scholarly journals The Hard Limits of Decoding Mental States: The Decodability of fMRI

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Jabakhanji ◽  
A.D. Vigotsky ◽  
J. Bielefeld ◽  
L. Huang ◽  
M.N. Baliki ◽  
...  

SUMMARYHigh-profile studies claim to assess mental states across individuals using multi-voxel decoders of brain activity. The fixed, fine-grained, multi-voxel patterns in these “optimized” decoders are purportedly necessary for discriminating between, and accurately identifying, mental states. Here, we present compelling evidence that the efficacy of these decoders is overstated. Across a variety of tasks, decoder patterns were not necessary. Not only were “optimized decoders” spatially imprecise and 90% redundant, but they also performed similarly to simpler decoders, built from average brain activity. We distinguish decoder performance when used for discriminating between, in contrast to identifying, mental states, and show even when discrimination performance is strong, identification can be poor. Using similarity rules, we derived novel and intuitive discriminability metrics that capture 95% and 68% of discrimination performance within- and across-subjects, respectively. These findings demonstrate that current across-subject decoders remain inadequate for real-life decision making.

2006 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 629-639 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen M. Galotti ◽  
Elizabeth Ciner ◽  
Hope E. Altenbaumer ◽  
Heather J. Geerts ◽  
Allison Rupp ◽  
...  

10.2196/13684 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. e13684
Author(s):  
Niki Ver Donck ◽  
Geert Vander Stichele ◽  
Isabelle Huys

Background Although preference research finds its origins in consumer research, preference elicitation methods have increasingly attracted attention in different decision-making contexts in health care. Simulating real-life decision making is believed to be important during consumer preference elicitation. Objective The aims of this study were to compare the process of decision making between patients and consumers and to identify methods from the consumer research field that could be applied in patient preference elicitation. Methods A narrative literature review was performed to identify preference elicitation concepts from a consumer context that could offer improvements in health care. Results The process of decision making between patients and consumers was highly comparable. The following five concepts from the consumer research field that could effectively simulate a real-life decision-making process for applications in health care were identified: simulating alternatives, self-reflection, feedback-driven exploration, separated (adaptive) dual response, and arranging profiles in blocks. Conclusions Owing to similarities in the decision-making process, patients could be considered as a subgroup of consumers, suggesting that preference elicitation concepts from the consumer field may be relevant in health care. Five concepts that help to simulate real-life decision making have the potential to improve patient preference elicitation. However, the extent to which real decision-making contexts can be mimicked in health care remains unknown.


2008 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-37
Author(s):  
Stephen Parker

Any therapeutic profession, including Yoga therapy, must establish a systematic way to make ethical decisions. This article proposes a model of ethical decision-making drawn from psychotherapy, a field that—like Yoga therapy— recognizes relationship as a healing instrument. The model proposed is based on an easily remembered mnemonic that is both practical and easily internalized for real-life decision-making. A real case study using this method is presented and discussed, and hypothetical ethical dilemmas in Yoga therapy are offered for further consideration.


2017 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 1077-1087 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Theres Pertl ◽  
Thomas Benke ◽  
Laura Zamarian ◽  
Margarete Delazer

2011 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 269-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Sternberg

AbstractI suggest psychologists would more profitably study a totally different area of human reasoning than is discussed in the target article – the inductive reasoning people use in their everyday life that matters in consequential real-life decision making, rather than the deductive reasoning that psychologists have studied meticulously but that has relatively less ecological relevance to people's lives.


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