Critical Contributions of the Orbitofrontal Cortex to Behavior

Description

The past ten years have witnessed intense research on the function of orbitofrontal cortex. As a result, the orbitofrontal cortex has been assigned roles in a number of human behaviors and emotions, from tasks such as assessing economic value and making decisions to the emotional states of regret and uncertainty. Orbitofrontal dysfunction has also been implicated in a variety of human disease states, including addiction, depression and bipolar, obsessive-compulsive, and attention deficit disorders. Despite an enormous increase in our knowledge about this region, we still do not have an account of the contributions that the orbitofrontal cortex makes across different circuits to support human behavior, nor do we understand how changes in this structure or its connectivity may contribute to disease states. This volume explores areas of research are critical to move the field beyond a circuit-centric view of the orbitofrontal cortex to define the roles this area plays in human behavior and mental health.

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