Value signals in orbitofrontal cortex predict economic decisions on a trial-to-trial basis

Neuroeconomics seeks to explain how neural activity contributes to decision behavior. For value-based decisions, the primate orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is thought to have a key role; however, the mechanism by which single OFC cells contribute to choices is still unclear. Here, we show for the first time a trial-to-trial relationship between choices and population-level value representations in OFC, defined by the weighted sum of activity from many individual value-coding neurons.