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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Mar 9.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Rev Neurosci. 2009 Nov 11;10(12):885–892. doi: 10.1038/nrn2753

Figure 3. The proposed role of the orbitofrontal cortex in flexible, adaptive behaviour.

Figure 3

A summary of several proposals reviewed in the text for explaining the role of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in facilitating reversal learning. At the top is the historical proposal that output from the OFC directly inhibits ‘pre-potent’ responses and is therefore crucial for reversal learning. Below is the more recent idea that the OFC functions as a highly flexible associative reference table to directly guide correct responding and so is vital for reversal learning. At the bottom is our alternative proposal that the OFC is crucial for reversal learning because it drives associative learning in other structures. According to this proposal, the OFC does this by supporting the generation of teaching signals (for example, by the ventral tegmental area (VTA)) when actual outcomes do not match signals from the OFC regarding expected outcomes. BLA, basolateral amygdala; mPFC, medial prefrontal cortex.