Outcome representations, counterfactual comparisons and the human orbitofrontal cortex: implications for neuroimaging studies of decision-making

Ursu, Stefan; Carter, Cameron S.

doi:10.1016/j.cogbrainres.2005.01.004

Cited by 131 publications

(98 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…The counterfactual conditions showed higher activation than the corresponding factual conditions, indicating that bilateral OFC and anterior insula were closely related to counterfactual reward processing. This result is consistent with another fMRI study on counterfactual comparison (Ursu and Carter, 2005).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

“…Whereas some studies suggest that medial areas (e.g., medial OFC and striatum) are sensitive to relative gains (O'Doherty et al, 2001;Nieuwenhuis et al, 2005) and lateral areas (e.g., lateral OFC and anterior insula) for loss or punishment (O'Doherty et al, 2003a;Ullsperger and von Cramon, 2003), other studies found that activity of the caudate nucleus and insula was independent of the valence of outcomes (Elliott et al, 2000;Delgado et al, 2003). To a certain extent, these mixed results highlight some of the important distinctions in human decision-making research, such as expected values and utilities (von Neumann and Morgenstern, 1944;Knutson et al, 2005;Tobler et al, 2006), framing and prospect theory (Kahneman and Tversky, 1979;Tversky and Kahneman, 1981;Trepel et al, 2005), and cognitive-affective interaction (Loomes and Sugden, 1982;Mellers, 2000;Ursu and Carter, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 73%

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Functional Dissociation in Frontal and Striatal Areas for Processing of Positive and Negative Reward Information

Liu

Powell²,

Wang³

et al. 2007

J. Neurosci.

210

187

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Reward-seeking behavior depends critically on processing of positive and negative information at various stages such as reward anticipation, outcome monitoring, and choice evaluation. Behavioral and neuropsychological evidence suggests that processing of positive (e.g., gain) and negative (e.g., loss) reward information may be dissociable and individually disrupted. However, it remains uncertain whether different stages of reward processing share certain neural circuitry in frontal and striatal areas, and whether distinct but interactive systems in these areas are recruited for positive and negative reward processing. To explore these issues, we used a monetary decision-making task to investigate the roles of frontal and striatal areas at all three stages of reward processing in the same event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment. Participants were instructed to choose whether to bet or bank a certain number of chips. If they decided to bank or if they lost a bet, they started over betting one chip. If they won a bet, the wager was doubled in the next round. Positive reward anticipation, winning outcome, and evaluation of right choices activated the striatum and medial/middle orbitofrontal cortex, whereas negative reward anticipation, losing outcome, and evaluation of wrong choices activated the lateral orbitofrontal cortex, anterior insula, superior temporal pole, and dorsomedial frontal cortex. These findings suggest that the valence of reward information and counterfactual comparison more strongly predict a functional dissociation in frontal and striatal areas than do various stages of reward processing. These distinct but interactive systems may serve to guide human's reward-seeking behavior.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 73%

Functional Dissociation in Frontal and Striatal Areas for Processing of Positive and Negative Reward Information

Liu

Powell²,

Wang³

et al. 2007

J. Neurosci.

210

187

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Rolls (2000) has evidenced the incapacity of orbitofrontal patients to modify their behaviour in response to negative consequences. Ursu & Carter (2005) have demonstrated how the anticipated affective impact of a choice was modulated by the comparison between the different available alternatives. These reasoning patterns, consisting of anticipating contrasts between actual outcomes and counterfactual ones (counterfactual in the sense that those outcomes are the ones that I would have got had I taken an alternative course of action), are reflected in the orbitofrontal cortex activity.…”

Section: Testing the Regret Explanation Of Allaisian Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regret and the rationality of choices

Bourgeois‐Gironde

2010

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Regret helps to optimize decision behaviour. It can be defined as a rational emotion. Several recent neurobiological studies have confirmed the interface between emotion and cognition at which regret is located and documented its role in decision behaviour. These data give credibility to the incorporation of regret in decision theory that had been proposed by economists in the 1980s. However, finer distinctions are required in order to get a better grasp of how regret and behaviour influence each other. Regret can be defined as a predictive error signal but this signal does not necessarily transpose into a decision-weight influencing behaviour. Clinical studies on several types of patients show that the processing of an error signal and its influence on subsequent behaviour can be dissociated. We propose a general understanding of how regret and decision-making are connected in terms of regret being modulated by rational antecedents of choice. Regret and the modification of behaviour on its basis will depend on the criteria of rationality involved in decision-making. We indicate current and prospective lines of research in order to refine our views on how regret contributes to optimal decision-making.

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“…First, evidence for the existence of neuroanatomically distinct appetitive and aversive responses has been found in the representation of other decision-related signals such as "outcome values," "anticipatory values," and "prediction errors" (O'Doherty et al, 2001;Rolls et al, 2003;Small et al, 2003;Seymour et al, 2005;Ursu and Carter, 2005;Yacubian et al, 2006;Liu et al, 2007;Elliott et al, 2010). Second, a large body of evidence in behavioral economics suggests that valuation functions in the appetitive domain (gains) have different properties from those in the aversive domain (losses) (Kahneman and Tversky, 1979).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Appetitive and Aversive Goal Values Are Encoded in the Medial Orbitofrontal Cortex at the Time of Decision Making

Plaßmann¹,

O’Doherty²,

Rangel³

2010

J. Neurosci.

313

176

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An essential feature of choice is the assignment of goal values (GVs) to the different options under consideration at the time of decision making. This computation is done when choosing among appetitive and aversive items. Several groups have studied the location of GV computations for appetitive stimuli, but the problem of valuation in aversive contexts at the time of decision making has been ignored. Thus, although dissociations between appetitive and aversive components of value signals have been shown in other domains such as anticipatory and outcome values, it is not known whether appetitive and aversive GVs are computed in similar brain regions or in separate ones. We investigated this question using two different functional magnetic resonance imaging studies while human subjects placed real bids in an economic auction for the right to eat/avoid eating liked/disliked foods. We found that activity in a common area of the medial orbitofrontal cortex and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex correlated with both appetitive and aversive GVs. These findings suggest that these regions might form part of a common network.

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Outcome representations, counterfactual comparisons and the human orbitofrontal cortex: implications for neuroimaging studies of decision-making

Cited by 131 publications

References 47 publications

Functional Dissociation in Frontal and Striatal Areas for Processing of Positive and Negative Reward Information

Functional Dissociation in Frontal and Striatal Areas for Processing of Positive and Negative Reward Information

Regret and the rationality of choices

Appetitive and Aversive Goal Values Are Encoded in the Medial Orbitofrontal Cortex at the Time of Decision Making

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