scholarly journals Evidence accumulation for value computation in the prefrontal cortex during decision making

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (48) ◽  
pp. 30728-30737
Author(s):  
Zhongqiao Lin ◽  
Chechang Nie ◽  
Yuanfeng Zhang ◽  
Yang Chen ◽  
Tianming Yang

A key step of decision making is to determine the value associated with each option. The evaluation process often depends on the accumulation of evidence from multiple sources, which may arrive at different times. How evidence is accumulated for value computation in the brain during decision making has not been well studied. To address this problem, we trained rhesus monkeys to perform a decision-making task in which they had to make eye movement choices between two targets, whose reward probabilities had to be determined with the combined evidence from four sequentially presented visual stimuli. We studied the encoding of the reward probabilities associated with the stimuli and the eye movements in the orbitofrontal (OFC) and the dorsolateral prefrontal (DLPFC) cortices during the decision process. We found that the OFC neurons encoded the reward probability associated with individual pieces of evidence in the stimulus domain. Importantly, the representation of the reward probability in the OFC was transient, and the OFC did not encode the reward probability associated with the combined evidence from multiple stimuli. The computation of the combined reward probabilities was observed only in the DLPFC and only in the action domain. Furthermore, the reward probability encoding in the DLPFC exhibited an asymmetric pattern of mixed selectivity that supported the computation of the stimulus-to-action transition of reward information. Our results reveal that the OFC and the DLPFC play distinct roles in the value computation during evidence accumulation.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhongqiao Lin ◽  
Chechang Nie ◽  
Yuanfeng Zhang ◽  
Yang Chen ◽  
Tianming Yang

AbstractValue-based decision making is a process in which humans or animals maximize their gain by selecting appropriate options and performing the corresponding actions to acquire them. Whether the evaluation process of the options in the brain can be independent from their action contingency has been hotly debated. To address the question, we trained rhesus monkeys to make decisions by integrating evidence and studied whether the integration occurred in the stimulus or the action domain in the brain. After the monkeys learned the task, we recorded both from the orbitofrontal (OFC) and dorsolateral prefrontal (DLPFC) cortices. We found that the OFC neurons encoded the value associated with the single piece of evidence in the stimulus domain. Importantly, the representations of the value in the OFC was transient and the information was not integrated across time for decisions. The integration of evidence was observed only in the DLPFC and only in the action domain. We further used a neural network model to show how the stimulus-to-action transition of value information may be computed in the DLPFC. Our results indicated that the decision making in the brain is computed in the action domain without an intermediate stimulus-based decision stage.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noriyuki Narita ◽  
Kazunobu Kamiya ◽  
Sunao Iwaki ◽  
Tomohiro Ishii ◽  
Hiroshi Endo ◽  
...  

BackgroundThe differences in the brain activities of the insular and the visual association cortices have been reported between oral and manual stereognosis. However, these results were not conclusive because of the inherent differences in the task performance-related motor sequence conditions. We hypothesized that the involvement of the prefrontal cortex may be different between finger and oral shape discrimination. This study was conducted to clarify temporal changes in prefrontal activities occurring in the processes of oral and finger tactual shape discrimination using prefrontal functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS).MethodsSix healthy right-handed males [aged 30.8 ± 8.2 years (mean ± SD)] were enrolled. Measurements of prefrontal activities were performed using a 22-channel fNIRS device (ETG-100, Hitachi Medical Co., Chiba, Japan) during experimental blocks that included resting state (REST), nonsense shape discrimination (SHAM), and shape discrimination (SHAPE).ResultsNo significant difference was presented with regard to the number of correct answers during trials between oral and finger SHAPE discrimination. Additionally, a statistical difference for the prefrontal fNIRS activity between oral and finger shape discrimination was noted in CH 1. Finger SHAPE, as compared with SHAM, presented a temporally shifting onset and burst in the prefrontal activities from the frontopolar area (FPA) to the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). In contrast, oral SHAPE as compared with SHAM was shown to be temporally overlapped in the onset and burst of the prefrontal activities in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)/FPA/OFC.ConclusionThe prefrontal activities temporally shifting from the FPA to the OFC during SHAPE as compared with SHAM may suggest the segregated serial prefrontal processing from the manipulation of a target image to the decision making during the process of finger shape discrimination. In contrast, the temporally overlapped prefrontal activities of the DLPFC/FPA/OFC in the oral SHAPE block may suggest the parallel procession of the repetitive involvement of generation, manipulation, and decision making in order to form a reliable representation of target objects.


