The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is the lower (ventral) and middle (medial) part of the prefrontal cortex, at the bottom of the frontal lobes. Its borders are not agreed; in a common broad use the medial orbitofrontal cortex is its lowest part. [1]
The 3D brain needs JavaScript. The text below still says where the ventromedial prefrontal cortex is and what it does.
Opens cut down the midline and seen from the left, so you look at the inner face of the right frontal lobe: the lit superior frontal gyrus runs along its inner face and the lit orbitofrontal cortex is its underside, above the eye socket; the ventromedial prefrontal cortex is the lower front stretch where the two meet. Drag to turn, pinch or scroll to zoom, tap any part to name it; .
Lit: the whole orbitofrontal cortex and the superior frontal gyrus, on both sides. The area is part of these lit parts; its exact border is not drawn. In most sources it is Brodmann areas 10, 14, 25 and 32 with parts of 11, 12 and 13: the medial orbitofrontal cortex makes up its lowest part, and area 10 occupies the front ends of the superior and middle frontal gyri, of which only the superior one reaches round onto the inner face. The model has no vmPFC shape, so the whole orbitofrontal cortex and superior frontal gyrus are lit; areas 25 and 32, around the front of the cingulate gyrus, are not lit. [1][2][3][4]
Researchers use the name differently: sometimes only for the area above the medial orbitofrontal cortex, sometimes for a broad lower-middle region of the prefrontal cortex of which the medial orbitofrontal cortex is the lowest part. [1]
In most sources it matches the ventromedial reward network described by Öngür and Price. [1]
One way of dividing the human prefrontal cortex splits it into the ventromedial part (the ventral and medial prefrontal cortex) and the lateral part, which holds the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. [5]
It is involved in processing risk and fear and is critical in regulating the amygdala’s activity; it also contributes to holding back emotional responses, to decision-making, to self-control and to judging right and wrong. [1]
Across human and monkey studies, the vmPFC and medial orbitofrontal cortex support weighing up value and value-guided choice, such as sticking with a choice that worked, while the lateral orbitofrontal cortex links particular cues to their outcomes. [1]
In fear extinction, the learning that a cue is now safe, it is thought to be the source of the inhibition that quiets the amygdala’s output neurons. [8]
Its networks develop rapidly during adolescence and young adulthood, supporting emotion regulation through the amygdala. [1]
Honest limit: how exactly it shapes emotional processing is not fully understood, and its functions have not been clearly separated from those of the orbitofrontal cortex. [1]
Ventromedial prefrontal cortex, vmPFC: ventral means toward the bottom, medial toward the midline. [1]
Brodmann areas 10, 14, 25 and 32 and parts of 11, 12 and 13, in most sources; not all sources agree on its boundaries. [1]
Size
The model has no shape for the ventromedial prefrontal cortex itself, so it is not measured here. The whole left orbitofrontal cortex and the superior frontal gyrus that hold it measure, together, about 116 mm front to back, 97 mm top to bottom and 41 mm side to side on this model (the box they fit in, not their volume). [4]
Facts describe anatomy and normal function only. The 3D model is the adult male BodyParts3D brain (credits and licence); real brains vary in size and shape, so its measurements describe one model, not anyone’s brain.