Dissociable contributions of the left and right posterior medial orbitofrontal cortex in motivational control of goal-directed behavior

Several findings from both human neuroimaging and nonhuman primate studies suggest that the posterior medial orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) may be critical for the motivational control of goal-directed behavior. The present study was conducted to clarify the role of the left and right posterior medial OFC in that function by examining the effects of focal unilateral lesions to this region on the performance on an incentive working memory task. The study covered patients who had undergone surgery for an ACoA aneurysm and normal control subjects (C). The patients were subdivided into three groups: those with resection of the left (LGR+) or right (RGR+) posterior part of the gyrus rectus, and without such a resection (GR-). Participants performed a 2-back working memory task under three motivational conditions (penalty, reward, and no-incentive). The C group performed worse in the penalty condition and better in the reward condition as compared to the no-incentive condition. Similar results were obtained for the GR- group. Performance of the LGR+ group did not depend on incentive manipulations, whereas the RGR+ group performed better in both the penalty and reward conditions than in the no-incentive condition. The results show that the posterior medial OFC is involved in the motivational modulation of working memory performance. Our findings also suggest that the left posterior medial OFC plays a crucial role in this function, whereas the right posterior medial OFC is particularly involved in the processing of the punishing aspect of salient events and it probably mediates in guiding behavior on the basis of negative outcomes of action.

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