Figure 1.

Behavioral task and probe test behavior. a, Rats were tested in a large, open-field enclosure surrounded by food pellet dispensers (left). Four flavors of sucrose pellets were delivered in four spatial flavor zones (right), such that each of the four flavors was most likely to be found in a particular location (top), but the probability of finding any pellet was even across the enclosure. Color indicates the probability of finding pellets of individual pellets (top) and any pellet (bottom). Data were generated by delivering 20 pellets of each flavor and counting the number that landed at each location within the arena. b, In probe sessions, rats spent similar amounts of time in each flavor zone for the first foraging period, when flavors were delivered in their familiar locations. However, when one familiar flavor was switched to a novel pellet type, rats distributed more time to searching the pellet zone corresponding to the novel flavor. Color indicates the grand average of time spent at each location, across four probe sessions for each of four rats. c, Quantification of data in b. Mean time in each flavor zone was obtained by averaging pixels defining each zone, as shown in the far left panel of b. d, We recorded neurons bilaterally in OFC using single wire electrodes (left; n = 3 rats; 16 electrodes per hemisphere) or stereotrodes (right; n = 1; 8 stereotrodes per hemisphere). e, Histologic reconstruction of recording sites confirmed that electrode placements were localized to the lateral orbitofrontal and ventral anterior insular regions. Max, Maximum; Diff., different.