Using knowledge of the structure of the world to infer value is at the heart of model-based reasoning and relies on a circuit that includes the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). Some accounts link this to the representation of biological significance or value by neurons in OFC, while other models focus on the representation of associative structure or cognitive maps. Here we tested between these accounts by recording OFC neurons in rats during an OFC-dependent sensory preconditioning task. We found that while OFC neurons were strongly driven by biological significance or reward predictions at the end of training, they also showed clear evidence of acquiring the incidental stimulus-stimulus pairings in the preconditioning phase, prior to reward training. These results support a role for OFC in representing associative structure, independent of value.

中文翻译：

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眶额神经元在感觉预处理任务中发出基于模型推理的感觉关联信号


利用世界结构的知识来推断价值是基于模型的推理的核心，并且依赖于包括眶额皮层 (OFC) 的回路。一些说法将其与 OFC 中神经元的生物学意义或价值的表示联系起来，而其他模型则侧重于联想结构或认知图的表示。在这里，我们通过在 OFC 依赖的感觉预处理任务中记录大鼠的 OFC 神经元来测试这些帐户。我们发现，虽然 OFC 神经元在训练结束时受到生物学意义或奖励预测的强烈驱动，但它们也显示出在奖励训练之前的预处理阶段获得偶然刺激-刺激配对的明确证据。这些结果支持 OFC 在代表关联结构方面的作用，与价值无关。