scholarly journals Human VMPFC encodes early signatures of confidence in perceptual decisions

eLife ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabina Gherman ◽  
Marios G. Philiastides
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Adaptive Behaviour ◽  
Single Trial ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Confidence Measure ◽  
Judgment Accuracy ◽  
Direction Discrimination ◽  
Neural Representations ◽  
Decision Dynamics

Choice confidence, an individual’s internal estimate of judgment accuracy, plays a critical role in adaptive behaviour, yet its neural representations during decision formation remain underexplored. Here, we recorded simultaneous EEG-fMRI while participants performed a direction discrimination task and rated their confidence on each trial. Using multivariate single-trial discriminant analysis of the EEG, we identified a stimulus-independent component encoding confidence, which appeared prior to subjects’ explicit choice and confidence report, and was consistent with a confidence measure predicted by an accumulation-to-bound model of decision-making. Importantly, trial-to-trial variability in this electrophysiologically-derived confidence signal was uniquely associated with fMRI responses in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC), a region not typically associated with confidence for perceptual decisions. Furthermore, activity in the VMPFC was functionally coupled with regions of the frontal cortex linked to perceptual decision-making and metacognition. Our results suggest that the VMPFC holds an early confidence representation arising from decision dynamics, preceding and potentially informing metacognitive evaluation.

scholarly journals Human VMPFC encodes early signatures of confidence in perceptual decisions

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabina Gherman ◽  
Marios G. Philiastides
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Discriminant Analysis ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Adaptive Behaviour ◽  
Single Trial ◽  
Judgment Accuracy ◽  
Direction Discrimination ◽  
Neural Representations

AbstractChoice confidence, an individual’s internal estimate of judgment accuracy, plays a critical role in adaptive behaviour. Despite its importance, the early (decisional) stages of confidence processing remain underexplored. Here, we recorded simultaneous EEG/fMRI while participants performed a direction discrimination task and rated their confidence on each trial. Using multivariate single-trial discriminant analysis of the EEG, we identified a stimulus- and accuracy-independent component encoding confidence, appearing prior to subjects’ choice and explicit confidence report. The trial-to-trial variability in this EEG-derived confidence signal was uniquely associated with fMRI responses in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC), a region not typically associated with confidence for perceptual decisions. Furthermore, we showed that the VMPFC was functionally coupled with regions of the prefrontal cortex that support neural representations of confidence during explicit metacognitive report. Our results suggest that the VMPFC encodes an early confidence readout, preceding and potentially informing metacognitive evaluation and learning, by acting as an implicit value/reward signal.

Top-Down Control of Perceptual Decision Making by the Prefrontal Cortex

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 464-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dobromir Rahnev
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Functional Organization ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Level Control ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Perceptual Decision ◽  
Parietal Lobes ◽  
High Level

Although most work on perceptual decision making has focused on the processing within the visual, temporal, and parietal lobes, recent research points to an underappreciated but critical role of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). PFC provides high-level control of perception, but it is unclear whether this control can be subdivided into different processes and whether different PFC regions have different roles. Here I review evidence that prefrontal top-down control is organized in the processes of selection control, decision control, and evaluation. These three processes overlap and interact with each other while at the same time maintaining a temporal hierarchy. Further, these different stages are supported by dissociable regions within the PFC that control hierarchically organized cognition. The current proposal for PFC’s role in perceptual control can serve as the basis for a deeper understanding of both the functional organization of PFC and the processes underlying perceptual decision making.

scholarly journals Neural Representations of Relevant and Irrelevant Features in Perceptual Decision Making

2010 ◽  
Vol 30 (47) ◽  
pp. 15778-15789 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. S. Kayser ◽  
D. T. Erickson ◽  
B. R. Buchsbaum ◽  
M. D'Esposito
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Perceptual Decision ◽  
Neural Representations

scholarly journals Emergence of an abstract categorical code enabling the discrimination of temporally structured tactile stimuli

