scholarly journals Strategy-dependent effects of working-memory limitations on human perceptual decision-making

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyra Schapiro ◽  
Kresimir Josic ◽  
Zachary Kilpatrick ◽  
Joshua I Gold
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Decision Variable ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Perceptual Decision ◽  
Human Psychophysics ◽  
Decision Variables ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Over Time

Deliberative decisions based on an accumulation of evidence over time depend on working memory, and working memory has limitations, but how these limitations affect deliberative decision-making is not understood. We used human psychophysics to assess the impact of working-memory limitations on the fidelity of a continuous decision variable. Participants decided the average location of multiple visual targets. This computed, continuous decision variable degraded with time and capacity in a manner that depended critically on the strategy used to form the decision variable. This dependence reflected whether the decision variable was computed either: 1) immediately upon observing the evidence, and thus stored as a single value in memory; or 2) at the time of the report, and thus stored as multiple values in memory. These results provide important constraints on how the brain computes and maintains temporally dynamic decision variables.

scholarly journals Flexible categorization in perceptual decision making

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Genís Prat-Ortega ◽  
Klaus Wimmer ◽  
Alex Roxin ◽  
Jaime de la Rocha
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Network Models ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Drift Diffusion ◽  
Perceptual Decision ◽  
Attractor Dynamics ◽  
Attractor Model ◽  
Winner Take All ◽  
The Brain

AbstractPerceptual decisions require the brain to make categorical choices based on accumulated sensory evidence. The underlying computations have been studied using either phenomenological drift diffusion models or neurobiological network models exhibiting winner-take-all attractor dynamics. Although both classes of models can account for a large body of experimental data, it remains unclear to what extent their dynamics are qualitatively equivalent. Here we show that, unlike the drift diffusion model, the attractor model can operate in different integration regimes: an increase in the stimulus fluctuations or the stimulus duration promotes transitions between decision-states leading to a crossover between weighting mostly early evidence (primacy regime) to weighting late evidence (recency regime). Between these two limiting cases, we found a novel regime, which we name flexible categorization, in which fluctuations are strong enough to reverse initial categorizations, but only if they are incorrect. This asymmetry in the reversing probability results in a non-monotonic psychometric curve, a novel and distinctive feature of the attractor model. Finally, we show psychophysical evidence for the crossover between integration regimes predicted by the attractor model and for the relevance of this new regime. Our findings point to correcting transitions as an important yet overlooked feature of perceptual decision making.

scholarly journals Catecholamine Modulation of Evidence Accumulation during Perceptual Decision Formation: A Randomized Trial

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (7) ◽  
pp. 1044-1053 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerard M. Loughnane ◽  
Méadhbh B. Brosnan ◽  
Jessica J. M. Barnes ◽  
Angela Dean ◽  
Sanjay L. Nandam ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Behavioral Effect ◽  
Oddball Paradigm ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Perceptual Decision ◽  
Evidence Accumulation ◽  
Double Blinded ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Catecholamine Levels

Recent behavioral modeling and pupillometry studies suggest that neuromodulatory arousal systems play a role in regulating decision formation but neurophysiological support for these observations is lacking. We employed a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, crossover design to probe the impact of pharmacological enhancement of catecholamine levels on perceptual decision-making. Catecholamine levels were manipulated using the clinically relevant drugs methylphenidate and atomoxetine, and their effects were compared with those of citalopram and placebo. Participants performed a classic EEG oddball paradigm that elicits the P3b, a centro-parietal potential that has been shown to trace evidence accumulation, under each of the four drug conditions. We found that methylphenidate and atomoxetine administration shortened RTs to the oddball targets. The neural basis of this behavioral effect was an earlier P3b peak latency, driven specifically by an increase in its buildup rate without any change in its time of onset or peak amplitude. This study provides neurophysiological evidence for the catecholaminergic enhancement of a discrete aspect of human decision-making, that is, evidence accumulation. Our results also support theoretical accounts suggesting that catecholamines may enhance cognition via increases in neural gain.

