{
  "abstract": "Animals are motivated to seek information that does not influence reward outcomes, suggesting that information has intrinsic value. We have developed an odor-based information seeking task that reveals that mice choose to receive information even though it does not alter the reward outcome. Moreover, mice are willing to pay for information by sacrificing water reward, suggesting that information is of intrinsic value to a mouse. We used a microendoscope to reveal neural activity in orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) while mice learned the information seeking task. We observed the emergence of distinct populations of neurons responsive to odors predictive of information and odors predictive of water reward. A latent variable model recapitulated these different representations in the low-dimensional dynamics of OFC neuronal population activity. These data suggest that mice have evolved separate pathways to represent the intrinsic value of information and the extrinsic value of water reward. Thus, the desire to acquire knowledge is observed in mice, and the value of this information is represented in the OFC. The mouse now provides a facile experimental system to study the representation of the value of information, a higher cognitive variable.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. jjb2201@columbia.edu",
    "Zuckerman Mind Brain and Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. jjb2201@columbia.edu",
    "Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA",
    "Kempner Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA",
    "Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA",
    "Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA",
    "Kavli Institute for Brain Science, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA",
    "Zuckerman Mind Brain and Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA",
    "Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. ra27@columbia.edu",
    "Kavli Institute for Brain Science, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. ra27@columbia.edu",
    "Zuckerman Mind Brain and Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. ra27@columbia.edu"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 7,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Jennifer J. Bussell",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1443-1720"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Ryan P. Badman",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8819-1144"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Christian D. Márton",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3703-1295"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Ethan S. Bromberg-Martin",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7953-5205"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5,
        6,
        7
      ],
      "name": "Larry F. Abbott",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-1163-5688"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Kanaka Rajan",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2749-2917"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        8,
        9,
        10
      ],
      "name": "Richard Axel",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3141-4076"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cjvd6ce614801.bib",
  "cited_by": 10,
  "doi": "10.1038/s41593-026-02377-y",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "cjvd6ce614801",
  "issns": [
    "1097-6256",
    "1546-1726"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-026-02377-y",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2805|Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7171881172",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-026-02377-y.pdf",
  "pmcid": "PMC11482914",
  "pmid": "39416043",
  "published": "2026-07-30",
  "publisher": "Nature Portfolio",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cjvd6ce614801.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T13:26:53Z",
      "native_id": "W7171881172",
      "source": "openalex",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-026-02377-y"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "openalex:2805|Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies",
      "subfield": "neuroscience"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Representations of the intrinsic value of information in mouse orbitofrontal cortex",
  "title_text": "Representations of the intrinsic value of information in mouse orbitofrontal cortex",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-05T13:21:01Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cjvd6ce614801",
  "venue": "Nature Neuroscience",
  "versions": []
}