ABSTRACT
Orbitofrontal cortex has long been associated with adaptive, exible behavior. Indeed the argument has been made that the ability of humans to adapt so rapidly to changing circumstances is, in part, linked to the expansion of this and other prefrontal regions. The association between the orbitofrontal cortex and adaptive behavior is apparent in accounts by Dr. John Harlow in 1868 (Harlow 1868) of the erratic, in exible, stimulus-bound behavior of Phineas Gage, who reportedly suffered extensive damage to the orbital prefrontal regions (Damasio et al. 1994). Since then, increasingly re ned experimental work has demonstrated repeatedly that damage to the orbitofrontal region, a set of loosely de ned areas in the prefrontal regions overlying the orbits (Price 2007), impairs the ability of animals and humans to rapidly change their behavior in the face of changing contingencies and unexpected outcomes (see Chapter 16 in this volume for further considerations of this topic).
