Trends in Neurosciences
Psychology and neurobiology of simple decisions
Section snippets
Neural correlates of simple two-choice decisions
Neural activity linked to eye movement decisions has been recorded in several visual tasks (Figure 1) from oculomotor areas including the middle temporal area (MT), the lateral interparietal area (LIP) in extrastriate cortex [8], the frontal eye field (FEF) 9, 10, 11, and the superior colliculus (SC) 12, 13, 14. These structures are part of the circuit that controls saccadic eye movements to behaviorally salient targets [3]. For example, in the oddball discrimination task, monkeys are trained
From neurons to sequential-sampling models
The picture that emerges from these findings is strikingly consistent with statistical decision models that have been developed during the past 40 years in mathematical psychology. Two broad classes of model have been developed that apply to different kinds of decisions. One class, of sequential-sampling models, applies to speeded decisions in perceptual and memory tasks 1, 21. These decisions are typically made within a second or so. A second class, based on economic concepts of expected
Testing behavioral models
Behavioral research in psychology has identified several key patterns of data that must be explained by any plausible model for two-choice tasks. First, there are systematic relationships between RT and accuracy; explanation of these relationships requires a model capable of producing errors 48, 49. Second, a model must account for the ordering of mean RTs for correct responses and errors across experimental conditions – that is, across the values of manipulated variables and across levels of
Linking neurobiology and psychology
A model that seeks to link neurobiology and behavior needs to relate three levels of analysis: the spike trains of individual neurons, the statistical properties of the neural ensemble, and behavioral data. A successful model would simultaneously account for data on all three levels. Whether decisions are based on single cells, small groups of cells or populations of cells is an open question. Some authors have reported that individual neurons predict responses that match the accuracy of
Concluding remarks
The picture that emerges from recent single-cell studies of decision making in neuroscience is strikingly consistent with the picture that emerges from behavioral studies of decision making in psychology. In both, decisions are made by mechanisms that accumulate noisy information to a response criterion. Such mechanisms have been inferred from the results of behavioral experiments, but recent single-cell studies have begun to provide complementary evidence. Future theoretical progress in this
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