Neuro Forum Partially dissociable roles of OFC and ACC in stimulus-guided and action-guided decision making

Khani A. Partially dissociable roles of OFC and ACC in stimulus-guided and action-guided decision making. J Neurophysiol 111: 1717–1720, 2014. First published January 8, 2014; doi:10.1152/jn.00323.2013.—Recently, the functional specialization of prefrontal areas of the brain, and, specifically, the functional dissociation of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), during decision making have become a particular focus of research. A number of neuropsychological and lesion studies have shown that the OFC and ACC have dissociable functions in various dimensions of decision making, which are supported by their different anatomical connections. A recent single-neuron study, however, described a more complex picture of the functional dissociation between these two frontal regions during decision making. Here, I discuss the results of that study and consider alternative interpretations in connection with other findings.