Serial integration of sensory evidence for perceptual decisions and oculomotor responses

AbstractPerceptual decisions often require the integration of noisy sensory evidence over time. This process is formalized with sequential sampling models, where evidence is accumulated up to a decision threshold before a choice is made. Although classical accounts grounded in cognitive psychology tend to consider the process of decision formation and the preparation of the motor response as occurring serially, neurophysiological studies have proposed that decision formation and response preparation occur in parallel and are inseparable (Cisek, 2007; Shadlen et al., 2008). To address this serial vs. parallel debate, we developed a behavioural, reverse correlation protocol, in which the stimuli that influence perceptual decisions can be distinguished from the stimuli that influence motor responses. We show that the temporal integration windows supporting these two processes are distinct and largely non-overlapping, suggesting that they proceed in a serial or cascaded fashion.

Download Full-text

A Comparison of Sequential Sampling Models for Two-Choice Reaction Time.

Psychological Review ◽

10.1037/0033-295x.111.2.333 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 111 (2) ◽

pp. 333-367 ◽

Cited By ~ 600

Author(s):

Roger Ratcliff ◽

Philip L. Smith

Keyword(s):

Reaction Time ◽

Choice Reaction Time ◽

Sequential Sampling ◽

Sequential Sampling Models

Download Full-text

Decision making under time pressure: An independent test of sequential sampling models

Memory & Cognition ◽

10.3758/bf03211564 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 27 (4) ◽

pp. 713-725 ◽

Cited By ~ 70

Author(s):

Itiel E. Dror ◽

Beth Basola ◽

Jerome R. Busemeyer

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Time Pressure ◽

Sequential Sampling ◽

Sequential Sampling Models ◽

Independent Test

Download Full-text

Transient neuronal suppression for exploitation of new sensory evidence

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-021-27697-4 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Maxwell Shinn ◽

Daeyeol Lee ◽

John D. Murray ◽

Hyojung Seo

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Neural Activity ◽

Temporal Integration ◽

Motor Preparation ◽

Stimulus Onset ◽

Frontal Eye Field ◽

Perceptual Decision Making ◽

Behavioral Studies ◽

The Face ◽

Sensory Evidence

AbstractIn noisy but stationary environments, decisions should be based on the temporal integration of sequentially sampled evidence. This strategy has been supported by many behavioral studies and is qualitatively consistent with neural activity in multiple brain areas. By contrast, decision-making in the face of non-stationary sensory evidence remains poorly understood. Here, we trained monkeys to identify and respond via saccade to the dominant color of a dynamically refreshed bicolor patch that becomes informative after a variable delay. Animals’ behavioral responses were briefly suppressed after evidence changes, and many neurons in the frontal eye field displayed a corresponding dip in activity at this time, similar to that frequently observed after stimulus onset but sensitive to stimulus strength. Generalized drift-diffusion models revealed consistency of behavior and neural activity with brief suppression of motor output, but not with pausing or resetting of evidence accumulation. These results suggest that momentary arrest of motor preparation is important for dynamic perceptual decision making.

Download Full-text

Deciding When to Decide: Time-Variant Sequential Sampling Models Explain the Emergence of Value-Based Decisions in the Human Brain

Journal of Neuroscience ◽

10.1523/jneurosci.0727-12.2012 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 32 (31) ◽

pp. 10686-10698 ◽

Cited By ~ 86

Author(s):

S. Gluth ◽

J. Rieskamp ◽

C. Buchel

Keyword(s):

Human Brain ◽

Sequential Sampling ◽

Sequential Sampling Models

Download Full-text

Effects of tone duration on three psychophysical measures of temporal integration in rhesus macaques

10.31234/osf.io/crhe7 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Chase Mackey ◽

Alejandro Tarabillo ◽

Ramnarayan Ramachandran

Keyword(s):

Process Model ◽

Species Differences ◽

Rhesus Macaques ◽

Temporal Integration ◽

Poisson Model ◽

Detection Performance ◽

Broadband Noise ◽

Tone Duration ◽

Human Data ◽

Neurophysiological Studies

The relationship between sound duration and detection performance has long been thought to reflect temporal integration, and has been well studied in both humans and animal models. Reports of species differences are equivocal, with some metanalyses reporting no species differences, and others reporting substantial differences. This renders translational work in animals problematic. To re-evaluate this issue, tone detection performance was measured in rhesus macaques using a Go/No-Go reaction time detection task at various stimulus durations, and in the presence of broadband noise (BBN). Detection thresholds, reaction times (RT), and psychometric function slopes were calculated. All three measures were sensitive to tone duration, consistent with temporal integration. The rate of threshold change with duration was similar to human data, and was equally well fit by power law and exponential functions. The effect of tone duration on RT is the first reported in animals. BBN significantly affected how slopes changed with duration, and elevated thresholds, but did not affect how threshold or RT changed with duration. To begin investigating what processes may underlie these behavioral measures, the data were then compared to data generated using a probabilistic Poisson process model, previously compared to human data. The Poisson model recapitulated the effects of duration on threshold and psychometric slope. These behavioral data provide evidence that macaques are an exceptional model of human temporal integration, and the modeling results point the way forward for future neurophysiological studies.

Download Full-text