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

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

The Journal of Neuroscience, April 23, 2008, 28(17):4435-4445; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5564-07.2008

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 Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Niwa, M. Articles by Ditterich, J. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Niwa, M. Articles by Ditterich, J.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Perceptual Decisions between Multiple Directions of Visual Motion

Mamiko Niwa¹ and Jochen Ditterich^1,2

¹Center for Neuroscience and ²Department of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, University of California, Davis, Davis, California 95618

Correspondence should be addressed to Jochen Ditterich, Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis, 1544 Newton Court, Davis, CA 95618. Email: jditterich{at}ucdavis.edu

Previous studies and models of perceptual decision making have largely focused on binary choices. However, we often have to choose from multiple alternatives. To study the neural mechanisms underlying multialternative decision making, we have asked human subjects to make perceptual decisions between multiple possible directions of visual motion. Using a multicomponent version of the random-dot stimulus, we were able to control experimentally how much sensory evidence we wanted to provide for each of the possible alternatives. We demonstrate that this task provides a rich quantitative dataset for multialternative decision making, spanning a wide range of accuracy levels and mean response times. We further present a computational model that can explain the structure of our behavioral dataset. It is based on the idea of a race between multiple integrators to a decision threshold. Each of these integrators accumulates net sensory evidence for a particular choice, provided by linear combinations of the activities of decision-relevant pools of sensory neurons.

Key words: choice; computational model; human; integration; psychophysics; response time

---

Received Dec. 16, 2007; revised Feb. 27, 2008; accepted March 20, 2008.

Correspondence should be addressed to Jochen Ditterich, Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis, 1544 Newton Court, Davis, CA 95618. Email: jditterich{at}ucdavis.edu

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help