One dominant hypothesis about the function of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is that the OFC signals the subjective values of possible outcomes to other brain areas for learning and decision making. This popular view generally neglects the fact that OFC is not necessary for simple value-based behavior (i.e., when values have been directly experienced). An alternative, emerging view suggests that OFC plays a more general role in representing structural information about the task or environment, derived from prior experience, and relevant to predicting behavioral outcomes, such as value. From this perspective, value signaling is simply one derivative of the core underlying function of OFC. New data in favor of both views have been accumulating rapidly. Here we review these new data in discussing the relative merits of these two ideas.

中文翻译：

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眶额皮质的核心功能是发出信号或做出预测吗？

关于眶额皮质（OFC）功能的一个主要假设是，OFC将可能结果的主观价值传达给其他大脑区域以供学习和决策。这种流行的观点通常忽略了以下事实：对于简单的基于值的行为（即，当直接体验了值时），OFC并不是必需的。另一种新兴的观点认为，OFC在表示有关任务或环境的结构信息方面起着更一般的作用，该结构信息是根据先前的经验得出的，并且与预测行为结果（例如价值）有关。从这个角度来看，价值信号只是OFC核心功能的一种衍生形式。支持这两种观点的新数据正在迅速积累。在这里，我们在讨论这两种想法的相对优点时回顾了这些新数据。