uvenile peer play experience and the development of the orbitofrontal and edial prefrontal cortices

The experience of peer play during the juvenile phase in rats is known to be important for the development of adult social competence. Adult social competence is also compromised by damage to the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), an area known to be involved in social behavior. We therefore hypothesized that the functioning of the OFC in social behavior is facilitated through the experience of peer play during the juvenile period. Further, because the OFC and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) are known to be reciprocally responsive to a variety of manipulations, we suspected that the functioning of the mPFC is