scholarly journals The impact of MRI scanner environment on perceptual decision-making

2015 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 184-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leendert van Maanen ◽  
Birte U. Forstmann ◽  
Max C. Keuken ◽  
Eric-Jan Wagenmakers ◽  
Andrew Heathcote
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Perceptual Decision ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals A cerebellar role in evidence-guided decision-making

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Deverett ◽  
Sue Ann Koay ◽  
Marlies Oostland ◽  
Samuel S.-H. Wang
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Perceptual Decision ◽  
Two Photon ◽  
Related Information ◽  
Distributed Computations ◽  
Lateral Posterior ◽  
Crus I ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Decision Errors

To make successful evidence-based decisions, the brain must rapidly and accurately transform sensory inputs into specific goal-directed behaviors. Most experimental work on this subject has focused on forebrain mechanisms. Here we show that during perceptual decision-making over a period of seconds, decision-, sensory-, and error-related information converge on the lateral posterior cerebellum in crus I, a structure that communicates bidirectionally with numerous forebrain regions. We trained mice on a novel evidence-accumulation task and demonstrated that cerebellar inactivation reduces behavioral accuracy without impairing motor parameters of action. Using two-photon calcium imaging, we found that Purkinje cell somatic activity encoded choice- and evidence-related variables. Decision errors were represented by dendritic calcium spikes, which are known to drive plasticity. We propose that cerebellar circuitry may contribute to the set of distributed computations in the brain that support accurate perceptual decision-making.

scholarly journals Dissociating the Impact of Movement Time and Energy Costs on Decision-Making and Action Initiation in Humans

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clara Saleri Lunazzi ◽  
Amélie J. Reynaud ◽  
David Thura
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Energy Expenditure ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Movement Initiation ◽  
Time Condition ◽  
Perceptual Decision ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Action Initiation

Recent theories and data suggest that adapted behavior involves economic computations during which multiple trade-offs between reward value, accuracy requirement, energy expenditure, and elapsing time are solved so as to obtain rewards as soon as possible while spending the least possible amount of energy. However, the relative impact of movement energy and duration costs on perceptual decision-making and movement initiation is poorly understood. Here, we tested 31 healthy subjects on a perceptual decision-making task in which they executed reaching movements to report probabilistic choices. In distinct blocks of trials, the reaching duration (“Time” condition) and energy (“Effort” condition) costs were independently varied compared to a “Reference” block, while decision difficulty was maintained similar at the block level. Participants also performed a simple delayed-reaching (DR) task aimed at estimating movement initiation duration in each motor condition. Results in that DR task show that long duration movements extended reaction times (RTs) in most subjects, whereas energy-consuming movements led to mixed effects on RTs. In the decision task, about half of the subjects decreased their decision durations (DDs) in the Time condition, while the impact of energy on DDs were again mixed across subjects. Decision accuracy was overall similar across motor conditions. These results indicate that movement duration and, to a lesser extent, energy expenditure, idiosyncratically affect perceptual decision-making and action initiation. We propose that subjects who shortened their choices in the time-consuming condition of the decision task did so to limit a drop of reward rate.

scholarly journals Brain-behaviour relationships in the perceptual decision-making process through cognitive processing stages

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaheh Imani ◽  
Ahad Harati ◽  
Hamidreza Pourreza ◽  
Morteza Moazami Goudarzi
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Neural Representation ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Perceptual Decision ◽  
Spatial Prioritization ◽  
Neural Signature ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Behavioral Characterization

AbstractPerceptual decision making, as a process of detecting and categorizing information, has been studied extensively over the last two decades. In this study, we investigated the neural characterization of the whole decision-making process by discovering the information processing stages. Such that, the timing and the neural signature of the processing stages were identified for individual trials. The association of stages duration with the stimulus coherency and spatial prioritization factors also revealed the importance of the evidence accumulation process on the speed of the whole decision-making process. We reported that the impact of the stimulus coherency and spatial prioritization on the neural representation of the decision-making process was consistent with the behavioral characterization as well. This study demonstrated that uncovering the cognitive processing stages provided more insights into the decision-making process.

scholarly journals Motor effort and adaptive sampling in perceptual decision-making

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tianyao Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Adaptive Sampling ◽  
Network Models ◽  
Sampling Bias ◽  
Switching Behavior ◽  
Decision Variable ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Attention Switching ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Perceptual Decision

AbstractPeople usually switch their attention between the options when trying to make a decision. In our experiments, we bound motor effort to such switching behavior during a two-alternative perceptual decision-making task and recorded the sampling patterns by computer mouse cursor tracking. We found that the time and motor cost to make the decision positively correlated with the number of switches between the stimuli and increased with the difficulty of the task. Specifically, the first and last sampled items were chosen in an attempt to minimize the overall motor effort during the task and were manipulable by biasing the relevant motor cost. Moreover, we observed the last-sampling bias that the last sampled item was more likely to be chosen by the subjects. We listed all possible Bayesian Network models for different hypotheses regarding the causal relationship behind the last-sampling bias, and only the model assuming bidirectional dependency between attention and decision successfully predicted the empirical results. Meanwhile, denying that the current decision variable can feedback into the attention switching patterns during sampling, the conventional attentional drift-diffusion model (aDDM) was inadequate to explain the size of the last-sampling bias in our experimental conditions. We concluded that the sampling behavior during perceptual decision-making actively adapted to the motor effort in the specific task settings, as well as the temporary decision.

scholarly journals Neural Correlates of Evidence and Urgency During Human Perceptual Decision-Making in Dynamically Changing Conditions

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (10) ◽  
pp. 5471-5483
Author(s):  
Y Yau ◽  
M Dadar ◽  
M Taylor ◽  
Y Zeighami ◽  
L K Fellows ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Primate Research ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Emotional Information ◽  
Perceptual Decision ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Brain

Abstract Current models of decision-making assume that the brain gradually accumulates evidence and drifts toward a threshold that, once crossed, results in a choice selection. These models have been especially successful in primate research; however, transposing them to human fMRI paradigms has proved it to be challenging. Here, we exploit the face-selective visual system and test whether decoded emotional facial features from multivariate fMRI signals during a dynamic perceptual decision-making task are related to the parameters of computational models of decision-making. We show that trial-by-trial variations in the pattern of neural activity in the fusiform gyrus reflect facial emotional information and modulate drift rates during deliberation. We also observed an inverse-urgency signal based in the caudate nucleus that was independent of sensory information but appeared to slow decisions, particularly when information in the task was ambiguous. Taken together, our results characterize how decision parameters from a computational model (i.e., drift rate and urgency signal) are involved in perceptual decision-making and reflected in the activity of the human brain.

scholarly journals Representations of evidence for a perceptual decision in the human brain

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Bitzer ◽  
Hame Park ◽  
Burkhard Maess ◽  
Katharina von Kriegstein ◽  
Stefan Kiebel
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Perceptual Decision ◽  
Posterior Cingulate ◽  
Brain Signals ◽  
Brain Extracts ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Motor Areas

In perceptual decision making the brain extracts and accumulates decision evidence from a stimulus over time and eventually makes a decision based on the accumulated evidence. Several characteristics of this process have been observed in human electrophysiological experiments, especially an average build-up of motor-related signals supposedly reflecting accumulated evidence, when averaged across trials. Another recently established approach to investigate the representation of decision evidence in brain signals is to correlate the within-trial fluctuations of decision evidence with the measured signals. We here report results for a two-alternative forced choice reaction time experiment in which we applied this approach to human magnetoencephalographic (MEG) recordings. These results consolidate a range of previous findings. In addition, they show: 1) that decision evidence is most strongly represented in the MEG signals in three consecutive phases, 2) that motor areas contribute longer to these representations than parietal areas and 3) that posterior cingulate cortex is involved most consistently, among all brain areas, in all three of the identified phases. As most previous work on perceptual decision making in the brain has focused on parietal and motor areas, our findings therefore suggest that the role of the posterior cingulate cortex in perceptual decision making may be currently underestimated.

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