Cerebral effects of unexpected events: an fMRI study

One of the ways in which we understand associations in our environment is in terms of causal relationships. In this study, we explored the functional anatomy of contingency learning with a view to understanding the consequences, in terms of neuronal activity, of events that either violated or fulfilled a previously learned causal relationship. It was our prediction that such a violation would produce greater levels of activity in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC).