(5/5) Together, our results highlight the importance of lateral OFC and hippocampus during learning and support reinstatement as key process for building causal associations. This works makes a novel contribution to understanding the neural mechanisms which underlie causal learning complex tasks.

(4/5) In a second condition where outcomes were observed only after another choice was made, we show that the frontal pole holds on to the previous choice, and the fidelity of this representation predicts the fidelity of information in OFC and hippocampus when the outcome is finally observed.

(3/5) Participants tracked which of two choices would lead to specific gift-cards to receive the highest valued outcome in each trial. We show that lateral OFC and hippocampus “reinstate” information about causal choices when learners viewed outcomes, which supports updating choice-outcome links.

(2/5) The ability to link specific states or actions to specific outcomes is critical for surviving in complex environments. Our study aimed at discerning how the brain forges these links during learning, and what happens when outcomes don’t directly follow a choice.