Behavioral outcomes of late-onset or early-onset orbital frontal cortex (areas 11/13) lesions in rhesus monkeys

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Jocelyne Bachevalier, Emory University; Christopher J. Machado, University of California, Davis; Andrew M. Kazama, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2011-12
• Publisher: New York Academy of Sciences
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2011 New York Academy of Sciences.
• Final Published Version (URL): http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.06211.x/abstract
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
• ISSN: 0077-8923
• Volume: 1239
• Start Page: 71
• End Page: 86
• Grant/Funding Information: This work has been supported by RO1-HD 35471; RO1-MH 58846; Yerkes Base Grant NIH RR00165; Center for Behavioral Neuroscience Grant NSF IBN-9876754; and an Autism Speaks Mentored-based Fellowship to JB and F32-MH63577 to CM.
• Keywords: behavior; rhesus; flexibility; emotion; orbitofrontal cortex
• Research Categories: Psychology, Behavioral

Abstract

The orbital frontal cortex (OFC) has been implicated in a number of psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety, phobia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Thus, a better understanding of its functions will likely provide critical information to understand the specific behavioral and cognitive processes affected in these human disorders. In recent years, a growing number of studies have provided evidence for anatomical and functional differentiation within the OFC. Here we discuss the effects of selective OFC (areas 11/13) lesions on social behavior, emotional regulation, and behavioral adaptation. Damage to these specific OFC subfields in adult monkeys resulted in profound changes in the flexible modulation of responses guided by reward value that could explain the poor fear regulation and disturbed social interactions observed in the same animals. A similar pattern of results was found when the OFC lesions were done in infancy. Thus, in monkeys, self-regulation abilities mediated by OFC areas 11/13 emerge from midinfancy through adolescence.