Abstract
Orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and secondary motor cortex (M2) are both implicated in flexible reward learning but the conditions that differentially recruit these regions are not fully understood. We imaged calcium activity from single neurons in OFC or M2 during de novo learning of uncertain reward probability schedules. After controlling for experience, predictions of choice were decoded from M2 neurons with similar accuracy under all certainty conditions, but were more accurately decoded from OFC neurons under greater uncertainty. In M2, the proportion of outcome selective neurons decreased with uncertainty whereas this proportion remained stable in OFC, due to an increased recruitment of reward-selective neurons across levels of uncertainty. Decoding accuracy of both choice and outcome were positively correlated with indices of flexible strategy use in OFC, but not M2. Our results indicate that OFC neurons preferentially encode choices and outcomes under conditions of uncertainty that foster greater reliance on adaptive strategies.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Footnotes
↵# co-supervised this work