesting stuff! It's amazing how much the science and research is changing since I studied it in university.