The Role of the Orbitofrontal Cortex in Social Cognition: An Analysis of Betweenness Centrality and Functional Heterogeneity

Abstract

Research into the role of the orbitofrontal cortex in social cognition has been dominated by lesion studies. While the OFC has been suggested to organize large neural networks and contribute to appropriate social behavior, this bias towards lesion studies fails to provide positive evidence of the specific function the OFC facilitates. This study utilizes iEEG high gamma data for an analysis of betweenness centrality in the OFC during a social task to bridge the gap in knowledge. The OFC is found to exhibit high centrality across the entirety of a social task as well as during the planning of communicative behavior in comparison to frontal control regions. Further exploration into the networks that the OFC organizes implicates a high frequency circuit connecting the OFC, middle temporal, and other frontal regions. These results provide insight into the network-level dynamics of the OFC and can be helpful in understanding the clinical implications of OFC loss of function.https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/wetterhahn_2025/1006/thumbnail.jp