Persistent representation of a prior schema in the orbitofrontal cortex facilitates learning of a conflicting schema.

Schemas allow efficient behavior in new situations, but reliance on them can impair flexibility when new demands conflict. Evidence implicates the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in deploying schemas in new situations. But how does this role affect learning of a conflicting schema? Here we addressed this question by recording or transiently inactivating OFC neurons in rats learning odor problems with identical external information but orthogonal rules governing reward. OFC representations adapted to track the underlying rules, and both performance and encoding were faster on subsequent than initial problems. Surprisingly, when the rule changed, persistent representation of the prior schema predicted faster acquisition of the new, and disrupting OFC activity during initial schema learning, later impaired acquisition of the second schema. Thus, rather than interfering with new learning, OFC neural activity was linked to improved acquisition by preserving accurate representations of the prior schema alongside the new one.