Individual preferences for the flavor of different foods and fluids exert a strong influence on behavior. Most current theories posit that preferences are integrated with other state variables in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), which is thought to derive the relative subjective value of available options to guide choice behavior. Here, we report that instead of a single integrated valuation system in the OFC, another complementary one is centered in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) in macaques. Specifically, we found that the OFC and vlPFC preferentially represent outcome flavor and outcome probability, respectively, and that preferences are separately integrated into value representations in these areas. In addition, the vlPFC, but not the OFC, represented the probability of receiving the available outcome flavors separately, with the difference between these representations reflecting the degree of preference for each flavor. Thus, both the vlPFC and OFC exhibit dissociable but complementary representations of subjective value, both of which are necessary for decision-making.

中文翻译：

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偏好揭示了前额叶边缘回路的可分离编码


个人对不同食物和液体味道的偏好对行为有很大影响。目前大多数理论认为，偏好与眶额皮层（OFC）中的其他状态变量相结合，这被认为可以导出可用选项的相对主观价值来指导选择行为。在这里，我们报告说，猕猴的 OFC 中没有一个单一的综合评估系统，而是另一个互补的评估系统集中在腹外侧前额叶皮层 (vlPFC)。具体来说，我们发现 OFC 和 vlPFC 分别优先代表结果风味和结果概率，并且偏好分别集成到这些领域的价值表示中。此外，vlPFC（而不是 OFC）分别表示接收可用结果口味的概率，这些表示之间的差异反映了对每种口味的偏好程度。因此，vlPFC 和 OFC 都表现出可分离但互补的主观价值表征，这两者都是决策所必需的。