Human orbitofrontal cortex represents a cognitive map of state space
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Although the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) has been studied intensely for decades, its precise functions have remained elusive. We recently hypothesized that the OFC contains a "cognitive map" of task space in which the current state of the task is represented, and this representation is especially critical for behavior when states are unobservable from sensory input. To test this idea, we apply pattern-classification techniques to neuroimaging data from humans performing a decision-making task with 16 states. We show that unobservable task states can be decoded from activity in OFC, and decoding accuracy is related to task performance and the occurrence of individual behavioral errors. Moreover, similarity between the neural representations of consecutive states correlates with behavioral accuracy in corresponding state transitions. These results support the idea that OFC represents a cognitive map of task space and establish the feasibility of decoding state representations in humans using non-invasive neuroimaging.
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Orbitofrontal cortex tracks hidden states and encodes how likely each candidate latent cause is at a given moment in inference.
“Neurally, the orbitofrontal cortex, which is sensitive to unobservable states [51], has been shown to represent the probability that each latent cause is currently active during the inference process [52].”
From Does mental context drift or shift? (2017) · cites this paper as [51]
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- Authors
- Schuck, N. W., Cai, M. B., Wilson, R. C., & Niv, Y.
- Affiliations
- Princeton University (US)
- University of Arizona (US)
- Corresponding author
- Schuck, Nicolas W.
- Venue
- Neuron
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-09
- Volume
- 91
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1402-1412
- ISSN
- 0896-6273 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5044873
- OpenAlex
- W2522716651
- Cited by
- 602
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 63 · 2025: 86 · 2024: 67 · 2023: 68 · 2022: 46 · 2021: 78 · 2020: 67 · 2019: 51 · 2018: 41 · 2017: 34 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 26.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Neuron (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Army Research Office (W911NF-14-1-0101)
- John Templeton Foundation
- Intel Corporation
- National Institutes of Health (R01MH098861)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
- Keywords
- orbitofrontal cortex, cognitive maps, decision-making, neural decoding, behavioral errors, state transitions
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Brain Mapping, Cognition, Decision Making, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Markov Chains, Psychomotor Performance, Prefrontal Cortex, Young Adult
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