Outcome-guided behavior requires knowledge about the current value of expected outcomes. Such behavior can be isolated in the reinforcer devaluation task, which assesses the ability to infer the current value of specific rewards after devaluation. Animal lesion studies demonstrate that orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is necessary for normal behavior in this task, but a causal role for human OFC in outcome-guided behavior has not been established. Here, we used sham-controlled, non-invasive, continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) to temporarily disrupt human OFC network activity by stimulating a site in the lateral prefrontal cortex that is strongly connected to OFC prior to devaluation of food odor rewards. Subjects in the sham group appropriately avoided Pavlovian cues associated with devalued food odors. However, subjects in the stimulation group persistently chose those cues, even though devaluation of food odors themselves was unaffected by cTBS. This behavioral impairment was mirrored in changes in resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) activity such that subjects in the stimulation group exhibited reduced OFC network connectivity after cTBS, and the magnitude of this reduction was correlated with choices after devaluation. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of indirectly targeting the human OFC with non-invasive cTBS and indicate that OFC is specifically required for inferring the value of expected outcomes.

中文翻译：

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有针对性地刺激人类眶额网络会破坏结果指导的行为。

结果指导的行为需要有关预期结果的当前价值的知识。可以在增强器贬值任务中隔离此类行为，该任务评估了贬值后推断特定奖励的当前值的能力。动物病变研究表明，眶额叶皮层（OFC）对于此任务的正常行为是必需的，但尚未确定人类OFC在结果指导行为中的因果作用。在这里，我们使用假控制的，非侵入性的，连续的Theta-burst刺激（cTBS），通过在刺激食物气味奖励贬值之前刺激外侧前额叶皮层中与OFC紧密相连的部位，来暂时破坏人类OFC网络活动。假手术组的受试者适当避免了与食品气味降低有关的巴甫洛夫式线索。然而，刺激组的受试者始终选择那些提示，即使食物气味本身的贬值不受cTBS的影响。这种行为障碍反映在静止状态功能磁共振成像（rs-fMRI）活动的变化中，从而刺激组中的受试者在cTBS后表现出降低的OFC网络连接性，并且这种降低的幅度与贬值后的选择相关。这些发现证明了用非侵入性cTBS间接靶向人类OFC的可行性，并表明OFC是推断预期结果的价值所特有的。这种行为障碍反映在静止状态功能磁共振成像（rs-fMRI）活动的变化中，从而刺激组中的受试者在cTBS后表现出降低的OFC网络连接性，并且这种降低的幅度与贬值后的选择相关。这些发现证明了用非侵入性cTBS间接靶向人类OFC的可行性，并表明OFC是推断预期结果的价值所特有的。这种行为障碍反映在静止状态功能磁共振成像（rs-fMRI）活动的变化中，从而刺激组中的受试者在cTBS后表现出降低的OFC网络连接性，并且这种降低的幅度与贬值后的选择相关。这些发现证明了用非侵入性cTBS间接靶向人类OFC的可行性，并表明OFC是推断预期结果的价值所特有的。