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (49) ◽  
pp. E7966-E7975 ◽  
Author(s):  
Román Rossi-Pool ◽  
Emilio Salinas ◽  
Antonio Zainos ◽  
Manuel Alvarez ◽  
José Vergara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Neural Coding ◽  
Informed Choice ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Sensory Stimuli ◽  
Sensory Representation ◽  
Neural Representations ◽  
Tactile Stimuli ◽  
Present Information

The problem of neural coding in perceptual decision making revolves around two fundamental questions: (i) How are the neural representations of sensory stimuli related to perception, and (ii) what attributes of these neural responses are relevant for downstream networks, and how do they influence decision making? We studied these two questions by recording neurons in primary somatosensory (S1) and dorsal premotor (DPC) cortex while trained monkeys reported whether the temporal pattern structure of two sequential vibrotactile stimuli (of equal mean frequency) was the same or different. We found that S1 neurons coded the temporal patterns in a literal way and only during the stimulation periods and did not reflect the monkeys’ decisions. In contrast, DPC neurons coded the stimulus patterns as broader categories and signaled them during the working memory, comparison, and decision periods. These results show that the initial sensory representation is transformed into an intermediate, more abstract categorical code that combines past and present information to ultimately generate a perceptually informed choice.

scholarly journals Predictive activation of sensory representations as a source of evidence in perceptual decision-making

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Feuerriegel ◽  
Tessel Blom ◽  
Hinze Hogendoorn
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Decision Model ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Specific Stimulus ◽  
Perceptual Decision ◽  
Evidence Accumulation ◽  
Neural Representations ◽  
Sensory Environment ◽  
Sensory Evidence ◽  
Diffusion Decision Model

Our brains can represent expected future states of our sensory environment. Recent work has shown that, when we expect a specific stimulus to appear at a specific time, we can predictively generate neural representations of that stimulus even before it is physically presented. These observations raise two exciting questions: Are pre-activated sensory representations used for perceptual decision-making? And, are there instances in which we transiently perceive an expected stimulus that does not actually appear? To address these questions, we propose that pre-activated neural representations provide sensory evidence that is used for perceptual decision-making. This can be understood within the framework of the Diffusion Decision Model as an early accumulation of decision evidence in favour of the expected percept. Our proposal makes novel predictions relating to expectation effects on neural markers of decision evidence accumulation, and also provides an explanation for why we do not typically perceive stimuli that are expected, but do not appear.

scholarly journals Effector-dependent response deterioration by stochastic transformations reveals mixed reference frames for decisions

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Scott Murdison ◽  
Dominic Standage ◽  
Philippe Lefèvre ◽  
Gunnar Blohm
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Reference Frames ◽  
Button Press ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Motion Direction ◽  
Perceptual Decision ◽  
Direction Discrimination ◽  
Electrophysiological Recordings ◽  
Sensorimotor Transformations

AbstractRecent psychophysical and modeling studies have revealed that sensorimotor reference frame transformations (RFTs) add variability to motor output by decreasing the fidelity of sensory signals. How RFT stochasticity affects the sensory input underlying perceptual decisions, if at all, is unknown. To investigate this, we asked participants to perform a simple two-alternative motion direction discrimination task under varying conditions of head roll and/or stimulus rotation while responding either with a saccade or button press, allowing us to attribute behavioral effects to eye-, head- and shoulder-centered reference frames. We observed a rotation-induced, increase in reaction time and decrease in accuracy, indicating a degradation of motion evidence commensurate with a decrease in motion strength. Inter-participant differences in performance were best explained by a continuum of eye-head-shoulder representations of accumulated decision evidence, with eye- and shoulder-centered preferences during saccades and button presses, respectively. We argue that perceptual decision making and stochastic RFTs are inseparable, consistent with electrophysiological recordings in neural areas thought to be encoding sensorimotor signals for perceptual decisions. Furthermore, transformational stochasticity appears to be a generalized phenomenon, applicable throughout the perceptual and motor systems. We show for the first time that, by simply rolling one’s head, perceptual decision making is impaired in a way that is captured by stochastic RFTs.Significance statementWhen exploring our environment, we typically maintain upright head orientations, often even despite increased energy expenditure. One possible explanation for this apparently suboptimal behavior might come from the finding that sensorimotor transformations, required for generating geometrically-correct behavior, add signal- dependent variability (stochasticity) to perception and action. Here, we explore the functional interaction of stochastic transformations and perceptual decisions by rolling the head and/or stimulus during a motion direction discrimination task. We find that, during visuomotor rotations, perceptual decisions are significantly impaired in both speed and accuracy in a way that is captured by stochastic transformations. Thus, our findings suggest that keeping one’s head aligned with gravity is in fact ideal for making perceptual judgments about our environment.

