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Comparative Study
. 2007 Sep 12;27(37):9984-8.
doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2131-07.2007.

Orbitofrontal cortex encodes willingness to pay in everyday economic transactions

Hilke Plassmann  1 , John O'Doherty, Antonio Rangel
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Orbitofrontal cortex encodes willingness to pay in everyday economic transactions

Hilke Plassmann et al. J Neurosci. .

Abstract

An essential component of every economic transaction is a willingness-to-pay (WTP) computation in which buyers calculate the maximum amount of financial resources that they are willing to give up in exchange for the object being sold. Despite its pervasiveness, little is known about how the brain makes this computation. We investigated the neural basis of the WTP computation by scanning hungry subjects' brains using functional magnetic resonance imaging while they placed real bids for the right to eat different foods. We found that activity in the medial orbitofrontal cortex and in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex encodes subjects' WTP for the items. Our results support the hypothesis that the medial orbitofrontal cortex encodes the value of goals in decision making.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Experimental design. A, Timeline of the experiment. B, Time course for free bid and forced bid trials. Free and forced bid trials were identical except that in forced bid trials visual presentation of the food items was paired with the forced bid amount. In addition, the forced bid amount was repeated during the bidding cue. Food items, trial type, and forced bid amounts were fully randomized within subjects.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Behavioral results. A, Distribution of bids in free and forced trials. B, Reaction times for free and forced trials as a function of bid. Error bars denote SEs.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Neural correlates of WTP. A, B, Activity in the medial OFC and the DLPFC was positively correlated with WTP at the time of evaluation in the free trials more than in the forced trials. Activation maps shown at a threshold of p < 0.001 uncorrected and 10 voxel clusters. C, Averaged time courses for the medial OFC voxels during free trials as a function of WTP (error bars denote SEs). D, Averaged time courses for the medial OFC voxels during forced bid trials as a function of WTP. E, Averaged time courses for the medial OFC voxels during forced bid trials as a function of the forced bid. A comparison of the time courses shows that the medial OFC encodes WTP in free trials, but not in forced trials, and that it does not encode the forced bid amounts.
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