Author(s):  
Isaac Morán ◽  
Javier Perez-Orive ◽  
Jonathan Melchor ◽  
Tonatiuh Figueroa ◽  
Luis Lemus

AbstractIn human speech and communication across various species, recognizing and categorizing sounds is fundamental for the selection of appropriate behaviors. But how does the brain decide which action to perform based on sounds? We explored whether the premotor supplementary motor area (SMA), responsible for linking sensory information to motor programs, also accounts for auditory-driven decision making. To this end, we trained two rhesus monkeys to discriminate between numerous naturalistic sounds and words learned as target (T) or non-target (nT) categories. We demonstrated that the neural population is organized differently during the auditory and the movement periods of the task, implying that it is performing different computations in each period. We found that SMA neurons perform acoustic-decision-related computations that transition from auditory to movement representations in this task. Our results suggest that the SMA integrates sensory information while listening to auditory stimuli in order to form categorical signals that drive behavior.


2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 104-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Ann Abbott ◽  
Debby McBride

The purpose of this article is to outline a decision-making process and highlight which portions of the augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) evaluation process deserve special attention when deciding which features are required for a communication system in order to provide optimal benefit for the user. The clinician then will be able to use a feature-match approach as part of the decision-making process to determine whether mobile technology or a dedicated device is the best choice for communication. The term mobile technology will be used to describe off-the-shelf, commercially available, tablet-style devices like an iPhone®, iPod Touch®, iPad®, and Android® or Windows® tablet.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lluís Hernández-Navarro ◽  
Ainhoa Hermoso-Mendizabal ◽  
Daniel Duque ◽  
Alexandre Hyafil ◽  
Jaime de la Rocha

It is commonly assumed that, during perceptual decisions, the brain integrates stimulus evidence until reaching a decision, and then performs the response. There are conditions, however (e.g. time pressure), in which the initiation of the response must be prepared in anticipation of the stimulus presentation. It is therefore not clear when the timing and the choice of perceptual responses depend exclusively on evidence accumulation, or when preparatory motor signals may interfere with this process. Here, we find that, in a free reaction time auditory discrimination task in rats, the timing of fast responses does not depend on the stimulus, although the choices do, suggesting a decoupling of the mechanisms of action initiation and choice selection. This behavior is captured by a novel model, the Parallel Sensory Integration and Action Model (PSIAM), in which response execution is triggered whenever one of two processes, Action Initiation or Evidence Accumulation, reaches a bound, while choice category is always set by the latter. Based on this separation, the model accurately predicts the distribution of reaction times when the stimulus is omitted, advanced or delayed. Furthermore, we show that changes in Action Initiation mediates both post-error slowing and a gradual slowing of the responses within each session. Overall, these results extend the standard models of perceptual decision-making, and shed a new light on the interaction between action preparation and evidence accumulation.


Risks ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 115
Author(s):  
Despoina Makariou ◽  
Pauline Barrieu ◽  
George Tzougas

The key purpose of this paper is to present an alternative viewpoint for combining expert opinions based on finite mixture models. Moreover, we consider that the components of the mixture are not necessarily assumed to be from the same parametric family. This approach can enable the agent to make informed decisions about the uncertain quantity of interest in a flexible manner that accounts for multiple sources of heterogeneity involved in the opinions expressed by the experts in terms of the parametric family, the parameters of each component density, and also the mixing weights. Finally, the proposed models are employed for numerically computing quantile-based risk measures in a collective decision-making context.


