Orbitofrontal cortex contributes to context-dependent timing under ambiguity.

Overview

Authors: Gabrielle Marmur¹, Haneen Rajabi¹, John Schwarcz¹, Robert Reiner¹, Jonathan Kadmon¹, Eran Lottem¹

ORCID iDs: Gabrielle Marmur, John Schwarcz, Jonathan Kadmon, Eran Lottem

Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences (ELSC), The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

Institutions: Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel)

Journal: iScience, volume 29, issue 8, article 117110

Dates: received 25 December 2025; accepted 22 July 2026; published online 10 August 2026

Type: Research article · Language: English

License: CC BY

Identifiers: DOI 10.1016/j.isci.2026.117110 · PMID 42621128 · PMCID PMC13486877 · OpenAlex W7202116666

Open access: gold, a free copy (OpenAlex)

Status: code on request

Categories: cognitive (subfield)

Methods: Statistics, Connectivity

Keywords: decision making, flexible timing, evidence accumulation, auditory change detection, orbitofrontal cortex, response timing

Topic: Neuroscience and Music Perception (Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuroscience), according to OpenAlex

Funding: Israel Science Foundation (ISF) (1269/20); Gatsby Charitable Foundation; National Institute of Psychobiology; Sachs Family Faculty Development Chair in Brain Sciences

Citations: not cited yet (Europe PMC); 48 references in the paper

Research resources: C57BL/6J male mice RRID:IMSR_JAX:000664, Bpod behavior system, version 1.8.1 RRID:SCR_015943, Bonsai, version 2.6.3 RRID:SCR_021512

Abstract

Adaptive decision-making requires flexibly adjusting the decision process when stimulus reliability changes. Most paradigms manipulate reliability by changing stimulus properties, whereas animals often face situations in which the physical inputs are unchanged but their informativeness varies. To address this, we designed a change-detection task in which the reward-predictive reliability of auditory cues varied across blocks while the cues themselves remained unchanged. Mice adjusted their waiting time accordingly, responding later when cues were less reliable. Importantly, these adjustments reflected sensitivity to the underlying sound statistics, rather than reliance solely on reward feedback. Inactivation of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) reduced this timing modulation. Modeling captured this effect as reduced context-dependent modulation of accumulation dynamics, accompanied by increased lapse-like responding. These findings suggest that OFC contributes to maintaining context-dependent timing under ambiguity and establish a tractable framework for studying flexible behavioral adjustment to changing cue statistics.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

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The paper's code and data availability statement is in the Data section.

Tracing map

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Data

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Data and code availability

• All data reported in this paper will be shared by the lead contact upon request. • This paper does not report original code. • Any additional information required to reanalyze the data reported in this paper is available from the lead contact upon request.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

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Version 3, 28 September 2026

Authors: added Gabrielle Marmur (0009-0003-1079-1627); John Schwarcz (0009-0005-2936-3985); Jonathan Kadmon (0000-0003-3970-5684); Eran Lottem (0000-0001-5852-928X); removed Gabrielle Marmur; John Schwarcz; Jonathan Kadmon; Eran Lottem

Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 6 authors, 6 keywords, 4 funders, 47 references, 3 RRIDs.

Cite

This paper

Marmur, G., Rajabi, H., Schwarcz, J., Reiner, R., Kadmon, J., & Lottem, E. (2026). Orbitofrontal cortex contributes to context-dependent timing under ambiguity. iScience, 29(8), 117110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.117110

BibTeX

@article{marmur2026orbitofrontal, author = {Marmur, Gabrielle and Rajabi, Haneen and Schwarcz, John and Reiner, Robert and Kadmon, Jonathan and Lottem, Eran}, title = {{Orbitofrontal cortex contributes to context-dependent timing under ambiguity}}, journal = {iScience}, year = {2026}, month = aug, volume = {29}, number = {8}, pages = {117110}, publisher = {Elsevier}, issn = {2589-0042}, doi = {10.1016/j.isci.2026.117110}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.117110}, pmid = {42621128}, pmcid = {PMC13486877} }

RIS

TY - JOUR AU - Marmur, Gabrielle AU - Rajabi, Haneen AU - Schwarcz, John AU - Reiner, Robert AU - Kadmon, Jonathan AU - Lottem, Eran TI - Orbitofrontal cortex contributes to context-dependent timing under ambiguity T2 - iScience J2 - iScience PY - 2026 DA - 2026/08/10 VL - 29 IS - 8 SP - 117110 SN - 2589-0042 PB - Elsevier DO - 10.1016/j.isci.2026.117110 UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.117110 LA - en ER -

CSL-JSON

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