scholarly journals Idiosyncratic choice bias in decision tasks naturally emerges from intrinsic stochasticity in neuronal network dynamics

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lior Lebovich ◽  
Ran Darshan ◽  
Yoni Lavi ◽  
David Hansel ◽  
Yonatan Loewenstein
Keyword(s):  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Motor Task ◽  
Measurement Noise ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Perceptual Discrimination ◽  
Neuronal Network Dynamics ◽  
Choice Bias ◽  
Common Observation ◽  
Theoretical Evidence ◽  
Intrinsic Stochasticity

Idiosyncratic tendency to choose one alternative over others in the absence of an identified reason is a common observation in two-alternative forced-choice experiments. It is tempting to account for it as resulting from the (unknown) participant-specific history and thus treat it as a measurement noise. Here we quantify idiosyncratic choice biases in a perceptual discrimination task and a motor task. We report substantial and significant biases in both cases that cannot be accounted for by the experimental context. Then, we present theoretical evidence that even in idealized experiments, in which the settings are symmetric, idiosyncratic choice bias is expected to emerge from the dynamics of competing neuronal networks. We thus argue that idiosyncratic choice bias reflects the microscopic dynamics of choice and therefore is virtually inevitable in any comparison or decision task.

Differences Between Normals and Schizophrenics on Activation-induced Change in Two-flash Fusion Threshold

1969 ◽  
Vol 115 (521) ◽  
pp. 477-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. Hieatt ◽  
J. E. Tong
Keyword(s):  
Brain Stem ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Experimental Situation ◽  
Arousal Level ◽  
Perceptual Discrimination ◽  
Sources Of Error ◽  
Perceptual Functioning ◽  
Method Of Constant Stimuli

Research relating brain stem stimulation and cortical selectivity by Lindsley (1957) led Venables (1963) to utilize a score from a perceptual discrimination task (two-flash fusion threshold, T.F.T.) to examine hypotheses relating arousal level to perceptual dysfunction and schizophrenic symptoms. Other work failed to confirm the results (Hume and Claridge, 1965), possibly due to the unsuitable method of determining T.F.T., a method of constant stimuli. The following experiments were based on the proposition that perceptual functioning is related to arousal level, and also attempted to resolve confusions arising from earlier studies by control of possible sources of error in the experimental situation.

Caffeine Enhances Initial but Not Extended Learning of a Proprioceptive-Based Discrimination Task in Nonsmoking Moderate Users

1996 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 891-898 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Stephen Miller ◽  
Scott E. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Motor Task ◽  
Response Duration ◽  
Operant Response ◽  
Fine Motor ◽  
Response Force ◽  
Initial Learning ◽  
Duration Of Response ◽  
Aged Subjects ◽  
Fine Motor Performance

We examined the effects of caffeine on fine motor performance and learning using a multiple-force discrimination task. 93 college-aged subjects performed this task on which multiple measurements were made in an operant response paradigm. Quantitative measures of accuracy of response, duration of response, latency of response, force, and variability of force were examined. Significant interactions for caffeine dose by session on accuracy of response and latency of response indicated that caffeine enhanced the initial learning of a proprioceptive motor task but did not improve performance beyond that of normal practice.

scholarly journals Qualitative speed-accuracy tradeoff effects that cannot be explained by the diffusion model under the selective influence assumption

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farshad Rafiei ◽  
Dobromir Rahnev
Keyword(s):  
Diffusion Model ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Drift Rate ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Perceptual Discrimination ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Speed Accuracy ◽  
Selective Influence ◽  
Accuracy Tradeoff ◽  
Rt Distributions

It is often thought that the diffusion model explains all effects related to the speed-accuracy tradeoff (SAT) but this has previously been examined with only a few SAT conditions or only a few subjects. Here we collected data from 20 subjects who performed a perceptual discrimination task with five different difficulty levels and five different SAT conditions (5,000 trials/subject). We found that the five SAT conditions produced robustly U-shaped curves for (i) the difference between error and correct response times (RTs), (ii) the ratio of the standard deviation and mean of the RT distributions, and (iii) the skewness of the RT distributions. Critically, the diffusion model where only drift rate varies with contrast and only boundary varies with SAT could not account for any of the three U-shaped curves. Further, allowing all parameters to vary across conditions revealed that both the SAT and difficulty manipulations resulted in substantial modulations in every model parameter, while still providing imperfect fits to the data. These findings demonstrate that the diffusion model cannot fully explain the effects of SAT and establishes three robust but challenging effects that models of SAT should account for.

scholarly journals Effects of expected task difficulty on metacognitive confidence and multitasking

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxine Tamara Sherman ◽  
Anil Seth
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Prior Probability ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Perceptual Discrimination ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Decision Confidence

