scholarly journals Deficits in decision-making induced by parietal cortex inactivation are compensated at two time scales

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danique Jeurissen ◽  
S Shushruth ◽  
Yasmine El-Shamayleh ◽  
Gregory D Horwitz ◽  
Michael N Shadlen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Rhesus Monkeys ◽  
Experimental Session ◽  
Cortical Circuits ◽  
Lateral Intraparietal Area ◽  
Over Time

AbstractPerceptual decisions arise through the transformation of samples of evidence into a commitment to a proposition or plan of action. Such transformation is thought to involve cortical circuits capable of computation over time scales associated with working memory, attention, and planning. Neurons in the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) are thought to play a role in all of these functions, and much of what is known about the neurobiology of decision making has been influenced by studies of LIP and its network of cortical and subcortical connections. However a causal role of neurons in LIP remains controversial. We used pharmacological and chemogenetic methods to inactivate LIP in one hemisphere of four rhesus monkeys. Inactivation produced clear biases in decisions, but the effects dissipated despite the persistence of neural inactivation, implying compensation by other unaffected areas. Compensation occurs on a rapid times scale, within an experimental session, and more gradually, across sessions. The findings resolve disparate studies and inform interpretation of focal perturbations of brain function.

Age differences in decision making under known risk: The role of working memory and impulsivity.

2021 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-252
Author(s):  
Jutta Kray ◽  
Barbara K. Kreis ◽  
Corinna Lorenz
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Age Differences

scholarly journals Recent advances in understanding the role of the basal ganglia

F1000Research ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina Simonyan
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Procedural Learning ◽  
Voluntary Movements ◽  
Subcortical Structure ◽  
Functional Importance ◽  
Motor Behaviors ◽  
Simultaneous Inhibition

The basal ganglia are a complex subcortical structure that is principally involved in the selection and implementation of purposeful actions in response to external and internal cues. The basal ganglia set the pattern for facilitation of voluntary movements and simultaneous inhibition of competing or interfering movements. In addition, the basal ganglia are involved in the control of a wide variety of non-motor behaviors, spanning emotions, language, decision making, procedural learning, and working memory. This review presents a comparative overview of classic and contemporary models of basal ganglia organization and functional importance, including their increased integration with cortical and cerebellar structures.

Asymmetric brain function, affective style, and psychopathology: The role of early experience and plasticity

1994 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 741-758 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J. Davidson
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Goal Attainment ◽  
Early Experience ◽  
Frontal Asymmetry ◽  
Affective Style ◽  
Approach And Withdrawal ◽  
Over Time

AbstractA model of asymmetric contributions to the control of different subcomponents of approach- and withdrawal-related emotion and psychopathology is presented. Two major forms of positive affect are distinguished. An approach-related form arises prior to goal attainment, and another form follows goal attainment. The former is hypothesized to be associated with activation of the left prefrontal cortex. Individual differences in patterns of prefrontal activation are stable over time. Hypoactivation in this region is proposed to result in approach-related deficits and increase an individual's vulnerability to depression. Data in support of these proposals are presented. The issue of plasticity is then considered from several perspectives. Contextual factors are superimposed upon tonic individual differences and modulate the magnitude of asymmetry. Pharmacological challenges also alter patterns of frontal asymmetry. A diverse array of evidence was then reviewed that lends support to the notion that these patterns of asymmetry may be importantly influenced by early environmental factors that result in enduring changes in brain function and structure.

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 Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Activity and Sympathetic Allostasis During Value-Based Ambivalence

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil M. Dundon ◽  
Allison D. Shapiro ◽  
Viktoriya Babenko ◽  
Gold N. Okafor ◽  
Scott T. Grafton
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
Stress Responses ◽  
Parallel Imaging ◽  
Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Avoidance Task ◽  
Cortical Input ◽  
Approach Avoidance

Anxiety is characterized by low confidence in daily decisions, coupled with high levels of phenomenological stress. Ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) plays an integral role in maladaptive anxious behaviors via decreased sensitivity to threatening vs. non-threatening stimuli (fear generalization). vmPFC is also a key node in approach-avoidance decision making requiring two-dimensional integration of rewards and costs. More recently, vmPFC has been implicated as a key cortical input to the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. However, little is known about the role of this brain region in mediating rapid stress responses elicited by changes in confidence during decision making. We used an approach-avoidance task to examine the relationship between sympathetically mediated cardiac stress responses, vmPFC activity and choice behavior over long and short time-scales. To do this, we collected concurrent fMRI, EKG and impedance cardiography recordings of sympathetic drive while participants made approach-avoidance decisions about monetary rewards paired with painful electric shock stimuli. We observe first that increased sympathetic drive (shorter pre-ejection period) in states lasting minutes are associated with choices involving reduced decision ambivalence. Thus, on this slow time scale, sympathetic drive serves as a proxy for “mobilization” whereby participants are more likely to show consistent value-action mapping. In parallel, imaging analyses reveal that on shorter time scales (estimated with a trial-to-trial GLM), increased vmPFC activity, particularly during low-ambivalence decisions, is associated with decreased sympathetic state. Our findings support a role of sympathetic drive in resolving decision ambivalence across long time horizons and suggest a potential role of vmPFC in modulating this response on a moment-to-moment basis.

scholarly journals The ‘Trio Presidency’ of the Council of the European Union: Towards More Continuity?

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ele Raik
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Will ◽  
Formal Tool ◽  
Main Factors ◽  
Council Presidency ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
Over Time

AbstractThis article addresses the Council presidency trio mechanism codified in the Lisbon Treaty with a particular focus on the continuity question in the Council's decision-making framework. The aim of the article is to explore the effect of the formalised trio programme on continuity in the Council's decision-making process. To this end, the article looks at how the trio mechanism has evolved over time and how it functions in practice.While some analysts have been sceptical about the usefulness of the trio programme, these findings demonstrate that the launch of this institutional tool has improved the continuity in the Council's decision-making process. The positive effect on continuity results from three main factors-the trio programme as a formal tool in the Council's institutional tool-kit; the existence of political will among the presidencies to cooperate; and, lastly, the guiding role of the Council Secretariat. The article presents evidence gathered by tracing the preparations of joint trio programmes from 2007 to 2012.

scholarly journals The Capacity and Organization of Gustatory Working Memory

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xue Li Lim ◽  
Richard Höchenberger ◽  
Iryna Ruda ◽  
Gereon Fink ◽  
Shivakumar Viswanathan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Food Intake ◽  
Serial Position ◽  
Associative Learning ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
Hybrid Model ◽  
Limited Capacity ◽  
Stimulus Similarity ◽  
Short Time

Abstract Remembering a particular taste is crucial in food intake and associative learning. We investigated whether taste can be dynamically encoded, maintained, and retrieved on short time-scales consistent with working memory (WM). We used novel single and multi-item taste recognition tasks to investigate the organization and capacity of gustatory WM. In Experiment 1, we show that a single taste can be reliably recognized despite multiple oro-sensory interferences suggesting active and resilient maintenance. When multiple tastes were presented, the resolution with which these could be maintained, depended on their serial position implying a role of attention. Participants reliably recognized up to three tastes, compatible with a limited capacity of gustatory WM. Lastly, recognition was better for match than foil trials likely due to increased stimulus similarity in foil trials. Together, the results advocate a hybrid model of gustatory WM with a limited number of slots where items are stored with varying precision.

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