scholarly journals Superior colliculus neuronal ensemble activity signals optimal rather than subjective confidence

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (7) ◽  
pp. E1588-E1597 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Odegaard ◽  
Piercesare Grimaldi ◽  
Seong Hah Cho ◽  
Megan A. K. Peters ◽  
Hakwan Lau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Superior Colliculus ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Decision Accuracy ◽  
Perceptual Decision ◽  
Decision Confidence ◽  
Brain Signals ◽  
Subjective Confidence ◽  
The Brain

Recent studies suggest that neurons in sensorimotor circuits involved in perceptual decision-making also play a role in decision confidence. In these studies, confidence is often considered to be an optimal readout of the probability that a decision is correct. However, the information leading to decision accuracy and the report of confidence often covaried, leaving open the possibility that there are actually two dissociable signal types in the brain: signals that correlate with decision accuracy (optimal confidence) and signals that correlate with subjects’ behavioral reports of confidence (subjective confidence). We recorded neuronal activity from a sensorimotor decision area, the superior colliculus (SC) of monkeys, while they performed two different tasks. In our first task, decision accuracy and confidence covaried, as in previous studies. In our second task, we implemented a motion discrimination task with stimuli that were matched for decision accuracy but produced different levels of confidence, as reflected by behavioral reports. We used a multivariate decoder to predict monkeys’ choices from neuronal population activity. As in previous studies on perceptual decision-making mechanisms, we found that neuronal decoding performance increased as decision accuracy increased. However, when decision accuracy was matched, performance of the decoder was similar between high and low subjective confidence conditions. These results show that the SC likely signals optimal decision confidence similar to previously reported cortical mechanisms, but is unlikely to play a critical role in subjective confidence. The results also motivate future investigations to determine where in the brain signals related to subjective confidence reside.

scholarly journals Evidence accumulation during perceptual decision-making is sensitive to the dynamics of attentional selection

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dragan Rangelov ◽  
Jason B. Mattingley
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Attentional Selection ◽  
Adaptive Behaviour ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Perceptual Decision ◽  
Sensory Inputs

AbstractThe ability to select and combine multiple sensory inputs in support of accurate decisions is a hallmark of adaptive behaviour. Attentional selection is often needed to prioritize stimuli that are task-relevant and to attenuate potentially distracting sources of sensory information. As most studies of perceptual decision-making to date have made use of task-relevant stimuli only, relatively little is known about how attention modulates decision making. To address this issue, we developed a novel ‘integrated’ decision-making task, in which participants judged the average direction of successive target motion signals while ignoring concurrent and spatially overlapping distractor motion signals. In two experiments that varied the role of attentional selection, we used linear regression to quantify the influence of target and distractor stimuli on behaviour. Using electroencephalography, we characterised the neural correlates of decision making, attentional selection and feature-specific responses to target and distractor signals. While targets strongly influenced perceptual decisions and associated neural activity, we also found that concurrent and spatially coincident distractors exerted a measurable bias on both behaviour and brain activity. Our findings suggest that attention operates as a real-time but imperfect filter during perceptual decision-making by dynamically modulating the contributions of task-relevant and irrelevant sensory inputs.

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