Does the orbitofrontal cortex signal value?

The orbitofrontal cortex is strongly implicated in good (or at least normal) “decision-making”. Key to good decision-making is knowing the general value or "utility" of available options.   Over the past decade, highly influential work has reported that the neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex signal this quantity.  Yet the orbitofrontal cortex is typically not necessary for apparent value-based behaviors unless those behaviors require value predictions to be derived from access to complex models of the task, and the neural correlates cited above only part of a much richer representation linking the characteristics of specific outcomes (sensory, timing, unique value) that are expected and the events associated with obtaining them.  In this workshop, I will review these data to argue that this aspect of encoding in the orbitofrontal cortex is actually what is critical in explaining the role of this area in both behavior and learning, and that any contribution of this area to economic decision-making stems from its unique role in allowing value to be derived (both within and without) from these environmental models.