Neuronal oscillations in the frontal cortex have been hypothesized to play a role in the organization of high-level cognition. Within the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), there is a prominent oscillation in the theta frequency (4-8 Hz) during reward-guided behavior, but it is unclear whether this oscillation has causal significance. One methodological challenge is that it is difficult to manipulate theta without affecting other neural signals, such as single-neuron firing rates. A potential solution is to use closed-loop control to record theta in real time and use this signal to control the application of electrical microstimulation to the OFC. Using this method, we show that theta oscillations in the OFC are critically important for reward-guided learning and that they are driven by theta oscillations in the hippocampus (HPC). The ability to disrupt OFC computations via spatially localized and temporally precise stimulation could lead to novel treatment strategies for neuropsychiatric disorders involving OFC dysfunction.

中文翻译：

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眶额皮质中的闭环Theta刺激可防止基于奖励的学习。

额叶皮层中的神经元振荡已被假设在高级认知的组织中发挥作用。在奖励引导行为期间，眶额皮质（OFC）内的theta频率（4-8 Hz）有明显的振荡，但尚不清楚这种振荡是否具有因果关系。方法论上的挑战是很难在不影响其他神经信号（例如单神经元激发速率）的情况下操纵theta。一种可能的解决方案是使用闭环控制实时记录theta，并使用此信号来控制对OFC进行电微刺激的应用。使用这种方法，我们表明，OFC中的theta振荡对于奖励引导学习至关重要，并且由海马（HPC）中的theta振荡驱动。