Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
Eur J Neurosci. 2010 Apr;31(8):1492-500. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2010.07169.x. Epub 2010 Apr 9.
To successfully evaluate potential courses of action and choose the most favorable, we must consider the outcomes that may result. Many choices involve risk, our assessment of which may lead us to success or failure in matters financial, legal or health-related. The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) has been implicated as critical for evaluating choices based on risk. To measure how outcomes of risky decisions are represented in the OFC, we recorded the electrophysiological activity of single neurons while rats made behavioral responses to obtain rewards under conditions of either certainty or risk. Rats exhibited different risk-preferences when given the opportunity to choose. In risk-preferring rats, OFC responses were enhanced following the delivery of large rewards obtained under risk compared with smaller, certain rewards and reward omission. However, in risk-neutral rats, neurons showed similarly enhanced responses to both large rewards obtained under risk and smaller, certain rewards compared with reward omission. Thus, the responses of OFC neurons reflected the subjective evaluation of outcomes in individuals with different risk-preferences. Such enhanced neural responding to risky rewards may serve to bias individuals towards risk-preference in decision-making.
为了成功评估潜在的行动方案并选择最有利的方案，我们必须考虑可能产生的结果。许多选择都涉及风险，我们对风险的评估可能导致我们在财务、法律或健康相关的事务中成功或失败。眶额皮层（OFC）被认为是基于风险评估选择的关键。为了衡量风险决策的结果在 OFC 中的表现，我们记录了大鼠在确定性或风险条件下做出行为反应以获得奖励时单个神经元的电生理活动。当大鼠有机会选择时，它们表现出不同的风险偏好。在风险偏好大鼠中，与较小的确定性奖励和奖励缺失相比，OFC 反应在获得风险下的大奖励后增强。然而，在风险中立大鼠中，神经元对风险下获得的大奖励和较小的确定性奖励与奖励缺失的反应相似增强。因此，OFC 神经元的反应反映了不同风险偏好个体对结果的主观评估。这种对风险奖励的增强神经反应可能会使个体在决策中偏向风险偏好。
