Orbitofrontal cortex and human drug abuse: Functional imaging

The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) plays a central role in human behavior. Anat omically connected with association areas of all sensory modalities, limbic structures. prefrontal cortical regions that mediate executive function an d subcortical nuclei, this brain region can serve to integrate the physical and emotional attributes of a stimulus-object and establish a motivational value based on estimation of potential reward. To the extent that addictiv e disorders reflect a dysregulation of the ability to evaluate potential re ward against harm from drug self-administration. it would be anticipated th at substance abuse disorder might reflect dysfunction of the OFC. With the application of brain imaging techniques to the study of human substance abu se, evidence has been obtained that activity in the OFC and its connections plays a role in several components of the maladaptive behavior of substanc e abuse, including expectancy, craving and impaired decision making.