Electrophysiological signatures of inequity-dependent reward encoding in the human OFC

Deborah Marciano; Brooke R Staveland; Jack J Lin; Ignacio Saez; Ming Hsu; Robert T Knight

doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112865

Electrophysiological signatures of inequity-dependent reward encoding in the human OFC

Cell Rep. 2023 Aug 29;42(8):112865. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112865. Epub 2023 Jul 28.

Authors

Deborah Marciano¹, Brooke R Staveland², Jack J Lin³, Ignacio Saez⁴, Ming Hsu⁵, Robert T Knight⁶

Affiliations

¹ Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
² Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
³ Department of Neurology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA; Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
⁴ Departments of Neuroscience, Neurosurgery and Neurology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁵ Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁶ Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 37494185
DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112865

Abstract

Social decision making requires the integration of reward valuation and social cognition systems, both dependent on the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). How these two OFC functions interact is largely unknown. We recorded intracranial activity from the OFC of ten patients making choices in a social context where reward inequity with a social counterpart varied and could be either advantageous or disadvantageous. We find that OFC high-frequency activity (HFA; 70-150 Hz) encodes self-reward, consistent with previous reports. We also observe encoding of the social counterpart's reward, as well as the type of inequity being experienced. Additionally, we find evidence of inequity-dependent reward encoding: depending on the type of inequity, electrodes rapidly and reversibly switch between different reward-encoding profiles. These results provide direct evidence for encoding of self- and other rewards in the human OFC and highlight the dynamic nature of encoding in the OFC as a function of social context.

Keywords: CP: Neuroscience; HFA; context; decision making; iEEG; inequity; neuroscience; orbitofrontal cortex; social valuation.

Electrophysiological signatures of inequity-dependent reward encoding in the human OFC

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