2002 ◽  
Vol 13 (04) ◽  
pp. 188-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shigeyuki Kuwada ◽  
Julia S. Anderson ◽  
Ranjan Batra ◽  
Douglas C. Fitzpatrick ◽  
Natacha Teissier ◽  
...  

The scalp-recorded amplitude-modulation following response (AMFR)” is gaining recognition as an objective audiometric tool, but little is known about the neural sources that underlie this potential. We hypothesized, based on our human studies and single-unit recordings in animals, that the scalp-recorded AMFR reflects the interaction of multiple sources. We tested this hypothesis using an animal model, the unanesthetized rabbit. We compared AMFRs recorded from the surface of the brain at different locations and before and after the administration of agents likely to enhance or suppress neural generators. We also recorded AMFRs locally at several stations along the auditory neuraxis. We conclude that the surface-recorded AMFR is indeed a composite response from multiple brain generators. Although the response at any modulation frequency can reflect the activity of more than one generator, the AMFRs to low and high modulation frequencies appear to reflect a strong contribution from cortical and subcortical sources, respectively.


Urban Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
Janette Hartz-Karp ◽  
Dora Marinova

This article expands the evidence about integrative thinking by analyzing two case studies that applied the collaborative decision-making method of deliberative democracy which encourages representative, deliberative and influential public participation. The four-year case studies took place in Western Australia, (1) in the capital city Perth and surrounds, and (2) in the city-region of Greater Geraldton. Both aimed at resolving complex and wicked urban sustainability challenges as they arose. The analysis suggests that a new way of thinking, namely integrative thinking, emerged during the deliberations to produce operative outcomes for decision-makers. Building on theory and research demonstrating that deliberative designs lead to improved reasoning about complex issues, the two case studies show that through discourse based on deliberative norms, participants developed different mindsets, remaining open-minded, intuitive and representative of ordinary people’s basic common sense. This spontaneous appearance of integrative thinking enabled sound decision-making about complex and wicked sustainability-related urban issues. In both case studies, the participants exhibited all characteristics of integrative thinking to produce outcomes for decision-makers: salience—grasping the problems’ multiple aspects; causality—identifying multiple sources of impacts; sequencing—keeping the whole in view while focusing on specific aspects; and resolution—discovering novel ways that avoided bad choice trade-offs.


Axioms ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 145
Author(s):  
Yun Jin ◽  
Zareena Kousar ◽  
Kifayat Ullah ◽  
Tahir Mahmood ◽  
Nimet Yapici Pehlivan ◽  
...  

Interval-valued T-spherical fuzzy set (IVTSFS) handles uncertain and vague information by discussing their membership degree (MD), abstinence degree (AD), non-membership degree (NMD), and refusal degree (RD). MD, AD, NMD, and RD are defined in terms of closed subintervals of that reduce information loss compared to the T-spherical fuzzy set (TSFS), which takes crisp values from intervals; hence, some information may be lost. The purpose of this manuscript is to develop some Hamacher aggregation operators (HAOs) in the environment of IVTSFSs. To do so, some Hamacher operational laws based on Hamacher t-norms (HTNs) and Hamacher t-conorms (HTCNs) are introduced. Using Hamacher operational laws, we develop some aggregation operators (AOs), including an interval-valued T-spherical fuzzy Hamacher (IVTSFH) weighted averaging (IVTSFHWA) operator, an IVTSFH-ordered weighted averaging (IVTSFHOWA) operator, an IVTSFH hybrid averaging (IVTSFHHA) operator, an IVTSFH-weighted geometric (IVTSFHWG) operator, an IVTSFH-ordered weighted geometric (IVTSFHOWG) operator, and an IVTSFH hybrid geometric (IVTSFHHG) operator. The validation of the newly developed HAOs is investigated, and their basic properties are examined. In view of some restrictions, the generalization and proposed HAOs are shown, and a multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) procedure is explored based on the HAOs, which are further exemplified. Finally, a comparative analysis of the proposed work is also discussed with previous literature to show the superiority of our work.


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