In daily life, repeated experiences with a task (e.g. driving) will generally result in the development of a belief about one’s ability (“I am a good driver”). Here we ask how such beliefs, termed self-efficacy, interact with metacognitive confidence judgements. Across three pre-registered experiments, participants performed a perceptual discrimination task and reported their decision confidence. We induced contextual beliefs about performance (our operationalisation of self-efficacy) by manipulating the prior probability of an easy or hard trial occurring in each block. In Experiment 1 easy and hard trials generated the same levels of performance (a “subjective difficulty” manipulation), whereas in Experiments 2 and 3 performance differed across difficulty conditions (an “objective difficulty” manipulation). Results showed that context (self-efficacy) and difficulty interacted multiplicatively, consistent with the notion that confidence judgements combine decision evidence with a prior (contextual) belief on being correct. This occurred despite context having no corresponding effect on performance. We reasoned that performing tasks in easy contexts may reduce cognitive “load”, and tested this, in Experiment 3, by instructing participants to perform two tasks concurrently. Consistent with a reduction in load, the effects of context transferred from influencing confidence on our primary task to improving performance on the secondary task. Taken together, these studies reveal that contextual beliefs about performance facilitate multitasking, potentially by reducing the load of tasks believed to be easy, and they extend psychophysical investigations of perceptual decision-making by incorporating ‘higher-order’ beliefs about difficulty context, corresponding to intuitive notions of self-efficacy.

scholarly journals Publisher Correction: Idiosyncratic choice bias naturally emerges from intrinsic stochasticity in neuronal dynamics

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (12) ◽  
pp. 1345-1345
Author(s):  
Lior Lebovich ◽  
Ran Darshan ◽  
Yoni Lavi ◽  
David Hansel ◽  
Yonatan Loewenstein
Keyword(s):  
Neuronal Dynamics ◽  
Choice Bias ◽  
Intrinsic Stochasticity

Transfer of Training in a Perceptual Discrimination Task

1956 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 107-108
Author(s):  
John F. Hall ◽  
F. Robert Treichler
Keyword(s):  
Transfer Of Training ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Perceptual Discrimination

scholarly journals Qualitative speed-accuracy tradeoff effects that cannot be explained by the diffusion model under the selective influence assumption

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Farshad Rafiei ◽  
Dobromir Rahnev
Keyword(s):  
Diffusion Model ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Drift Rate ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Perceptual Discrimination ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Speed Accuracy ◽  
Selective Influence ◽  
Accuracy Tradeoff ◽  
Rt Distributions

AbstractIt is often thought that the diffusion model explains all effects related to the speed-accuracy tradeoff (SAT) but this has previously been examined with only a few SAT conditions or only a few subjects. Here we collected data from 20 subjects who performed a perceptual discrimination task with five different difficulty levels and five different SAT conditions (5000 trials/subject). We found that the five SAT conditions produced robustly U-shaped curves for (i) the difference between error and correct response times (RTs), (ii) the ratio of the standard deviation and mean of the RT distributions, and (iii) the skewness of the RT distributions. Critically, the diffusion model where only drift rate varies with contrast and only boundary varies with SAT could not account for any of the three U-shaped curves. Further, allowing all parameters to vary across conditions revealed that both the SAT and difficulty manipulations resulted in substantial modulations in every model parameter, while still providing imperfect fits to the data. These findings demonstrate that the diffusion model cannot fully explain the effects of SAT and establishes three robust but challenging effects that models of SAT should account for.

scholarly journals Visual awareness judgments are sensitive to accuracy feedback in stimulus discrimination task

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Siedlecka ◽  
Michał Wereszczyński ◽  
Borysław Paulewicz ◽  
Michał Wierzchoń
Keyword(s):  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Performance Monitoring ◽  
Visual Awareness ◽  
Feedback Condition ◽  
Perceptual Discrimination ◽  
Perceptual Awareness ◽  
Discrimination Accuracy ◽  
Stimulus Discrimination ◽  
Correct Discrimination

AbstractIn this study we tested the hypothesis that perceptual awareness judgments are sensitive to the accuracy feedback about previous behaviour. We used a perceptual discrimination task in which participants reported their stimulus awareness. We created two conditions: No-feedback and Feedback (discrimination accuracy feedback was provided at the end of each trial). The results showed that visual awareness judgments are related to the accuracy of current and previous responses. Participants reported lower stimulus awareness for incorrectly versus correctly discriminated stimuli in both conditions; they also reported lower stimulus awareness in trials preceded by incorrect discrimination responses, compared to trials preceded by correct discrimination. This difference was significantly stronger in the Feedback condition. Moreover, in the Feedback condition we also observed larger post-error slowing for PAS ratings. We discuss the relation between the effects of performance monitoring and visual awareness and interpret the results in the context of current theories of consciousness.

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