Chapter 9 - Feedback valuation processing within the prefrontal cortex

Abstract

Appropriate decision-making requires the evaluation of critical parameters such as the expected value of each choice, the risk associated with each choice, the prediction error. Neuroimaging studies in human and electrophysiological studies in monkey have shown the involvement of the anterior cingulate cortex, the orbitofrontal cortex, and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in reward-based decision-making. This chapter presents a review of functional neuroimaging and single-neuron recording data on the role of these three regions of the frontal cortex in reward-based decision processes. These data suggest that the anterior cingulate cortex has a role in the decision-making process per se, and not simply an evaluative role, as previously thought. The orbitofrontal cortex may be necessary to monitor stimulus–feedback associations, and the middorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which is critical for the monitoring of information in working memory in general, tracks the reward history in working memory of a series of actions.