scholarly journals Perceptual Decision-Making: Biases in Post-Error Reaction Times Explained by Attractor Network Dynamics

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 833-853 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Berlemont ◽  
Jean-Pierre Nadal
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah A. Barany ◽  
Ana Gómez-Granados ◽  
Margaret Schrayer ◽  
Sarah A. Cutts ◽  
Tarkeshwar Singh

AbstractVisual processing in parietal areas of the dorsal stream facilitates sensorimotor transformations for rapid movement. This action-related visual processing is hypothesized to play a distinct functional role from the perception-related processing in the ventral stream. However, it is unclear how the two streams interact when perceptual identification is a prerequisite to executing an accurate movement. In the current study, we investigated how perceptual decision-making involving the ventral stream influences arm and eye movement strategies. Participants (N = 26) moved a robotic manipulandum using right whole-arm movements to rapidly reach a stationary object or intercept a moving object on an augmented-reality display. On some blocks of trials, participants needed to identify the shape of the object (circle or ellipse) as a cue to either hit the object (circle) or move to a pre-defined location away from the object (ellipse). We found that during perceptual decision-making, there was an increased urgency to act during interception movements relative to reaching, which was associated with more decision errors. Faster hand reaction times were correlated with a strategy to adjust the movement post-initiation, and this strategy was more prominent during interception. Saccadic reaction times were faster and initial gaze lags and gains greater during decisions, suggesting that eye movements adapt to perceptual demands for guiding limb movements. Together, our findings suggest that the integration of ventral stream information with visuomotor planning depends on imposed (or perceived) task demands.New and NoteworthyVisual processing for perception and for action are thought to be mediated by two specialized neural pathways. Using a visuomotor decision-making task, we show that participants differentially utilized online perceptual decision-making in reaching and interception, and that eye movements necessary for perception influenced motor decision strategies. These results provide evidence that task complexity modulates how pathways processing perception versus action information interact during the visual control of movement.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 166-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohsen Alavash ◽  
Christoph Daube ◽  
Malte Wöstmann ◽  
Alex Brandmeyer ◽  
Jonas Obleser

Perceptual decisions vary in the speed at which we make them. Evidence suggests that translating sensory information into perceptual decisions relies on distributed interacting neural populations, with decision speed hinging on power modulations of the neural oscillations. Yet the dependence of perceptual decisions on the large-scale network organization of coupled neural oscillations has remained elusive. We measured magnetoencephalographic signals in human listeners who judged acoustic stimuli composed of carefully titrated clouds of tone sweeps. These stimuli were used in two task contexts, in which the participants judged the overall pitch or direction of the tone sweeps. We traced the large-scale network dynamics of the source-projected neural oscillations on a trial-by-trial basis using power-envelope correlations and graph-theoretical network discovery. In both tasks, faster decisions were predicted by higher segregation and lower integration of coupled beta-band (∼16–28 Hz) oscillations. We also uncovered the brain network states that promoted faster decisions in either lower-order auditory or higher-order control brain areas. Specifically, decision speed in judging the tone sweep direction critically relied on the nodal network configurations of anterior temporal, cingulate, and middle frontal cortices. Our findings suggest that global network communication during perceptual decision-making is implemented in the human brain by large-scale couplings between beta-band neural oscillations.


2016 ◽  
Vol 115 (2) ◽  
pp. 915-930 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew A. Carland ◽  
Encarni Marcos ◽  
David Thura ◽  
Paul Cisek

Perceptual decision making is often modeled as perfect integration of sequential sensory samples until the accumulated total reaches a fixed decision bound. In that view, the buildup of neural activity during perceptual decision making is attributed to temporal integration. However, an alternative explanation is that sensory estimates are computed quickly with a low-pass filter and combined with a growing signal reflecting the urgency to respond and it is the latter that is primarily responsible for neural activity buildup. These models are difficult to distinguish empirically because they make similar predictions for tasks in which sensory information is constant within a trial, as in most previous studies. Here we presented subjects with a variant of the classic constant-coherence motion discrimination (CMD) task in which we inserted brief motion pulses. We examined the effect of these pulses on reaction times (RTs) in two conditions: 1) when the CMD trials were blocked and subjects responded quickly and 2) when the same CMD trials were interleaved among trials of a variable-motion coherence task that motivated slower decisions. In the blocked condition, early pulses had a strong effect on RTs but late pulses did not, consistent with both models. However, when subjects slowed their decision policy in the interleaved condition, later pulses now became effective while early pulses lost their efficacy. This last result contradicts models based on perfect integration of sensory evidence and implies that motion signals are processed with a strong leak, equivalent to a low-pass filter with a short time constant.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Troy C. Dildine ◽  
Elizabeth A. Necka ◽  
Lauren Y. Atlas

