QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

The Journal of Neuroscience, March 14, 2007, 27(11):2908-2917; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3024-06.2007

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental Data Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in J. Neurosci. Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (4) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Thielscher, A. Articles by Pessoa, L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Thielscher, A. Articles by Pessoa, L.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Neural Correlates of Perceptual Choice and Decision Making during Fear–Disgust Discrimination

Axel Thielscher¹ and Luiz Pessoa²

¹High-Field Magnetic Resonance Center, Max-Planck-Institute for Biological Cybernetics, 38, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany, and ²Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405

Correspondence should be addressed to Luiz Pessoa, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, 1101 East 10th Street, Bloomington, IN 47405. Email: lpessoa{at}indiana.edu

In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that brain activation would reflect perceptual choices. To probe this question, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a challenging fear–disgust, two-choice discrimination task. We investigated how moment-to-moment fluctuations in fMRI signals were correlated with perceptual choice by computing a choice probability index that quantified how well behavioral choice could be predicted by single-trial fMRI amplitude. Our analyses revealed that reporting a neutral face as "fearful" was associated with activation in a broad network of brain regions that process emotionally arousing stimuli, whereas reporting a neutral face as "disgusted" was associated with activation in a focused set of sites that included the putamen and anterior insula. Responses predictive of perceptual reports were not only observed at the group level but also at the single-subject level. Thus, voxel-by-voxel fluctuations in fMRI amplitude for an individual participant could be used to reliably predict the perceptual choice of individual trials for that subject. In addition to the investigation of choice, we also isolated the neural correlates of decision making per se by using reaction time as an index of decision processes. Overall, our findings revealed that brain responses dynamically shifted according to perceptual choices. In addition, the neural correlates of decision making involved at least the anterior cingulate cortex, middle frontal gyrus, and inferior frontal gyrus/insula, consistent with recent proposals that decisions may emerge from distributed processes.

Key words: disgust; faces; fear; fMRI; perceptual decision making; vision

---

Received July 17, 2006; revised Feb. 2, 2007; accepted Feb. 5, 2007.

Correspondence should be addressed to Luiz Pessoa, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, 1101 East 10th Street, Bloomington, IN 47405. Email: lpessoa{at}indiana.edu

Related articles in J. Neurosci.:

Awfully Afraid? Dissociating Decision- from Motor- and Sensory-Related Brain Activation during Perceptual Choices

Philippe N. Tobler and Tobias Kalenscher
J. Neurosci. 2007 27: 6081-6082. [Full Text]  

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A.D. Craig Emotional moments across time: a possible neural basis for time perception in the anterior insula Phil Trans R Soc B, July 12, 2009; 364(1525): 1933 - 1942. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. C. Ho, S. Brown, and J. T. Serences Domain General Mechanisms of Perceptual Decision Making in Human Cortex J. Neurosci., July 8, 2009; 29(27): 8675 - 8687. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. A. H. von dem Hagen, J. D. Beaver, M. P. Ewbank, J. Keane, L. Passamonti, A. D. Lawrence, and A. J. Calder Leaving a bad taste in your mouth but not in my insula Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci, June 8, 2009; (2009) nsp018v1. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. RIGHART and B. DE GELDER Recognition of facial expressions is influenced by emotional scene gist Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci, September 1, 2008; 8(3): 264 - 272. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. Padmala and L. Pessoa Affective Learning Enhances Visual Detection and Responses in Primary Visual Cortex J. Neurosci., June 11, 2008; 28(24): 6202 - 6210. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. J. Ploran, S. M. Nelson, K. Velanova, D. I. Donaldson, S. E. Petersen, and M. E. Wheeler Evidence Accumulation and the Moment of Recognition: Dissociating Perceptual Recognition Processes Using fMRI J. Neurosci., October 31, 2007; 27(44): 11912 - 11924. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. N. Tobler and T. Kalenscher Awfully Afraid? Dissociating Decision- from Motor- and Sensory-Related Brain Activation during Perceptual Choices J. Neurosci., June 6, 2007; 27(23): 6081 - 6082. [Full Text] [PDF]

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help