The orbitofrontal cortex in temporal cognition.

Abstract

One of the most important factors in decision-making is estimating the value of available options. Subregions of the prefrontal cortex, including the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), have been deemed essential for this process. Value computations require a complex integration across numerous dimensions, including, reward magnitude, effort, internal state, and time. The importance of the temporal dimension is well illustrated by temporal discounting tasks, in which subjects select between smaller-sooner versus largerlater rewards. The specific role of OFC in telling time and integrating temporal information into decisionmaking remains unclear. Based on the current literature, in this review we reevaluate current theories of OFC function, accounting for the influence of time. Incorporating temporal information into value estimation and decision-making requires distinct, yet interrelated, forms of temporal information including the ability to tell time, represent time, create temporal expectations, and the ability to use this information for optimal decision-making in a wide range of tasks, including temporal discounting and wagering. We use the term "temporal cognition" to refer to the integrated use of these different aspects of temporal information. We suggest that the OFC may be a critical site for the integration of reward magnitude and delay, and thus important for temporal cognition.

Quitting while you’re ahead: Patch foraging and temporal cognition.

“…There is also a mature literature on the neural substrates of delay discounting (Frost & McNaughton, 2017). Lesions or inactivations of brain regions such as the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) cause animals to become intolerant of long delays before reward, and result in preferences shifting toward smaller sooner options, which would be expected to increase overstaying (Rudebeck et al, 2006; Sosa et al, 2021). There is a long history of studying sex differences in discounting (in both human and nonhuman species), and while evidence is mixed, some studies have reported sex differences in intertemporal choice paradigms (Doidge et al, 2021; Grissom & Reyes, 2019; Hernandez et al, 2020; Perry et al, 2005; Van Haaren et al, 1988; Weafer & de Wit, 2014).…”

Neural population clocks: Encoding time in dynamic patterns of neural activity.

“…Similarly, many forms of cognition, such as intertemporal decision-making and temporal attention also rely on timing on the scale of seconds (J. Coull & Nobre, 2008; Namboodiri et al, 2014; Nobre & van Ede, 2018; Sosa et al, 2021).…”

Amygdala-cortical collaboration in reward learning and decision making

“…These will, ideally, include pathway-specific manipulations to ask how each pathway contributes to the neuronal encoding downstream. These studies will have strong footing in the deep existing literature on the neuronal activity patterns of OFC and BLA Wassum and Izquierdo, 2015 ; Sharpe et al, 2019 ; Wikenheiser and Schoenbaum, 2016 ; Gardner and Schoenbaum, 2020 ; Wallis, 2011 ; O’Neill et al, 2018 ; Bissonette and Roesch, 2016 ; Salzman et al, 2007 ; Morrison and Salzman, 2010 ; Knudsen and Wallis, 2022 ; Enel et al, 2021 ; Sosa et al, 2021 ; Rich et al, 2018 ; Murray and Rudebeck, 2018 ; Averbeck and Costa, 2017 ; Sharpe and Schoenbaum, 2016 . Several exciting hypotheses have emerged from these hub recordings and the pathway-specific functional investigations described above.…”