The Roles of the Orbitofrontal Cortex and Related Brain Regions in Decision-Making in Rodents and Primates

Decision-making is a behavior involving many neuronal processes that is crucial for animals to maximize benefits for survival. The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is a brain region known to play critical roles in decision-making in both rodents and primates, and it functions in conjunction with several other brain regions in both species to fulfill decision-making needs. Here we review studies on the specific roles of the OFC and related brain regions in decision-making in rodents and primates, to gain insights on how distinct neural activities in several brain regions functionally contribute to the complex processes required to make a choice. The prefrontal cortex (PFC), the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and the striatum work in combination with the OFC to perform the basic processes involved in decision-making, while the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and the hippocampus are implicated together with the OFC in specialized types of decision-making. The specific functions of these brain regions in rodents and primates reveal both preserved and evolved aspects of decision-making mechanisms along the evolutionary lineage.