Title: Orbitofrontal ensembles integrate reward, movement, and taste predictions during learning
Abstract: The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is critical when the relevance of previously acquired information changes, yet most single-unit recording studies focus on representation of information during stable task performance after extensive training. Under these conditions, the OFC encodes task-relevant information, generalizing across irrelevant sensory or other features. How does this transformation happen and what happens to irrelevant information that might be necessary later? Here we explored these questions by recording single-unit activity in rats learning an odor discrimination task in which odors were associated with different responses and flavored rewards. Activity evolved to represent task-relevant information in a format that generalized to new problems. However, irrelevant taste information remained latent in the activity and was recovered spontaneously upon selective satiation. The results provide insight into how the OFC organizes information and suggests this area is often necessary for adaptive behavior because of an ability to maintain irrelevant information for later use.