AbstractSelf-report is the gold standard for measuring pain. However, decisions about pain can vary substantially within and between individuals. We measured whether self-reported pain is accompanied by metacognition and variations in confidence, similar to perceptual decision-making in other modalities. Eighty healthy volunteers underwent acute thermal pain and provided pain ratings followed by confidence judgments on continuous visual analogue scales. We investigated whether eye fixations and reaction time during pain rating might serve as implicit markers of confidence. Confidence varied across trials and increased confidence was associated with faster pain rating reaction times. The association between confidence and fixations varied across individuals as a function of the reliability of individuals’ association between temperature and pain. Taken together, this work indicates that individuals can provide metacognitive judgments of pain and extends research on confidence in perceptual decision-making to pain.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Troy C. Dildine ◽  
Elizabeth A. Necka ◽  
Lauren Yvette Atlas

Self-report is the gold standard for measuring pain. However, decisions about pain can vary substantially within and between individuals. We measured whether self-reported pain is accompanied by metacognition and variations in confidence, similar to perceptual decision-making in other modalities. Eighty healthy volunteers underwent acute thermal pain and provided pain ratings followed by confidence judgments on continuous visual analogue scales. We investigated whether eye fixations and reaction time during pain rating might serve as implicit markers of confidence. Confidence varied across trials and increased confidence was associated with faster pain rating reaction times. The association between confidence and fixations varied across individuals as a function of the reliability of individuals’ association between temperature and pain. Taken together, this work indicates that individuals can provide metacognitive judgments of pain and extends research on confidence in perceptual decision-making to pain.


eLife ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jochem van Kempen ◽  
Gerard M Loughnane ◽  
Daniel P Newman ◽  
Simon P Kelly ◽  
Alexander Thiele ◽  
...  

The timing and accuracy of perceptual decision-making is exquisitely sensitive to fluctuations in arousal. Although extensive research has highlighted the role of various neural processing stages in forming decisions, our understanding of how arousal impacts these processes remains limited. Here we isolated electrophysiological signatures of decision-making alongside signals reflecting target selection, attentional engagement and motor output and examined their modulation as a function of tonic and phasic arousal, indexed by baseline and task-evoked pupil diameter, respectively. Reaction times were shorter on trials with lower tonic, and higher phasic arousal. Additionally, these two pupil measures were predictive of a unique set of EEG signatures that together represent multiple information processing steps of decision-making. Finally, behavioural variability associated with fluctuations in tonic and phasic arousal, indicative of neuromodulators acting on multiple timescales, was mediated by its effects on the EEG markers of attentional engagement, sensory processing and the variability in decision processing.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohsen Alavash ◽  
Christoph Daube ◽  
Malte Wöestmann ◽  
Alex Brandmeyer ◽  
Jonas Obleser

AbstractPerceptual decisions vary in the speed at which we make them. Evidence suggests that translating sensory information into behavioral decisions relies on distributed interacting neural populations, with decision speed hinging on power modulations of neural oscillations. Yet, the dependence of perceptual decisions on the large-scale network organization of coupled neural oscillations has remained elusive. We measured magnetoencephalography signals in human listeners who judged acoustic stimuli made of carefully titrated clouds of tone sweeps. These stimuli were used under two task contexts where the participants judged the overall pitch or direction of the tone sweeps. We traced the large-scale network dynamics of source-projected neural oscillations on a trial-by-trial basis using power envelope correlations and graph-theoretical network discovery. Under both tasks, faster decisions were predicted by higher segregation and lower integration of coupled beta-band (~16-28 Hz) oscillations. We also uncovered brain network states that promoted faster decisions and emerged from lower-order auditory and higher-order control brain areas. Specifically, decision speed in judging tone-sweep direction critically relied on nodal network configurations of anterior temporal, cingulate and middle frontal cortices. Our findings suggest that global network communication during perceptual decision-making is implemented in the human brain by large-scale couplings between beta-band neural oscillations.Author SummaryThe speed at which we make perceptual decisions varies. This translation of sensory information into behavioral decisions hinges on dynamic changes in neural oscillatory activity. However, the large-scale neural network embodiment supporting perceptual decision-making is unclear. Alavash et al. address this question by experimenting two auditory perceptual decision-making situations. Using graph-theoretical network discovery, they trace the large-scale network dynamics of coupled neural oscillations to uncover brain network states supporting the speed of auditory perceptual decisions. They find that higher network segregation of coupled beta-band oscillations supports faster auditory perceptual decisions over trials. Moreover, when auditory perceptual decisions are relatively difficult, the decision speed benefits from higher segregation of frontal cortical areas, but lower segregation and integration of auditory cortical areas.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Jason Tipples ◽  
Michael Lupton ◽  
David George

Abstract How does emotion change the way we perceive time? Studies have shown that we overestimate the duration of faces that express anger of fear–an effect that has been explained as due the speeding of a pacemaker that resides within an internal clock. Here, we test the idea that attending longer to facial threat leads to an overestimation of time. Seventy participants (16 male) estimated the duration of angry, fearful and neutral expressions under conditions designed to either reduce attention to time (by emphasising speedy responses) or lengthen attention to time (by emphasising accuracy). Results were modelled using Bayesian Multilevel Logistic Regression. The results replicate previous findings: speed emphasis reduced temporal sensitivity and led to both a higher overall proportion of long responses and faster reaction times. Facial threat attenuated the drop in temporal sensitivity due to speed instructions supporting the idea that people prolong attention to threat (even when they are not directly instructed to do so). We relate the findings to research into attention bias to threat and more broadly to models of perceptual decision making.


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